Downloading to burn to disc

[13dlh]

I have a 90 year old blind Uncle who loves listening to Westerns on CD. Needless to say this is a fairly limited CD genre at the local libraries. I found Librivox and hoped to be able to download and burn books to a CD for him to listen to. I am having no luck on downloading and none of the instructions I find seem to fit the screen I am looking at. There is no PLAY button, or Chapter Title or anything else prompting right or left clicks. There is a Download Button but I need specific directions on how to use it. I get many error messages and on the oft chance it has appeared a CD is burning there is nothing to listen to on the disk.

Step by step instuctions (completely basic I won't be offended) are very much needed and much appreciated.

Thanks for any help!

[Rapunzelina]

Hi, this is how I would do it:

I'd go to a project's page, for example https://librivox.org/meadowlark-basin-by-b-m-bower/ and hit the download button for the "Whole book (zip file)"; this downloads a zip file in my Downloads folder in my computer. I would then unzip the zip file to get a folder containing the files/chapters. Then move on to burning those files on a CD, using my cd-burning software.

I think that's the basic procedure and more detailed instructions would depend on what kind of operating system you're on, and what kind of softwares you use.

Good luck if you need more help, please post again with more info on what you're on, to get more personalized instructions hopefully

[lightcrystal]

I'd probably do this with free software called Brasero. But that only works on Linux.

[13dlh]

Pretty normal setup. Dell Desktop and I can use either Chrome or Microsoft Edge. No luck with either. I get the extracted files downloaded into a zip drive but then can't proceed. I have gotten messages which say the files origin and destination are the same. So I have saved to a different name and drive but that hasn't helped. I wonder if I have some hidden security issues messing things up. I have tried so many times sure that I am missing some little step but have not figured out how to burn a CD yet.

[redrun]

If it helps any, a .zip file is a bundle of several files, not something that you save to a zip drive. You need to open the .zip file so that you see the .mp3 files inside it. You can then extract (copy/paste or drag/drop) them to your CD drive.

[barleyguy]

I'd probably do this with free software called Brasero. But that only works on Linux.

My favorite free CD burning software on Windows is InfraRecorder. It does data and audio formats for both CD and DVD, and it's been completely reliable in the many years I've used it.

BTW, for books I would look into a CD player that plays MP3 CDs. Most modern ones do, including most car stereos that take CDs and many home DVD players. With an MP3 CD, you can put the MP3 files on the CD instead of using the old school Redbook CD format. That allows putting about 6 hours of audio on a single CD instead of 74 minutes.

[13dlh]

I know what a zip file is. I don't know why when I extract to a zip file I get a message that files are from and to the same destination. Well, never mind. The process isn't working for me and I will have to figure out why.
Thanks for the info on InfraRecorder.

[Rapunzelina]

When trying to extract your zip file, choose another folder, not the same zip file. I think that's what the message you're getting means. Or right click on the zip file and choose "extract here" if you have this option

[Peter Why]

I use 7zip ... a free zip file handler ... which I find is very helpful about placing unzipped files.

Peter

[GettingTooOld]

I know what a zip file is. I don't know why when I extract to a zip file I get a message that files are from and to the same destination. Well, never mind. The process isn't working for me and I will have to figure out why.
Thanks for the info on InfraRecorder.

I probably can't help you on the same destinations problem, Sorry. I had a read of what you've said and worried if it was a good idea to mention, just in case, that for an audio CD, you'll need to tell the burning software that you would like to burn as an audio CD, rather than saving or moving the files onto the CD. The way information is burnt onto an audio CD is not compact really, and it can handle quite a few errors here and there before it sounds bad. But when files and even mp3's are dragged and dropped onto a blank CD they may by default be copied over in the very compressed format which is only readable by a computer. Some CD players can actually read mp3 files same way a computer does. Those players will be marked as mp3 reading compatible. The advantage of all this is that more mp3's can be put onto a CD in the computery compressedish formula than the regular old original style which is compatible with everything and fault tolerant.

The downside is that if you drag and drop or copy files onto a CD then a CD player will have no idea what to do with the CD and there won't be anything resembling sound coming out of it. Ironically it can be filled with nothing but music and the CD player cannot play it. Only a computer can. So you'll need to tell the computer at any chance you get that you want an audio CD.

I am having no luck on downloading and none of the instructions I find seem to fit the screen I am looking at. There is no PLAY button, or Chapter Title or anything else prompting right or left clicks.
Step by step instuctions (completely basic I won't be offended) are very much needed and much appreciated

I do agree with you that the download pages for the audiobooks are poorly set up. It's a fact that not everyone is good at everything and I've never been good at offering help with some things I can see are a problem, I'm always worried that people are more likely to be upset with me personally because they usually are, time and time again through life.

Each little chapter can be opened by itself, into a new window and then saved as a mp3, but that is the long hard road.

However, the more important thing I would really like to check is that we are on the same page. When you mention the screen you are looking at, I want to be sure it is the screen I am imagining. I have 3 possibilities. There is the librivox website which may be the one, there is the unzip utility on your computer, there is the burning software, and the resulting CD. Also, I don't count so good, that's 4

The play button on the librivox page is impossible to see, it's minescule and tiny and if you look at the number for each chapter of the book it's just below the number. Good luck clicking it. ( Incidentally I probably won't be here to help anymore next time you visit, because whoever designed that page will have had time to hunt me down and roast me alive, It's been nice knowing you )

I recall that Videotapes lasted for a long time. VHS videotapes have gone out of fashion of course, however when they were on their last legs, little toddlers held onto them the longest. Ironic. You see, little hands and little fingers could pick out a Bideo (toddler term for a video) and put it into the VCR which would do the rest automatically. DVD's are singularly unfriendly to toddlers. There is a lot of improvement that can be done anywhere, with any website, but getting the right people onside is not easy. They have nightmares about increased workload and 'what could go wrong' and some of that is well founded fear. However, looking at the download page from the point of view of a person who has poor vision, or shaky hands, or is just human, it's too narrow in it's functionality. Meh. if only.

[knotyouraveragejo]

Pretty normal setup. Dell Desktop and I can use either Chrome or Microsoft Edge. No luck with either. I get the extracted files downloaded into a zip drive but then can't proceed. I have gotten messages which say the files origin and destination are the same. So I have saved to a different name and drive but that hasn't helped. I wonder if I have some hidden security issues messing things up. I have tried so many times sure that I am missing some little step but have not figured out how to burn a CD yet.

I use the same setup.

Click the green download button on the librivox catalog page for the book. This will download the zipfile into your Downloads folder.
Once the download is complete, double click on the .zip folder to open it. Your should see the contents in a new window as a list of mp3 files.

At the top of this window in the menu bar is an option to Extract all - this opens a window that says
"Select a Destination and Extract Files"
Files will be extracted to this folder - you need to change the folder name to a new folder on your computer -

Click the Browse button and navigate to the folder where you want the extracted files to be saved and click Select Folder at the bottom of the window
This takes you back to the Select a Destination and Extract files window. Click Extract.

The files from the zip should be saved to the new folder.

[13dlh]

Thanks to all who offered suggestions. To anyone else who has a hard time navigating through the Download Buttons on the Librivox screen I can now offer the following solution - at least for Chrome Users. After hitting the download button on the book you have selected DO NOT hit any more buttons on the screen. Instead go to the Chrome Taskbar at the top right corner of the screen and use the Chrome Download button. (Downward pointing arrow). This both excecutes the zip drive and puts the files into the right format and storage location and burning the disc is fast and easy. I think, on my setup anyway, just using the Librivox buttons didn't get the files where they needed to be causing extra steps that I was never too sure about. Could be some type of security issue or who knows? Anyway, simply using the Chrome download button has pretty much solved my problem!

My Uncle is 90 years old and blind so I am so grateful I can burn lots of books for him to listen to. If you have a retirement home in your neighborhood you might consider burning a few books and offering them to residents whose eyesight might not allow them to read. When my Uncle finishes a book we are putting it in the residents library for others to enjoy.

Again, thanks to all involved at Librivox for making this most welcome service available.