Music formats 101 "Sticky?"

bigaudiofanat · 06-27-2009, 11:53 PM

So I want to shed some light on the different formats out today. The fact of the matter is that almost everyone downloads illegally "I personally do not". But people do not see what they are missing out when they do this. When you download a mp3 or wma file from the internet, not only is the quality very poor but has gotten poorer than from the previous time it was downloaded. Now for some people this is fine. These format mp3 and wma are compressed audio. Weather you rip a cd or download from the web. These formats take the highs and the lows of them song and compress them to the bit rate that you have selected. There are many other formats as well but none as popular as the ones listed. For those that use itunes and buy your songs you are still either getting 128 or 256kbps, so your still compressed.

The standard for most programs is 128kbps than it goes up from there. A normal uncompressed song is around 1035kbps. So what I am getting at is the more compression the worse your music sounds. Now a simple way to get better music is look for better compression rates such as a 320kbps as appose to the standard 128. This will allow the highs and the lows to become more lively. But the best way to avoid compressed music is to buy your cd's. Now a lot of you at this point are saying HA ya but that is tons of money. Well not true, you can get almost any cd from amazon used for around 3 bucks. After getting the cd weather it be from the internet the store or that good friend, the next step is to rip it uncompressed.

For itunes users it is pretty simple just go into your setting and go to the rip tab and select apple lossless. For windows media users go into setting and select Flac or uncompressed. For whatever you use for ripping cd's there should be a setting for uncompressed.

All and all this may not be for everyone, some people do not mind compressed music. Also for people that are happy for thee factory stereo they will still hear a difference just not as much as a aftermarket system. People that just use mp3's for there ipod threw ear buds might not notice the difference unless using a more expensive set of ear buds. All and all I hope this has opened your eyes to a new kind of music. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have.

TacoZ · 06-28-2009, 12:41 AM

+1 Rep for you. You've been very helpful in the Audio/Video threads. Thanks for the contributions.

CBRich · 06-28-2009, 12:56 PM

I personally think ripping lossless is the way to go BUT it must be understood that Apple lossless can be played by an iPod and this is great for stereos with iPod hookups. But lossless formats such as FLAC still don't have good support in the aftermarket arena and ripping this way may not help you when you want to listen in your car.

bigaudiofanat · 06-28-2009, 12:58 PM

But by burning those songs back to a disk they retain there non compressed format. As long as it is not being burned as a mp3 disk.

Phimosis · 06-28-2009, 04:23 PM

The world has moved on. You could call cd's "old school" now. I can't be bothered with a vinyl binder with 100 cd's in it, forever fishing through them to find that ONE song I want to hear. Even the stock head unit rips your cd's to mp3 format. I buy almost all of my music from amazon, but I buy the individual songs as 256kbps mp3's. Sure it's
not lossless, but I work 60 hours per week and have other projects that eat up my free time. Again, I can't be bothered with the huge inconvenience of cd's. If they had a diwnloadable lossless format where I could get individual songs for $.99, I would use it, but so far I haven't seen it.

bigaudiofanat · 06-28-2009, 08:11 PM

I am not forcing you to do this. I am simply stating the facts. I agree if you do not have the time to do this than that is fine. But all I am doing is showing people what they are missing out on.

CBRich · 06-28-2009, 09:00 PM

Burning FLAC songs back to CD is a great way to retain quality but I agree that CDs are done. I need an audio format that can be played through a USB drive or some other device that allows me to pack a ton of songs in a small space. I think Apple Lossless with an iPod and appropriate adapter is possibly the best way to go for top quality audio.

alvinmathew88 · 06-28-2009, 10:47 PM

Im all for high quality music, but trust me ive tried it. But 10,000+ songs in uncompressed format will get easily filled up on a 60gb ipod. Thats why i always keep CDs or rip to my SD card uncompressed. I think that is reason why most people go with compressed and the fact p2p networks have compressed music. That and also most people arent audiophiles and cant tell the difference. Thats why i stick to my shure scl4s!

bigaudiofanat · 06-28-2009, 10:51 PM

Well I use a 160gb iPod and there is a rumor that a 200 is coming out which I will be happy to get.

antennahead · 06-28-2009, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigaudiofanat

So I want to shed some light on the different formats out today. The fact of the matter is that almost everyone downloads illegally "I personally do not". But people do not see what they are missing out when they do this. When you download a mp3 or wma file from the internet, not only is the quality very poor but has gotten poorer than from the previous time it was downloaded. Now for some people this is fine. These format mp3 and wma are compressed audio. Weather you rip a cd or download from the web. These formats take the highs and the lows of them song and compress them to the bit rate that you have selected. There are many other formats as well but none as popular as the ones listed. For those that use itunes and buy your songs you are still either getting 128 or 256kbps, so your still compressed.

The standard for most programs is 128kbps than it goes up from there. A normal uncompressed song is around 1035kbps. So what I am getting at is the more compression the worse your music sounds. Now a simple way to get better music is look for better compression rates such as a 320kbps as appose to the standard 128. This will allow the highs and the lows to become more lively. But the best way to avoid compressed music is to buy your cd's. Now a lot of you at this point are saying HA ya but that is tons of money. Well not true, you can get almost any cd from amazon used for around 3 bucks. After getting the cd weather it be from the internet the store or that good friend, the next step is to rip it uncompressed.

For itunes users it is pretty simple just go into your setting and go to the rip tab and select apple lossless. For windows media users go into setting and select Flac or uncompressed. For whatever you use for ripping cd's there should be a setting for uncompressed.

All and all this may not be for everyone, some people do not mind compressed music. Also for people that are happy for thee factory stereo they will still hear a difference just not as much as a aftermarket system. People that just use mp3's for there ipod threw ear buds might not notice the difference unless using a more expensive set of ear buds. All and all I hope this has opened your eyes to a new kind of music. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Nice to see someone write about what's missing. I have been an audiophile for 30 years, and shudder at the low quality that everyone accepts as the norm today for the sake of convenience.

I am going to be upgrading my Z system soon, and for the sake of convenience as well (sounding like a hypocrite already) , will be looking to record a lot of my CDs onto a recordable DVD at 320kbps, so I can get a lot of material on one disc. The head unit I am looking at supports MP3 on DVD. Can you comment on how noticable this will be in an automobile. From what I have read, uping the rate to 320 makes the recording a lot more transparent to the original. I hate carrying around all those CDs in the car and constantly changing out the disc. Thanks.

John

bigaudiofanat · 06-28-2009, 10:59 PM

The 320 is a good bit rate but you are going to still notice some loss of quality. At that point it starts depending on the quality of your system. A set of focal speakers you will hear what is missing as apposed to a set of pioneers which you will never notice. The closest someone can get to original without being lossless would be 512. That is a spot were things start lossinging up and it is half compressed from the standard rate of a song.

antennahead · 06-28-2009, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigaudiofanat

The 320 is a good bit rate but you are going to still notice some loss of quality. At that point it starts depending on the quality of your system. A set of focal speakers you will hear what is missing as apposed to a set of pioneers which you will never notice. The closest someone can get to original without being lossless would be 512. That is a spot were things start lossinging up and it is half compressed from the standard rate of a song.

But will the head units available today support 512? Most I thought only support to 320.

John

bigaudiofanat · 06-28-2009, 11:17 PM

They do not look at the compression they just look at the format. So yes they will be fine.

06-27-2009, 11:53 PM	#1 (permalink)
bigaudiofanat Car Audio Installer Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Magnolia DE Posts: 8,342 Drives: 2012 Infiniti G37x Rep Power: 853	Music formats 101 "Sticky?" So I want to shed some light on the different formats out today. The fact of the matter is that almost everyone downloads illegally "I personally do not". But people do not see what they are missing out when they do this. When you download a mp3 or wma file from the internet, not only is the quality very poor but has gotten poorer than from the previous time it was downloaded. Now for some people this is fine. These format mp3 and wma are compressed audio. Weather you rip a cd or download from the web. These formats take the highs and the lows of them song and compress them to the bit rate that you have selected. There are many other formats as well but none as popular as the ones listed. For those that use itunes and buy your songs you are still either getting 128 or 256kbps, so your still compressed. The standard for most programs is 128kbps than it goes up from there. A normal uncompressed song is around 1035kbps. So what I am getting at is the more compression the worse your music sounds. Now a simple way to get better music is look for better compression rates such as a 320kbps as appose to the standard 128. This will allow the highs and the lows to become more lively. But the best way to avoid compressed music is to buy your cd's. Now a lot of you at this point are saying HA ya but that is tons of money. Well not true, you can get almost any cd from amazon used for around 3 bucks. After getting the cd weather it be from the internet the store or that good friend, the next step is to rip it uncompressed. For itunes users it is pretty simple just go into your setting and go to the rip tab and select apple lossless. For windows media users go into setting and select Flac or uncompressed. For whatever you use for ripping cd's there should be a setting for uncompressed. All and all this may not be for everyone, some people do not mind compressed music. Also for people that are happy for thee factory stereo they will still hear a difference just not as much as a aftermarket system. People that just use mp3's for there ipod threw ear buds might not notice the difference unless using a more expensive set of ear buds. All and all I hope this has opened your eyes to a new kind of music. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. __________________ Need help with car audio or electronics? Let me know!! Need Help Let Me Know Direct email address reimermatt@gmail.com Owner of: Dynamic Mobile Audio Follow me below https://www.facebook.com/Dynamicmobileaudio/ Last edited by bigaudiofanat; 06-28-2009 at 09:21 AM.

06-28-2009, 12:58 PM	#4 (permalink)
bigaudiofanat Car Audio Installer Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Magnolia DE Posts: 8,342 Drives: 2012 Infiniti G37x Rep Power: 853	But by burning those songs back to a disk they retain there non compressed format. As long as it is not being burned as a mp3 disk. __________________ Need help with car audio or electronics? Let me know!! Need Help Let Me Know Direct email address reimermatt@gmail.com Owner of: Dynamic Mobile Audio Follow me below https://www.facebook.com/Dynamicmobileaudio/ Last edited by bigaudiofanat; 06-28-2009 at 02:01 PM.

06-28-2009, 08:11 PM	#6 (permalink)
bigaudiofanat Car Audio Installer Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Magnolia DE Posts: 8,342 Drives: 2012 Infiniti G37x Rep Power: 853	I am not forcing you to do this. I am simply stating the facts. I agree if you do not have the time to do this than that is fine. But all I am doing is showing people what they are missing out on. __________________ Need help with car audio or electronics? Let me know!! Need Help Let Me Know Direct email address reimermatt@gmail.com Owner of: Dynamic Mobile Audio Follow me below https://www.facebook.com/Dynamicmobileaudio/

06-28-2009, 10:51 PM	#9 (permalink)
bigaudiofanat Car Audio Installer Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Magnolia DE Posts: 8,342 Drives: 2012 Infiniti G37x Rep Power: 853	Well I use a 160gb iPod and there is a rumor that a 200 is coming out which I will be happy to get. __________________ Need help with car audio or electronics? Let me know!! Need Help Let Me Know Direct email address reimermatt@gmail.com Owner of: Dynamic Mobile Audio Follow me below https://www.facebook.com/Dynamicmobileaudio/

06-28-2009, 10:59 PM	#11 (permalink)
bigaudiofanat Car Audio Installer Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Magnolia DE Posts: 8,342 Drives: 2012 Infiniti G37x Rep Power: 853	The 320 is a good bit rate but you are going to still notice some loss of quality. At that point it starts depending on the quality of your system. A set of focal speakers you will hear what is missing as apposed to a set of pioneers which you will never notice. The closest someone can get to original without being lossless would be 512. That is a spot were things start lossinging up and it is half compressed from the standard rate of a song. __________________ Need help with car audio or electronics? Let me know!! Need Help Let Me Know Direct email address reimermatt@gmail.com Owner of: Dynamic Mobile Audio Follow me below https://www.facebook.com/Dynamicmobileaudio/

06-28-2009, 12:41 AM	#2 (permalink)
TacoZ Enthusiast Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Southern California Posts: 319 Drives: 09 370Z PW M6 Rep Power: 17	+1 Rep for you. You've been very helpful in the Audio/Video threads. Thanks for the contributions.

06-28-2009, 12:56 PM	#3 (permalink)
CBRich A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: SC Posts: 2,464 Drives: 370Z Rep Power: 544	I personally think ripping lossless is the way to go BUT it must be understood that Apple lossless can be played by an iPod and this is great for stereos with iPod hookups. But lossless formats such as FLAC still don't have good support in the aftermarket arena and ripping this way may not help you when you want to listen in your car.

06-28-2009, 04:23 PM	#5 (permalink)
Phimosis Enthusiast Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Oildale, CA Posts: 412 Drives: 2013 911 4S Rep Power: 416	The world has moved on. You could call cd's "old school" now. I can't be bothered with a vinyl binder with 100 cd's in it, forever fishing through them to find that ONE song I want to hear. Even the stock head unit rips your cd's to mp3 format. I buy almost all of my music from amazon, but I buy the individual songs as 256kbps mp3's. Sure it's not lossless, but I work 60 hours per week and have other projects that eat up my free time. Again, I can't be bothered with the huge inconvenience of cd's. If they had a diwnloadable lossless format where I could get individual songs for $.99, I would use it, but so far I haven't seen it.

06-28-2009, 09:00 PM	#7 (permalink)
CBRich A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: SC Posts: 2,464 Drives: 370Z Rep Power: 544	Burning FLAC songs back to CD is a great way to retain quality but I agree that CDs are done. I need an audio format that can be played through a USB drive or some other device that allows me to pack a ton of songs in a small space. I think Apple Lossless with an iPod and appropriate adapter is possibly the best way to go for top quality audio.

06-28-2009, 10:47 PM	#8 (permalink)
alvinmathew88 Enthusiast Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Irving, TX Posts: 268 Drives: 97 Civic Ex Coupe Rep Power: 16	Im all for high quality music, but trust me ive tried it. But 10,000+ songs in uncompressed format will get easily filled up on a 60gb ipod. Thats why i always keep CDs or rip to my SD card uncompressed. I think that is reason why most people go with compressed and the fact p2p networks have compressed music. That and also most people arent audiophiles and cant tell the difference. Thats why i stick to my shure scl4s!

06-28-2009, 11:17 PM	#13 (permalink)
bigaudiofanat Car Audio Installer Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Magnolia DE Posts: 8,342 Drives: 2012 Infiniti G37x Rep Power: 853	They do not look at the compression they just look at the format. So yes they will be fine. __________________ Need help with car audio or electronics? Let me know!! Need Help Let Me Know Direct email address reimermatt@gmail.com Owner of: Dynamic Mobile Audio Follow me below https://www.facebook.com/Dynamicmobileaudio/

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