MP3 players forum: Transferring CDs to MP3 vs. WMA vs. OGG ... etc....???

I'd stick with a 192-kbit mp3. While there are better file formats out there - WMA, AAC, OGGS, AIFF - for those interested in lossy compression, and - WMA, Apple lossless, SHN, FLAC - if you want lossless.

While I prefer AAC to use with my iPod, it won't play on older macs with iTunes. I wouldn't ever touch WMA because my iPod won't play it, and something encoded in WMA might not play on older versions of media player.

If you are to dare and go with a file format, I'd choose AAC. Apple is the leader in mp3 players right now, and their music store is quite popular which uses a protected version of the AAC format. Also, I don't know anyone that uses Media player as their default mp3 player. I use iTunes, PC and Mac, and the ripping is pretty straight forward, you can even rip into MP3, AAC, AIFF, or Apple lossless audio.

-john

Each to their own I suppose. Personally of the opinion that everyone should use iTunes (there is no better or more intuitive music file manager) and encode AAC format/m4a whatever you want to call it (you'd obviously need an iPod as well) at 128kbps. You'd have to have a dog's hearing to differentiate between 128kbps AAC and 192kbps mp3. As for those of you who do it at 320kpbs - WHY? Waste of h/d space and if you really think you can tell the difference then you're either (a) a liar or (b) a cocker spaniel.

I think whether you can hear the difference or not may depend on the type of music you listen to. If what you are listening to didn't make any difference, then I will agree with you..why waste space?

>>>Do not use WMA unless you would like to be at Bill's whim also DRM will not allow you to enhance the files (i.e. raise volume level,clean up background noise, ect.).<<<

Sorry but that's just not true. DRM is OFF by default when encoding with the WMP. Also, Bill Gates does not work in the Windows Media Group at Microsoft. Windows Media Player 9 actually gives one far more control over rights management issues that the other mainstream encoders and players that I have had experience with.

It would seem that you have not had any direct experience with Windows Media Player 9 or you would not have made your ficticious comments nor added your venemous jab at Bill Gates.

There is no perfect format. You should choose based on where you want to play your music and how much music you have.

First off, MP3 is definitely not the best sounding codec available. It performs terribly at low bitrates and averagely at high ones. However, I still use it for one simple reason - compatibility. Almost any portable media player will play it. If you want to use MP3, encode using LAME and use one of the --alt-preset settings. Don't use constant bitrate if you can avoid it. 128kbps is not CD quality. If you want perfect quality don't bother using 320kbps, just use a lossless codec. There are different MP3 decoders out there too, so what program or device you play your MP3 with may change the quality you hear. If you use Winamp, download and install the MAD plugin (it sounds much better than the built-in decoder).

WMA has better quality bit-for-bit than MP3, though claims that it sounds the same at 64kbps as an MP3 at 128kbps are way out of proportion. An MP3 at 128kbps will sound much better. DRM (Digital Rights Management) will disable encrypted files from playing anywhere other than on the computer you encoded on so it's probably best to make sure this is off in WMP's options. I'm not sure if it's on or off by default but I know that the first time you rip a CD with Media Player 9 it asks if you want it enabled or not.

Ogg Vorbis is probably the best format quality-wise, especially at low bitrates. It is completely free and is open source. The problem with Ogg is that it's not widely supported (not many portable players will read it).

I haven't had much experience with AAC, but it is definitely a better quality codec than MP3, it is standardized and is supported by iPods.

If you are a quality fanatic, have lots of hard drive space and don't plan to use a portable player, use a lossless codec. Lossless codecs will reduce the filesize of your audio without removing any audio data (whereas other "lossy" codecs modify the audio data to achieve smaller file sizes), so there is no difference when played from the original source. There won't be much (if any) noticeable difference between a lossless file and a lossy file encoded at a high bitrate, but where a lossy compression format will get an 8:1 compression ratio with good quality, a lossless codec will usually put out a file about half the size of the uncompressed file. There are several lossless codecs (Monkey's Audio - APE, Free Lossless Audio Codec - FLAC, Apple Lossless, WMA Lossless to name a few of the more popular ones) and the main difference between them is hardware and software support rather than file size.

While it is true that Musepack is the best lossy codec for higher bitrates, it does not perform so well at lower bitrates. It also has far less support than MP3 or Ogg Vorbis (no portable players can play it that I am aware of, and most media player software on PCs requires special plugins to decode it).

Type WMP MINI FAQ into http://www.google.com

The first hit is the FAQ. But I am unsure if turning this off will wipe out your collection. Maybe it should happen since it will be lost someday due to DRM anyhow. They didn't get a clean method to move such to a new machine.

For me, DRM = NO SALE.

Bob

Two noted ones for Windows are...

CDEX and EAC

You choose?

Bob

I dowloaded some music that is encrypted wma format. I've tried many programs to convert it to mp3 format to put in my player. Obviously to no avail, is there a trick to convert the encrypted wma file to a mp3 file?

Yes. If the online music vendor gives you burning permissions, you can use Windows Media Player to burn an audio-CD from the encrypted WMA tracks, and then rip the CD back to MP3 format.

Not true. I've heard Audiophiles complaining about Ogg's noise-shaping.

And there's one huge drawback to Ogg - very few MP3 player support it, so if you rip your whole collection to Ogg, you'll have to convert songs from Ogg to MP3 to use them on hardware MP3 players.

I have had some experience with it. Although it does sound a lot better than WMA or standard MP3 at a low bitrate, it lacks support for higher bitrates, and also it sounds like garbage on players that don't support it.

The format keeps some of the sound data in standard MP3 format, but encodes some of the other data in a special way that only mp3PRO-aware players can decode. This means that the file will be usable on both normal and mp3PRO players, but unfortunately the quality of sound on regular MP3 players is awful. Proper mp3PRO support is in a few programs - MusicMatch (which you shouldn't use, get EAC or CDex), Nero and Winamp (via a downloadable plugin), but most portables can't play it in full quality.