Toast 8 -- making a mix CD can't be this hard!

[Samuel Beckett]

I must be missing something.

I am trying to make a mix CD made up of individual tracks from different prerecorded CDs (favorites of 06) on my brand new macbook, using Toast 8. For reasons I can't figure out, it's not working. Oddly, the user's guide never specifically mentions taking tracks directly off of a CD to make a "audio CD", though you can access them through media browser, or just drag them from the CD to Toast, or navigate from the "+" button in toast.

No matter how I transfer the tracks, the tracks look like they transfer, but the only sound that plays is a loud hiss -- both in Toast preview and on a CD player when I try to record. Am I missing a secret step that's so obvious it doesn't need to go into the user's guide or something? For some reason the tracks are imported as AIFF files -- shouldn't they be redbook files or whatever they call the files playable on a CD player? I'd think that shouldn't matter, since if you choose to make an audio CD any type of file should convert to the type of file that will play in a CD player, right? Is there something special I have to do? I know the superdrive works, and that toast can do music CD to CD transfer, because I have successfully copied a prerecorded CD.

Any ideas? This is the main reason I bought Toast, and making mix CDs has been about the easiest thing you could do with the dinky burn software on every wintel PC I ever owned. I'm a bit shocked that this is not working on my mac, with Toast.

 

[apfhex]

No matter how I transfer the tracks, the tracks look like they transfer, but the only sound that plays is a loud hiss -- both in Toast preview and on a CD player when I try to record.

Sounds like the imported track files are messed up. Do they play fine in the Finder or iTunes? How are you "transferring" the tracks?

Also, unless you want the crossfade options Toast offers, iTunes can burn audio CDs just fine too.

 

[GimmeSlack12]

I don't know how you can make a mixtape any easier than using iTunes. Don't waste your time with Toast for a mixtape.

 

[crazycat]

I did not use Toast 8 yet but you can do a mix cd very easily in itunes, just make a play list and click burn.

 

[Mavimao]

Yeah, Toast is a pain to make a mix with. I don't see why you can't use iTunes. I believe v.7 has the ability to burn fades....

 

[Samuel Beckett]

Thanks for the quick responses. I guess I should have anticipated the responses about itunes. Here's the thing -- I love iTunes, I love my iPod, I have 9800+ tracks on it (at 192 and above), I love my nice Shure buds that make them quite enjoyable to listen to, I add tracks at a rate of 200-300 every couple months, but all the music I buy, which I do compulsively (obviously) is on CD. (I think this makes sense for all sorts of reasons, but that's outside the scope of this thread.) The idea of taking a lossy format and converting it back to CD kinda makes me ill. Is there a way to use iTunes to make a mix CD without converting to AAC or mp3 and then back again?

On the question of how I get the CD tracks into Toast -- I've tried three ways all with the same results:

1. click the "+" within the audio CD screen in toast and navigate to the tracks on the CD in the drive
2. double click on the CD image on the desktop to open it up, then drag and drop
3. use the toast media browser to navigate to the tracks on the CD in the drive.

One thing I should mention. At one point I googled for solutions and found an Indiana U music school site that seemed to say that as a final step you should "export" the files after importing them (it didn't say to where). So I clicked export after importing them, and the only results were (1) the icon next to the track name changed from a one I didn't recognize (kind of looks like a tiny pencil point) to an icon with the Quicktime "Q" and "AIFC" on it (which is what the file icon looks like on the CD itself) and (2) each file showed up on my desktop too.

 

[calculus]

It's been a while since I burned a compilation using toast but I think it goes something like this...

Insert the first disc into your mac. Drag it into the toast window. Highlight the tracks you don't want and click the 'remove' (-) button. Highlight the track(s) you do want and click 'export'. You might get asked where to export to, setting up a folder can be useful. Eject the disc. Insert the next one and repeat as above. You will find that you will build up your compilation which you can then burn after inserting a blank CD. What you are doing is saving each track you want to your hard drive before burning your compilation - don't worry though toast will know where to find them.

 

[dops7107]

Is there a way to use iTunes to make a mix CD without converting to AAC or mp3 and then back again?

Yes - change the Import preferences to Apple Lossless or WAV, rather than a lossy format. Import the songs again, if you already have them as mp3 or aac, and make a playlist with the new versions.

 

[Samuel Beckett]

Thanks calculus. I think what you describe is pretty much exactly what I've done, except you would add all and then subtract what you don't want, while I've been adding what I do want one-by-one. Maybe I'll try reloading Toast, just to see if I can make this work. If you (and the IU website) are correct, I find it bizarre in the extreme that there is a step not mentioned in the user guide (the export thing) for a function that strikes me as about as basic as you can get.

Thanks dops. I have a feeling I'll end up doing it that way. Or going back to the dinky program on my old Dell laptop. Which also strikes me as pretty bizarre.

I guess there's one last question. anyone know of a mac program that does this simple task, cd to cd mixing without changing format, quickly and easily?

 

[road dog]

iTunes crossfades don't get burned to the disc

The hiss you're getting is a bug... I saw a post on their forums recently from an employee saying it's a bug, they're aware of it, and it will be fixed in the next free update coming out soon.

What happens is when you add tracks directly from CD you get this hiss... if you import into iTunes first you don't get that. So, for now, your best option is to import into iTunes using Apple Lossless. Then add into Toast from the Media Browser or just drag in from iTunes library.

The iTunes crossfades are ONLY for playback... they don't get burned to the disc. If you want crossfades on your audio CD, Toast is the way to go.

There's plenty of other reason why I choose Toast over iTunes for burning.

1) Toast does true gapless burning - which makes live recordings as true to the original as they can get... iTunes puts in a slight pause

2) Toast has custom crossfades for each individual song

3) Toast has normalization for constant levels

4) Toast lets you trim parts out of the beginning or end of a song

5) Toast supports better audio formats natively - such as OGG and FLAC

6) Toast does disc to disc copies of your audio CDs to make backups - this alone is worth it IMO - iTunes does not allow you to do this without first importing, then reburning - loss of quality and track timings

I've had good success with Toast 8 creating mixes - just drag in a bunch of songs from the Media Browser, set some fades and click record.

 

[Mr Skills]

Have you tried copying the music tracks to a folder on your desktop first?

I may be wrong, but I think Toast references the original file when it makes the CD - the list in toast is only a list of aliases. So if you drag straight from the CD into Toast, and then remove the CD, it won't be able to find the music.

I may be wrong, but I thought this is how it works.

 

[quigleybc]

Have you tried copying the music tracks to a folder on your desktop first?

I may be wrong, but I think Toast references the original file when it makes the CD - the list in toast is only a list of aliases. So if you drag straight from the CD into Toast, and then remove the CD, it won't be able to find the music.

I may be wrong, but I thought this is how it works.

yes, do this

drag em, burn em

 

[Samuel Beckett]

It was confirmed on the Roxio community site that this is a bug that will be addressed in the next update. Thank you all.