I'm still trying to figure out all the "MP3 burning" protocols, coming off using standalone component CD recorders for more than a decade -- as I continue to burn compilation mixes of custom selected tracks in different genres, I have been finding that a lot of music today is only available via downloads online (CD singles, which I prefer, are becoming harder and harder to find by any band or act, if one is made at all) including some electronica/house/club stuff I've been seeking. This has forced me to make my compilations from various CDs/CD singles as well as mixed in MP3 file downloads (legally), thus leading me to another query...
Normally, how I have been doing it, is downloading an MP3 file of a song/track I want into a desktop file folder on my PC. I do this until I get all the tracks I want, then I open up my burning software, CDBurnerXP, and insert a blank disc in my PC's drive, eventually burning the songs in the order I want onto the blank and finalizing it. THEN, I take THAT disc and add it to a group of discs I have loaded into my changer and begin burning a custom compilation of tracks onto ANOTHER blank CD-R that's in my CD recorder -- so, the MP3 files are on a CD-R, which I then use to custom-create a mixed compilation on another blank (the disc containing the MP3 files sits in a tray of my CD changer along with various CD singles I'm recording off of to make the custom order of my compilation). I know this sounds crazy and like a TON of work -- when you can just get these songs via online, burn them in the computer and be done with it -- but there are certain editing tricks I do on my CD recorder to allow me to make the songs segway into one another (abrupt pauses so one dance song seems like it's picking up where the last one left off, etc.) and that brings me to my question...
When I use my CDBurnerXP program, it first prompts me with a choice of creating an MP3 data disc, audio disc, ISO disc and some others -- I always choose "audio disc" and then let the program burn the MP3s onto a CD-RW, then take that finalized disc and put it into my changer to use in a mixed project, but what I'm wondering is, what would be the difference in choosing, say, an MP3 disc to burn in the software versus the audio disc? When I choose "audio disc" in the software, it takes the MP3 files and makes them "audio files" doesn't it? What would be the benefit, if anything, of burning the MP3 files as actual MP3 files to a CD-R by choosing "MP3 disc" in the software menu as opposed to "audio" files?
The thing that continues to confuse me is that the gear in my two channel home system and in my car both boast "MP3 playback capability," which I suppose means both the home CD changer and car changer (a JBL system) can play blank CD-R media with MP3 files on them, so what is the difference between taking MP3 files, like I'm doing, then burning them onto a CD-R/RW as AUDIO FILES and taking the same MP3 files and burning them on the CD-R/RW as actual MP3 data? Is it just a space issue on the blanks, with MP3 files allowing much more music to be able to be stored?
Essentially, I suppose what I'm asking is, how should I be burning these MP3 file discs -- should I choose "AUDIO DISC" or "MP3 DISC" when launching the software to burn? I don't really hear an audible difference when burning an MP3 as an "audio file" as opposed to a straight up MP3 file (on the same CD-R) so what's the deal?