instead of sending a letter to someone i need advice on how to burn a CD or audio only DVD ,

[leonardgid]

hello raiders , need some complicated advice , 

need to send an old time friend  a letter ... however  there is much to say  and it will take  something the size of a small novel , so i came up with the idea of  sending them a CD/   or dvd  with audio only  no pictures etc,   i dont have  expensive equipment  etc , just a desk top computer ,  do anyone of you  know how to go about it?  .... the closest thing i can think of is  someone burning  a personal  singing tape/dvd   and i dont know how they go about making one of them , any advice is welcome,  and yes i know that  i can use the telephone instead  but thats not what i want to do  here , thank you for reading all of this 

[DerekD]

Before you start do you have a CD or DVD burner on the computer. These days with laptops not even having a CD drive you may not even be able to play it at the other end. USB sticks are so cheap these days that might be a better way of doing it.

[leonardgid]

5 hours ago, DerekD said:

Before you start do you have a CD or DVD burner on the computer. These days with laptops not even having a CD drive you may not even be able to play it at the other end. USB sticks are so cheap these days that might be a better way of doing it.

Hi Derek , i am using  a PC ,  i  have  one PC that has (DVD multi recorder) printed on it on it ,    its also got compact disk  rewritable,       USB sticks are the go  but i don't think that my mate   has   anything to play it on, 

[DerekD]

Probably just ask your friend what they have - it shouldn't ruin the surprise. Consider they may also have USB in their car or a slot which will take an SD card.

Are you planning to record your voice or make a mix disc? If you are planning to record your voice then do you have a microphone with your computer. BTW when you say PC I am assuming it is not a Mac? I use Windows for my stuff.

MP3s are the usual format for playback used but there are several other options?

If they only have a CD player some will play MP3 (like in my car) but others will need to be CDA (CD audio).

There should be burning software with your computer but we can get into that afterwards once we know what is available on the other end.

[noelm]

If your desktop computer has a CD/DVD burner, it's pretty simple.

edit.......I typed and posted this yesterday, but it just vanishes, tried it three times, this is the fourth, something is amiss.

[noelm]

It worked at last.....very strange.

[mrsswordfisherman]

8 minutes ago, noelm said:

If your desktop computer has a CD/DVD burner, it's pretty simple.

edit.......I typed and posted this yesterday, but it just vanishes, tried it three times, this is the fourth, something is amiss.

Nothing wrong this end @noelm . Use your smartphone and see if it works. 

[noelm]

It's all good now, but last night I posted 3 different attempts, no error message, it's just the post didn't appear, yet it remained in the dialogue box when I tried again, really strange.

[mrsswordfisherman]

26 minutes ago, noelm said:

It's all good now, but last night I posted 3 different attempts, no error message, it's just the post didn't appear, yet it remained in the dialogue box when I tried again, really strange.

Ensure you actually submit it. Check your next few post to see it any issues and let me know.

 

[DerekD]

Does your friend have an email?

This means you could actually send the file and it should be easy to open on the other end.

[noelm]

Yeah, there is a dozen different options, but, we need to know what you have and what he has, having worked in IT for a very long time, we have come up with some pretty creative ideas, sometimes an old fashioned letter works just fine

[JustJames]

Instead of sending your mate physical media, record your voice letter, and then use a video editor to turn it into a 'video', which could be as simple as you talking over a single photo.

 

You can then upload to Youtube, and use the privacy settings to make sure that only somebody with the link can access it, which means that strangers can't stumble on it when searching YT for videos on fishing (or whatever their thing is) and privacy is ensured.  Email the link to your mate and he can access it right away.

[leonardgid]

14 hours ago, JustJames said:

Instead of sending your mate physical media, record your voice letter, and then use a video editor to turn it into a 'video', which could be as simple as you talking over a single photo.

 

You can then upload to Youtube, and use the privacy settings to make sure that only somebody with the link can access it, which means that strangers can't stumble on it when searching YT for videos on fishing (or whatever their thing is) and privacy is ensured.  Email the link to your mate and he can access it right away.

Did i say this sounds brilliant , thing is how to  record  the voice letter onto a windows 10 PC  , thank you  for the great idea !!!

[leonardgid]

18 hours ago, noelm said:

Yeah, there is a dozen different options, but, we need to know what you have and what he has, having worked in IT for a very long time, we have come up with some pretty creative ideas, sometimes an old fashioned letter works just fine

Derek and James have come up with two ideas that will work  well for me , the letter  will take way too long to read,    over  an hour  ,  thank you for the advice  stay well.

[leonardgid]

19 hours ago, DerekD said:

Does your friend have an email?

This means you could actually send the file and it should be easy to open on the other end.

hes an older work mate  retired 74  , never had to use computers  etc , 

 

21 hours ago, DerekD said:

Probably just ask your friend what they have - it shouldn't ruin the surprise. Consider they may also have USB in their car or a slot which will take an SD card.

Are you planning to record your voice or make a mix disc? If you are planning to record your voice then do you have a microphone with your computer. BTW when you say PC I am assuming it is not a Mac? I use Windows for my stuff.

MP3s are the usual format for playback used but there are several other options?

If they only have a CD player some will play MP3 (like in my car) but others will need to be CDA (CD audio).

There should be burning software with your computer but we can get into that afterwards once we know what is available on the other end.

after reading  all of this i was looking up MP3  to get a better understanding  etc , when i came across mp3  player/recorders  , they can be quite cheap , im thinking about buying one of them( 128 gb storage)  record the letter on to it and send it  to him ,  all he has to do is press play ,  save us going  through all  the steps it will take to do everything on  line ,     like to hear your thoughts on this , 

Edited March 23, 2022 by leonardgid

[DerekD]

Hi Leonard,

MP3 recorder is a viable option. If you get an MP3 recorder to send to him you could also put a lot of music on it at the same time and make a present of it.

By the way unless you are like me and despise smart phones (I use a Nokia most of the time but have a Samsung Galaxy too) they have a recording application in them. It might save you buying a MP3 recorder and you could get a player instead.

Do you have a smartphone and what type?

Do you have a Facebook account. I went through a learning process relating the photography software with another gentleman here on Fishraider and we used Facebook to share screens and walk him through the process. Alternatively I think it might be worth having a chat and see how we can make this work.

Edited March 23, 2022 by DerekD

[leonardgid]

10 hours ago, DerekD said:

Hi Leonard,

MP3 recorder is a viable option. If you get an MP3 recorder to send to him you could also put a lot of music on it at the same time and make a present of it.

By the way unless you are like me and despise smart phones (I use a Nokia most of the time but have a Samsung Galaxy too) they have a recording application in them. It might save you buying a MP3 recorder and you could get a player instead.

Do you have a smartphone and what type?

Do you have a Facebook account. I went through a learning process relating the photography software with another gentleman here on Fishraider and we used Facebook to share screens and walk him through the process. Alternatively I think it might be worth having a chat and see how we can make this work.

it will  be much easier    with  the MP3 to do all i want    the way that i see it ,   like your self i do not like using smart phones,  and i also  don't  know much about technology ,  as i said it was your suggestion that made me aware about  MP3 players and that  one could also  voice record on one  of them , any  other way will take me   quite a while  if i have to learn  with someone's  help  or a lot longer if i had to look up   (how to )   through google  chrome,         it means  a lot to me to have such good help  when ever i need it , stay well and i am sure we will chat again some other time  because i  ask  all sorts of help/advice here  from time to time ,  thank you for all your help    bye for now   .