1. What is the DSB-R100?
2. What's the difference between MP3 and Wave format?
3. How do I record and play back my music?
4. How do I record a Wave file?
5. How do I convert the recorded wave files to MP3 audio format?
6. Does FM recording and MP3 conversion process occur at the same time?
7. If not, what format the does the resultant FM recording take?
8. What's the MP3 conversion bitrate of the unit?
9. Why won't my DSB-R100 USB Radio work?
10. Windows 98 SE
11. Windows 2000

1. What is the DSB-R100?(Back to top)

The DSB-R100 is a USB PC Radio that has the following features:

• True Plug and Play installation featuring a USB connection
• Full FM Radio reception (no AM)
• Compliant with USB Specification 1.1
• Dipole FM Antenna
• Recording software included in the box
• MP3 Conversion Software included in the box

The DSB-R100 is compatible with Windows 98 and Windows 2000, making it possible for you to listen to your favorite radio station, record songs to your hard drive and play them back at will while simultaneously working on your computer. Just install the software and plug the DSB-R100 into a USB port on your computer. The DSB-R100 is a receiver, it uses your computer's sound system to play the music.

The DSB-R100 includes software MP3 Compressor which enables you to record your favorite programs or music in the MP3 format for playback whenever you want. State of the art radio technology with leading edge custom channel presets and digital sound brings a new level of FM broadcasts directly to your computer.

Displayed in a sleek case, the DSB-R100 has a flexible and detachable antenna. The D-Link DSB-R100 takes very little desk space and is easily transported. It draws its power from your computer's USB port, so its compatible with your laptop too.

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2. What's the difference between MP3 and Wave format?(Back to top)

MP3 and Wave are both formats for recording CD quality audio files. MP3 is a newer format than Wave that enables you to create much smaller files while still retaining CD quality sound.

MP3 compresses audio files, which tend to be very large, into smaller files while still retaining CD quality sound. A minute of music encoded in MP3 requires roughly one tenth the space that older formats like Wave need. A wave file that would take hours to download because of its size can be converted to MP3. The MP3 file would be much smaller and therefore could be transferred in a fraction of the time.

Wave is an older file format. It does not have the compression capability of MP3 and therefore is less desirable, especially in cases where file size needs to be kept small.

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3. How do I record and play back my music?(Back to top)

The music must first be recorded in Wave format and then converted to MP3. This method has several benefits:

• MP3 files can be as small as 1/12 the size of the original Wave file due to its high compression ratio.
• MP3 files have CD quality sound without degradation.
• MP3 is the standard audio file format for the Internet

Before recording a Wave file, make sure the correct format of the file is specified. Wave format refers to the sound channel, Sampling Rate and Size of the file.

To specify the wave format:

1. Select Record Setting in the Options menu and Choose Wave Format dialog box appears.

   

2. Select the format for the wave file.

   Select Mono for one sound channel and Stereo for two sound channels.

   Select 11025Hz for voice, 22050Hz for cassette and 44100Hz for CD quality recording.

   Select 8 bits for cassette and 16 bits for CD sound quality.

3. Choose OK.

There is a trade-off between the quality of a wave file and the amount of storage space required for the file. A wave file with better sound quality requires a larger storage space because of its high sampling rate. The message in the dialog box will inform you how much free disk space is available for recording.

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4. How do I record a Wave file?(Back to top)

To record a wave file:

Click Record button. The animated tape recorder will revolve the length and current location of recorded file will be displayed.

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5. How do I convert the recorded wave files to MP3 audio format?(Back to top)

To convert a Wave file to an MP3 file, you need to install the MP3 Compression software on the CD ROM included with your DSB-R100 or download and install Real Player or other applications that support MP3.

Wave files can be converted to MP3 files quickly and easily. In order to play the wave file you will need to download and install Real Playerİ or other applications that support MP3. You can download the application at http://www.real.com/ and http://www.winamp.com/.

To convert a wave file to an MP3 file:

1. Go to WaveFile and select Wave to MP3 utility.
2. The Enhanced MP3 functions panel appears.

   

3. Browse to the directory the wave file is in and select it the on panel to the right.
4. MPEG Layer 3 format gives you several ranges to choose from. Click on the down arrow and choose the sampling rate. 48000 Hz gives the best sound but uses the most memory.
5. Click on the Wave to MP3 button to convert the file to MP3.
6. Check the box marked Stereo for stereo sound.
7. The MP3 Compressor panel gives you a status report on the file conversion.
8. Click Pause to stop the conversion.

   

9. Play the file using Real Player or another application that supports MP3.

6. Does FM recording and MP3 conversion process occur at the same time?(Back to top)

No. It does not. The music must first be recorded in wave format. An encoder is then used to convert wave files into MP3.

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7. If not, what format the does the resultant FM recording take?(Back to top)

The FM recording is in the .wav format.

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8. What's the MP3 conversion bitrate of the unit?(Back to top)

Using the included MP3 Compressor, the conversion bitrate from .wav file is 128 kb/s. The user can define various sampling rates. However, there are tradeoffs. 48000 Hz yields the best sound quality but uses the most memory.

Bitrate is defined as the average number of bits that one second of audio data consumes.

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