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DAISY file too big for the CD

When trying to burn a DAISY disc for a patron, what do we do if the DAISY file is too large for the CD we've got?

There are a few options, and which one to choose primarily depends on the device that a patron is using .

Can the user load the files from portable media, such as a USB stick or SD card?

  • If so, we recommend delivery of one or more titles on a USB stick, which users can load onto their computers or devices.
  • If a device cannot be connected to a computer through USB, but can accept other portable media, such as a SD card, files can easily be transferred between the two on a computer first.

Can the device load DVD?

  • If so, the book can be burned and delivered on a DVD instead of a CD.

Is the device CD only?

  • We recognize that many users use devices, such as VictorStream, where older models can only accept CD. In these cases, it is possible to downgrade the audio files to make them smaller to fit on a CD, however, the downgraded audio quality may not be acceptable to the user.

Does the device have text-to-speech capabilities?

  • Many of the available titles have the text embedded, especially for synthesized narration productions. Check for a "contents.html" or similar file inside the downloaded DAISY .zip. If the device does not support .html, it can easily be converted to .doc, .docx, or .rtf by opening the .html in a word processing program, such as Microsoft Word, and saving in the appropriate format.

If you have any questions, please feel free to post a reply or contact us directly

1) Right now I am trying to burn a book to CD and it will take 7 cds. Is this normal?

2) How do I downgrade the quality? The files are already in MP3 which is what regular CD players read. What are the quality issues a listener may experience?

 

Chantelle

Manitou Regional Library

Hi Chantelle,

1) 7 CDs seem excessive. Is the program set to burn the files as an "audio CD" or a "data CD"? For DAISY discs or for mp3 CDs, please make sure that you're burning it as a "data CD".

2) You first want to look at the bitrate of the original mp3 (right click, "Get Info" or "Properties"), then you would use an audio conversion program to convert it to a lower bitrate mp3. You'll want to check the results to see if you're happy with them, and when finished, you would replace the original mp3 files with your converted ones.

How much smaller the resulting mp3 will be is very hard to tell before you try it. Needless to say, the lower the bitrate, the lower the file size, but generally speaking, the lower the quality.

As to programs, there are lots of available programs. If you have it already installed you might try converting using iTunes.Audacity is another popular audio program used and they have instructions on how to install a mp3 converted in Audacity on their website.