What is a typical size for a five min CD?

Answer 1

To answer your question correctly, I'll have to make some assumptions as well as state certain facts. Assumption 1: You wish to burn a five minute song onto a blank CD. Fact 1: A standard CD is rated in terms of capacity (Mb) as well as Playing time. Its total capacity is 700 MB while its total playing time is 80 minutes. Fact 2: Music files have different file types (formats) such as MP3; WAV; WMA, etc. Assumption 2: You will most likely use an MP3 file format for your song(s) given that that it's a universal format that can be played on most portable devices; PCs and home based sound systems. Fact 3: Within the MP3 file format, there are several compression rates and I'll highlight the 3 most commonly used: High Stereo quality: 256 kbps. Normal Stereo quality: 128 kbps. Economy Mono quality: 64 kbps. Assumption 3: You will most likely use the "Normal Stereo quality: 128 kbps" option given that it's a good compromise between sound quality and file size. Fact 4: A five minute MP3 file (Normal Stereo quality) would require approximately 8 Mb of a CD's data capacity. However, when burning MP3 music files onto a CD, it is always wiser to use the "playing time" of each song with reference to the total playing time of "80 minutes" for a standard CD. As an example, if you have 16 "five minute" MP3 songs to burn, you should logically be able to burn 16 songs onto a blank CD. Right? Wrong; because you must account for the "time lapse" in between each song which consumes "playing time". Therefore, you would probably be able to burn 13 to 14 "five minute" MP3 songs onto a blank CD. Note:If you had used a "five minute" MP3 song's 8 Mb capacity as a measuring gauge, it would give you the false impression that you could record approximately 87 (700 Mb divided by 8 Mb) MP3 songs onto the CD. That's why it's wiser to use "song duration" in conjunction with CD duration.