[LMB] MP3 advice

[Mark Allums]

Meg Justus wrote:
> Thanks for all the thoughts.  I didn't realize that MP3 
players were that cheap.  I think that's the route I'm going
to go.  It sounds almost as easy as using my digital camera.
> 
> Megaera
> now wondering how much disk space your average MP3 CD would 
take up on one's hard drive and/or flash drive

Regarding disk space, get an audio player that plays WMA (Windows audio 
file) and you get either much better sound quality at half the storage 
space, or just-as-good-as quality at half the storage space.  However, 
you are tied to that format if you choose it.  Not a bad thing, as 
Windows won't go away soon.

Most players know about MP3 and WMA.  You might look for a player that 
knows about AAC files, or OGG files.  AAC is the format for non-DRMed 
Apple codec files (the protected files are M4P's)  OGG is the 
open-source, patent-free file format.  Ogg Vorbis is the name of the 
open source audio codec.  (A codec is a "coder/decoder" for 
analog-to-digital conversion, such as audio files.

DRM is Digital Rights Management, a euphemistic term that means 
"copy-protected".  DRM is evil.  Because, it makes using restricted 
files and players a big hassle.  If you go to the Wal-Mart website and 
download a song for 88 cents, that song will be restricted to play only 
on the one computer, and may be restricted to only sync to the one music 
player.  You have to backup your license to play that song, in case your 
computer quits, so you can transfer it to another computer.  Some music 
stores don't allow a transfer; some don't allow you to backup your 
license; there are all kinds of gotchas.  It is usually better to buy a 
CD and rip it.  You end up with a DRM-free file that will go anywhere.

You can encode audio in any of these formats.  Each has some advantages 
and disadvantages.

MP3s are one of the oldest formats, and the first to take off in 
popularity.  Its advantage is that it is universal and DRM-free.  The 
disadvantage is that it is somewhat bulky compared to the newer formats. 
     That is, it takes a larger file to achieve "transparency".

Transparency is the point at which most people can't distinguish between 
an MP3 and the original CD.

MP3 quality is generally correlated with the "bit-rate" of the encoded 
file.  Bit-rate is the amount of information (per second of playback) 
used to encode the data.  Higher bit-rates generally mean higher quality 
sound.  The consensus is that 192 kbits/sec is enough for transparency 
with MP3s.

WMA files have the advantage that it is a more economical format, 128 
kbits/sec is generally regarded as more than enough of a bit-rate for 
music.  Also, it is quite easy to encode sound to WMA's, as Windows 
Media Player regards WMA's as the native format.

AAC, or Apple Audio Codec, is the iTunes Native format.  Some players 
(other than iPods) can play AAC files.  They may be hard to locate.  It 
has about the same quality as WMA.  M4P is the copy-protected format 
that songs bought from the iTunes Store come in.  (Although Apple is 
offering some non-protected songs now; they cost 30 cents extra.)

ATRAC is the Sony proprietary format; Sony player know about it.  There 
is no advantage to it.

OGG is the free-in-every-sense format that (in theory) is not encumbered 
by proprietary code, patents, etc.  OGG is a little better than MP3 for 
storage economy, about 160 kbits/sec is transparent.  OGG files can be 
played by Windows Media Player by installing a plugin.  However, OGG 
files cannot be added to your music library.  The advantage to OGG is 
that you can feel good about being open-source and free.  A few player 
can play OGG files, they may be hard to find.  I like OGG, I use it on 
my computer, but my Philips GoGear player can't play them, so I have to 
encode in WMA for it.

There are many players.  Some cheap ones have few features, but have the 
advantage of running on AA or AAA batteries.  A few players can use 
memory cards like digital cameras.  Others have 80 or 120 gig hard disks 
and let you put your whole music library on the player at once.

If you have any specific questions, let us know.

--Mark Allums