How to create an audio cd ISO image from mp3, free?

Hmmm, I don't think that actually will create the image of an audio cd though?

I mean, I want it to encode the mo3s into cda files too.

use nero - that will burn it to the cd as CDA.

img burn will allow you to convert a folder or files into an iso etc , if not then what about cd ex ?

I have nero but it doesn't allow me to create an image, just to cd / dvd.

if you use nero smart wizard you should be able to select the type of disc you want to do ie audio, data etc and then go from there and it should allow you to select mp3's etc and it should just burn it straight to an audio cd not a data cd.

Also if you open nero and click on new it should give you the options down the left hand side

I only have Nero Express Essentials.

However, I did select and audio cd project on the first screen then add mp3s but it didn't allow me to select an image at the end.

To my knowledge CDA pointer files are only able to be created using the red book authoring method.
Can you explain why you want to do this? An ISO image is a duplicate of the files -- so you would end up with mp3 files, which don't play on all players -- and you certainly can't use CDA pointer files with mp3s.

We'll sometime ago I ripped a lot of cds, but I didn't get the id3 tag information for them.

I've since put all my cds in the loft.

I thought that if I could make cd images then mount those images, Windows media plater could get me the id3 information.

If you mean you ripped actual audio CDs, which use CDAs as pointer files (and are authored to the red book standard -- not mp3s) then they wouldn't have any id3 tags as such. They would just have Track 1, Track 2, etc. The method to get the ID3 tags is to go to one of the various sites on the internet, which can associate id3 tags with the various mp3 songs.

get cd burner xp se - that should allow you to burn mp3's into a normal audio cd or deep burn or deep burner ( cant remmeber the name ).

ID3 tags as per above are only related to MP3's / MP3 Pro files as far as I am aware - could be wrong as onbviously wma and og vorbis files must have some sort of way of having that similar kind of information.

Since you say you have the CDs in the loft, it's much easier (in my opinion) to get them again and rip them in iTunes, which is very good at reading the red book audio "CD text" which is somewhere at the start of the CD. This contains all the info. Itunes will then automatically make ID3 tags out of this for your mp3 or m4a files (whichever you want).
If you didn't grab the tags the first time around I can't see how you would magically find them by making an image of the mp3 files that don't already show them. As stated you can also go to websites and fish around for ID3 tags to match your music -- but I'd say it's much easier to re-do the project.

why not just get the original cd's and get clone cd or img burn - to either create direct copies of the discs or create an iso of each disc and use alcohol 120% to load the iso's - surely that would be easier then all this mp3 stuff. Although saying that it would take up more room but would be better quality.

Depends if you want to save on space and do something as per above with itunes or a similiar program or just make direct copies?

I know I could do these things, but this doesn't answer my original question.

get a cd rw ( as in a re writable one ) for test purposes - get winamp or some ID3 TAG editing tool and edit the ID3 tags of the mp3's and then use the img burn util mentioned Above and create an iso by following the guide from the img burn site :

http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=5555

which shows you how to make an audio cd using img burn - if you look at the bottom of the page it shows you how to burn the cue file / img file - obviously the above option also allows you to alter the ID3 tags / the cd track text or w/e its called without using winamp as per above.

I'm confused, I though to create an image I would need to encode or decode the mp3s.

Also, this screen.
http://forum.imgburn.com/uploads/monthly_02_2008/post-1-1203689714.png

It has 3 files for each track what are all they for ?

If u click the folder at the top right u can add ur mp3 or audio files and from there alter the cd text

<We'll sometime ago I ripped a lot of cds, but I didn't get the id3 tag information for them.
I've since put all my cds in the loft.
I thought that if I could make cd images then mount those images, Windows media plater could get me the id3 information.>

Let's focus on this statement: You ripped your CDs but didn't access the 'CD text', which could have been converted to ID3 tags for your mp3s. So you have no information in your mp3 fles (no ID3 tags) so I don't understand why you think by making an image of these files that you will magically produce information that doesn't exist?