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Grex > Music3 > #162: Your favourite audio storage format |  |
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| 25 new of 85 responses total. |
micklpkl
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response 50 of 85:
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Oct 29 18:55 UTC 2003 |
In addressing the latter part of resp:48, I would guess that your friend's
software is using either the cddb or the freedb music database. I do know that
Exact Audio Copy (EAC) now uses the freedb database, available at:
http://www.freedb.org/freedb_search.php
fwiw, I have downloaded and installed EAC from the website given in
resp:49.
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mcnally
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response 51 of 85:
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Oct 29 19:10 UTC 2003 |
Or you can use FLAC, which is another audio compression protocol.
Unlike MP3, however, FLAC is not "lossy" -- i.e. if you compress
something and then uncompress it you should wind up with exactly
the same collection of bits you started from..
When people mention "CDDB lookup" for getting track names, they're talking
about the same type of service, though not necessarily from the exact
same database (unfortunately there was a schism a few years ago when a
commercial company bought up the original CDDB and changed the license
terms so that a lot of free software was unable to continue using it.
So most commercial packages use the original CDDB, while many of the
freeware tools use FreeDB.)
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jep
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response 52 of 85:
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Oct 29 19:20 UTC 2003 |
Are .avi files compressed? I've seen full-length animated Disney
movies which occupied 700 MB or less of disk; are animated movies just
inherently smaller than other movies?
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scott
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response 53 of 85:
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Oct 29 19:24 UTC 2003 |
http://www.allmusic.com is a great resource for tracking down artists and
albums.
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mcnally
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response 54 of 85:
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Oct 29 20:33 UTC 2003 |
In my opinion, the All Music Guide ( http://www.allmusic.com )
is one of the best sites on the web. A huge amount of information
all of which is extensively cross-referenced, vastly improving
the usefulness of the whole collection.
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goose
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response 55 of 85:
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Oct 29 21:04 UTC 2003 |
changes are a-comin' on down the line....
RE#52 - Yes, AVI's are generally compressed.
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gull
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response 56 of 85:
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Oct 29 21:44 UTC 2003 |
AVI is, in fact, just a structure for video files. Internally AVIs can use
just about any compression encoding, or no compression at all, for video and
audio. There are at least half a dozen compression schemes in common use,
though at at given time one or two are the "favorites". Currently DIVX and
XVID are the most common for bootleg movies.
This can make AVIs a bit frustrating, since there's no clear answer to the
question "what software do I need to play an AVI?"
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drew
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response 57 of 85:
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Oct 30 01:41 UTC 2003 |
I have a digicam which records video in files with an .AVI extension. When
I try to play these in either Win98's media player or the media player on a
Sharp PDA, the software complains that the required decompression plugin
or whatever is not available. How to fix this?
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gull
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response 58 of 85:
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Oct 30 13:52 UTC 2003 |
Find out what compression format your digicam is using, and install the
codec for it. Did the digicam come with any software on CD? It may be
on there. You might also try the manufacturer's website.
Alternatively, if you're using a really old version of Windows Media
Player, you may want to upgrade. The newer versions seem to support
more formats, and are better about downloading codecs they don't have
installed for you.
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dbratman
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response 59 of 85:
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Oct 30 17:47 UTC 2003 |
Maybe I don't need EAC, as I have now tried ripping CDs using my
existing program, and copying them on to a new CD, and it seems to work
pretty well. A few of the features are awkward, though, so maybe I
will investigate further. My existing program offers two file formats,
WAV which it says is uncompressed, and another format also beginning
with the letter W which it says is even more compressed than MP3.
So I tried this allmusic.com and first looked up Steeleye Span, my
favorite folk-rock band. The bio is about 8 years out of date, their
most recent new album (released in '02) is missing, some repackagings
are listed and some aren't, some albums that are listed don't have
track listings, and the band's "tones" are characterized as "Reverent,
Gentle, Organic, Restrained, Intimate" which is ridiculous. Even the
bio knows better than that.
Then I tried some obscure modern classical composers on the associated
www.allclassical.com and was somewhat more impressed. For Baroque
composers, somewhat less so.
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mcnally
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response 60 of 85:
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Oct 30 19:42 UTC 2003 |
All Music Guide lists a live album for Steeleye Span in 2002 and
one video, plus several 2003 releases.
As far as the "tones" section goes, those are compiled from a
consensus of reader assessments of the band, not the editorial
opinions of the site.
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tpryan
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response 61 of 85:
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Nov 2 20:31 UTC 2003 |
I use Audiograbber for getting CD tracks to .wav files. The
1.82 version will now look at your disk first, to see if it has CD-text
and use that for the suggestted track/file names. Audiograbber (find
via google) also recommends you get the LAME DLL mp3 encoder file and
install it in the same directory as the audiograbber .exe file and it
will give a very good graphic interface to that command line program.
Audiograbber can also do the FreeDB/ CDDB lookups. You may have to
do the lookups, then disconnect from the internet before procedding
with the ripping to make sure you don't get a CPU use glich. It does
give various warnings for possible speed/CPU problems. It also lets
you do things like put it into 'silence hating' mode, cutting the two
seconds between tracks down to a half second or so. For stand alone
tracks, I would recommend some silence before and after (I edit to
1/3 second before, 2/3 second after--that 25 frames and 50 frames of
the 75 frames per second, the unit of time that a CD sees). Okay,
now I can talk about AG being able to be set to grab at x amount of
frames (or frame number before) a CD track mark, that can help
on CD tracks that might be a little mis-tracked, or on those songs
that occupy two tracks on a CD, but sound better as one MP3 file.
I have bunches of Cd-Rs filled with mp3s, 98% of them being
Dr. Demento shows.
I have both a portable DAT recorder and a home deck. The
portable needs repair. Anyone know someone good at that?
My RioVolt portable CD/mp3-CD player did undergo a
firmware upgrade. It now can resume play where a disk stopped. IN
fact, I think it can keep track of up to 10 CDs and the resume
point.
Do any of the newer, cheaper CD/mp3-CD playes allow resume
where you left off? Be able to access the .m3u file as a programmable
feature? Easily search within the file in additon to skip to next
file?
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keesan
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response 62 of 85:
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Nov 3 00:06 UTC 2003 |
What is your DAT recorder not doing? Jim likes to fix things that are
mechanical and tapes are mechanical. The rubber parts wear out.
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gull
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response 63 of 85:
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Nov 3 14:13 UTC 2003 |
My Jensen MP-3310 in-dash MP3 player remembers where I left off in the
current CD, but it can't remember more than one stopping point. If I
eject the disc it forgets.
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mynxcat
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response 64 of 85:
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Nov 3 15:23 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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goose
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response 65 of 85:
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Nov 4 01:59 UTC 2003 |
RE#61 -- www.nxtgentech.com is the only place I trust with my DAT repairs.
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dbratman
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response 66 of 85:
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Nov 8 06:25 UTC 2003 |
Mike McNally wrote,
"All Music Guide lists a live album for Steeleye Span in 2002 and one
video, plus several 2003 releases."
Nevertheless, as I wrote earlier, their most recent new album (released
in '02) is missing. The recent stuff that is listed is ephemera.
"As far as the 'tones' section goes, those are compiled from a
consensus of reader assessments of the band, not the editorial
opinions of the site."
Which makes it even more bizarre that they could be characterized
as "Reverent, Gentle, Organic, Restrained, Intimate." Some individual
bozo who'd never heard the band and had a preconceived notion of folk
music might have come up with that, but not any group of knowledgable
listeners. I suspect either a very small sampling of readers and/or
the kind of options checklist that never has the phrasings you want.
If you want to defend this hapless entry, you'll have to do better than
that.
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willcome
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response 67 of 85:
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Nov 27 08:12 UTC 2003 |
whore.
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mcnally
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response 68 of 85:
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Dec 31 05:46 UTC 2003 |
Since this is the audio-storage discussion item, I have a question
for the minidisc users out there (e.g. Scott..)
My nephew, who covets my iPod, was lobbying for an MP3 player for
Christmas. What he and his mother (my sister) selected turned out
to be a Sony "NetMD" MiniDisc recorder (model MZ-NF610)
I've known satisfied minidisc owners before, but have never used one
myself and am not quite sure what I'm supposed to be able to do with
this one. To begin with, the packaging for this player claims to
support MP3, WMW, and WAV as well as Sony's native ATRAC format but
so far I've been unable to put anything but ATRAC on disc using the
software provided. Looking more closely at the packaging, although
the large print says "MP3 / WMA / WAV compatible" the small print
reads "Plays back ATRAC3 audio, supports MP3, WMA, WAV". What does
that mean? Will it store and play MP3s or does "supports MP3" mean
that it converts MP3 files to ATRAC before storing them on the minidisc?
Also, although the packaging claims "5 hours of music on one minidisc"
the discs are rated as 74 or 80 minute discs and I was able to transfer
(at a rough guess) 150 minutes of music on my first attempt. Again
reading the fine print, I see something about "LP2" and "LP4" modes.
What's the difference and what's the approximate capacity of an 80 min
disc in megabytes?
Finally, I had a pretty negative reaction to the software provided.
I'm not going to have to keep this gadget but as the family techie
I *am* going to be expected to make it work and to provide remote
tech support for the life of the device. I guess what I'm looking
for is some assurance that minidisc is still worth putting some time
into and that I shouldn't just tell my nephew to take the thing back
to the store and get a hard-drive based player like an iPod or a
Dell DJ (btw, has anyone used one of those yet?)
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other
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response 69 of 85:
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Dec 31 15:46 UTC 2003 |
Cynically, I'd suggest that "supports x,y,z formats" means it is
possible to record those formats on the disc for storage or use in
other devices, but not necessarily to play them back on that device.
Just a guess.
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mcnally
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response 70 of 85:
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Dec 31 16:48 UTC 2003 |
Yes, that's what I'm wondering.. Unless you can really store several
hours' worth of MP3s on a disc I'm going to recommend to Ramsey that
he return this player.
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tod
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response 71 of 85:
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Dec 31 18:51 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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mynxcat
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response 72 of 85:
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Dec 31 19:03 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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tod
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response 73 of 85:
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Dec 31 19:35 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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mcnally
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response 74 of 85:
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Jan 1 04:05 UTC 2004 |
I don't know what Ramsey will prefer but when I encode my own MP3s I
generally use LAME with the "--alt-preset=standard" command-line flag
which encodes variable bit-rate MP3s that average about 160kbps.
I can typically get 8-10 hours' worth of music on one 80 minute CD
at that quality, so ~5 hours' worth of music on one Minidisc doesn't
seem at all farfetched to me..
He could have an MP3/CD device that plays MP3s from CD-Rs for less
money (plus the media is about 1/10 the cost) but the CD-based devices
can't match an important attraction of either the minidisc-based or
the harddrive-based players -- pocket-sized form factor.
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