Digital music: Poll: What is your favorite audio format?
- 1/18/08 2:42 PM
I use AAC
by climber109 - 1/18/08 9:56 PM In reply to: Poll: What is your favorite audio format? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I use AAC because it is far superior to MP3 and is supported on the iPod. I don't use a lossless format because I honestly can't tell the difference between a WAV and a 192kbps AAC. Interestingly enough, AAC is being supported by more and more devices every day.
Apple Lossless
by robertmro - 1/18/08 9:57 PM In reply to: Poll: What is your favorite audio format? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Big files, but the name says it all.
i agree with you
by tech_junkie14 - 3/3/08 8:58 PM In reply to: Apple Lossless by robertmroI totally agree with you
apple lossless has noticeably higher quality music
I can hear things in a song that would've otherwise been left
out by compressing it. It sounds much better in lossless format.
it may take up more space on my ipod touch but, the sound is phenomenal!!
MP3
by ktreb - 1/18/08 10:29 PM In reply to: Poll: What is your favorite audio format? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
It's as universal as it gets. Plays on my phone, pda, iPods, and non- iPods. Lossless formats are pointless for me as I have some hearing loss.
Great Combination EAC & Ogg
by charl114 - 1/18/08 11:40 PM In reply to: Poll: What is your favorite audio format? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
For sheer musicality in a compressed format I choose Ogg Vorbis at a bit rate of 224 kbps. After extensive testing this sounds so close to WAV or Flac that the differences are acceptable (and I am VERY particular about sound quality) unfortunately most pocket players do not support OGG files but I have a couple of players from Samsung - and the wonderful YP-Z5 gives a great listening experience.
Essential is that you rip your CD's properly, I have a 2000+ collection and the only rip program I trust is Exact Audio Copy (available free for download), this features secure ripping and guarantees to pull ALL of the music off CD's. It is not the fastest program but there is nothing else ou there that gives anything like the definition that EAC does.
I have been using this combination (along with Apollo, Foobar or JetAudio for playback) for quite some time now and am very happy with it. As a second best I sometimes use LAME (MP3 compatible) but Ogg still gives the most musical reproduction; MP3 can sound dry and harsh, WMA a bit muddy, FLAC is great if you have ths disc space (and sounds slightly better than Ogg - but it's lossless, so it should).
A final tip - anything is better that Windows Media Player for listening to music. Apollo is a simple no-frills player with phenomenal sound quality, Foobar can be customised to maximise performance within a system and JetAudio is an excellent all-round player. All available as Freeware.
Not just purely theoretical or rhetoric....
by peter_b123 - 1/18/08 11:48 PM In reply to: Poll: What is your favorite audio format? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
But there is no such thing as a "lossless" compression. Compression implies re-represnting data. As such, in order to re-represent (compress) music files, there are elements of the dynamic range (musical elements) that are lost.
It is true that some compression algorithms are better at representing certain types of audio are out there, but none are perfect.
I like the MP3 format because there is no good DRM for it. No verification if I am entitled to play that MP3. That's what I like the best.
MP3 is not the only DRM-free format
by endaugust - 2/1/08 9:17 AM In reply to: Not just purely theoretical or rhetoric.... by peter_b123ALL formats can be DRM-free, not just MP3. And that includes WMA and AAC (there are options to rip them without protection in both WMP and iTunes).
DRM protected WMA or AAC are the music files bought from iTunes and Microsoft music stores. That has nothing to do with the format but rather having to do with the stores.
Wrong - there is lossless compression.
by baldwinl - 3/10/08 8:16 AM In reply to: Not just purely theoretical or rhetoric.... by peter_b123For example, you could just zip the WAV file. That would be lossless compression. You have to differentiate between compressing the file (lossless) and compressing the data (typically lossy). You can see the same thing in image files, where there is lossless JPEG (just file compression) and lossy JPEG (which gives rise to all kinds of loss of detail and artifacts).
FLAC
by fliv - 1/19/08 6:21 AM In reply to: Poll: What is your favorite audio format? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Free, Lossless.
I resent being part of the upgrade game and shelling out money for Windows and Office every few years. At least I can archive my music for free.
I second/third for FLAC
by Mindstyle06 - 1/19/08 6:48 AM In reply to: FLAC by flivMost of the digital music players today available are for mp3 codec only i.e. mp3 codec is universally supported so I prefer mp3 format for lossy compression. Depending on the type of music I decide the bitrate but least is 192kbps using Exact Audio Copy and lame codec.
If I want to rip lossless then I would go for FLAC, only issue here is very few companies support FLAC so you will have to listen it over the computer, no mobility here except you buy Meizu or similar player.
Taking into falling account cost of media FLAC may become my next format of choice. I am not at all fan of mp3 really.
MP3
by smosner - 1/19/08 7:45 AM In reply to: Poll: What is your favorite audio format? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
MP3 is the most used out there is the USA, but europe uses different formats, I just change to MP3!!!
What is your favorite audio format?
by gunnerds - 1/19/08 10:30 AM In reply to: Poll: What is your favorite audio format? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Mp3 Because it works on all MP3 players, most DVD players and most any other music type plyer like game players etc.
MP 3 for this ole redneck
by slimsss2 - 1/19/08 2:18 PM In reply to: What is your favorite audio format? by gunnerdsSanta brought the wife a new Kenwood stereo(installed) for her car with a USB port,,bought a 8GB flash drive,currently have 1360 songs on it with 1+ GB to go.....Santa was so nice to her "Santa" got a new P/U truck with MP3 CD 6 disk changer ....I can get 100 songs/CD.....What a guy that Santa! REAL trucks don't use Spark Plugs
MP3 is the Best Way to Go
by say592 - 1/19/08 11:23 AM In reply to: Poll: What is your favorite audio format? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
MP3 has relatively universal support. To me, that is the most important.
I know that if I get rid of my Zune and go back to an iPod, it will work. When I had my iPod, I knew that I could get a new MP3 player, and not have to worry about somethings not transferring over well.
When my brother was living in my basement, and using my computer to manage his iPod, we were able to share a mass music library, because everything was in MP3. It worked with both my Zune, and his iPod.
Now, I know several other formats work with most major MP3 players, but its the principal. MP3 works natively with all of them. They dont have to convert it as its transfered to the player.
I use only lossless
by Ed Mead - 1/19/08 11:30 AM
In reply to: Poll: What is your favorite audio format? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Flac, Ape, WavPack along with EAC using correct settings. Anything else is a waste of time with hard drives at such a low cost. If I want something for a portable, mp3 is it, unless Ogg is supported. Ogg is a better lossy format then mp3.
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