The GSD CDs FAQ

I get asked a selection of questions many times over so here they are (and their answers)

  • Q. Are the CDs in CD Audio format?
    • A. No. It would be impossible to fit all these shows onto 8 CDs if they were in CD audio format.
  • Q. What format are they in?
    • A. All the shows are in MP3 format (MPEG Audio Layer-3)
  • Q. What sort of MP3s are they?
    • A. The majority are in 32kb/22hz Mono format
  • Q. What is the sound quality like?
    • A. They range in quality from dire to very good. Thankfully though, the vast majority are in the good to very good category. Most are equivalent to FM radio quality.
  • Q. Will these CDs play on a Macintosh?
    • A. Although I know very little about Macs, as far as I am aware, they will play on all modern Macintosh systems. The CDs are recorded in standard ISO9660 format (plus Joliet extensions)
  • Q. Where do you get the shows from?
    • A. Of the Goon Shows, I digitised/encoded 100+ of the shows myself from a collection of LPs and cassette recordings I had been collecting for years. The rest came from friends, traders, Usenet etc.
  • Q. What do you use to digitise/encode the MP3s?
    • A. There are various sources I use to record from. A Nakamichi cassette deck, Sony Minidisk player, Akai open reel recorder, Linn Axis turntable. I digitise using Syntrillium's Cool Edit Pro (v1.2), and encode using Fraunhofer's MP3 Producer Pro (v2.1)
  • Q. Can I record these shows onto tape?
    • A. Yes. All you need is a lead with the appropriate connections to run from your soundcard's line out (or at a push, speaker out) socket to your tape/minidisk recorder's line in
  • Q. Can I convert these shows to CD audio and burn an Audio CD?
    • A. Yes, but with provisos. You will need to convert the MP3 to WAV format. Then upsample it to 44Khz sample rate, then convert from Mono to Stereo. I don't know any CD writing packages that will directly convert Mono 32/22 MP3s to CD audio. As a tip, try out Minidisk for size. You can record 5 complete Goon Shows in Mono on a single 74 minute Minidisk.
  • Q. What do you use to write the GSD CDs?
    • A. The CD writing PC is a homebuilt AMD K6-2/350, 128Mb PC100 RAM, with 20Gb drive space (4 SCSI drives). An Adaptec 2940 SCSI adapter. I used to use a Yamaha CDR400T CD writer. Writing at 4x speed using Nero CD writing software, but as it bit the bullet recently I now use a Plextor 16-10-40, writing at 12x. This all runs under Windows 2000 Pro.

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