merging songs into one file

[ConnieMcDearmid]

Thanks for your replies. This may make me sound stupid--but how do you merge 3 songs into one?

Connie

[alrobin]

Connie,

No need to feel stupid at all - everyone starts where you are when learning this stuff. And it is very technical.

To merge your sound files, you need a sound editor such as "Cool Edit 2000", "Audacity", "Acoustica", etc. "Audacity" apparently is downloadable as freeware, "Acoustica" is approx $25 US, and "Cool Edit 2000", with the mandatory "mixer" software, is around $100 US.

Then you just open your files in the editing program, stack them end-to-end on the timelines, and press "mix-down", which will create a new file including the entire repertoire in exactly the relationship you want with respect to each other.

Another way to do this, but one which is more tedious, and less easy to control, is to play your selections one after another from your stereo or tape-recorder into the line input at the back of your sound card and record everything that way into digital format. You will probably want to convert the resulting large file into mp3 format, though, and you will need software similar to the above to do that, although there are a few other free programs that will do the job as well.

Of course there are a few other things to consider such as type of file (mp3, wav, mid, etc.) and the quality of the file (i.e. number of samples per second, number of bits, etc.), but this will come after some experience with the programs, and after asking a few more questions of the forum. Don't hesitate to ask if you need to know.