So is 256 kbps encoding good enough? While experts say it's hard to equate a bit rate with sound quality, this level of compression gets closer to CD-quality.
Posted on 05/30/2007 5:04:24 PM PDT by jdm
Apple announced iTunes Plus today, where anyone can buy DRM-free tunes with "amazing" 256 kpbs sound quality for $1.29 versus the typical $.99 per song. This is great news--and not only because it takes advantage of EMI's decision to free music lovers from the shackles of digital rights management. In the long-run, I think the question of audio quality is also going to become far more important.
Yes, I know--fidelity is far down the list of most consumer's priorities. Conventional wisdom is that it only matters to audiofiles who have convinced themselves they can hear a difference. That may be true for the most part, but I think it's also because we consumers are still so taken with the advantages of digital, such as price, convenience, mobility and device-independance.
But what about in the future? In the long run--or maybe the short--given the scary rate at which CD sales are imploding--people aren't just going to want digital music when they're listening via earbuds (on which bit rate is less important, because the speakers aren't good enough to exploit higher bit rates). Instead, we're going to want our entire music libraries to be maintained in CD-less form, whether inside our hard drives or out in the cloud hosted at some music service. And we're going to want to listen to it on everything from the laptop to the fancy home theater or stereo. At that point, many of us--I'd bet most of us--are going to start hankering for the same high-quality audio that we used to enjoy with CDs and vinyl, particularly once the novelty of getting music via internet wears off.
So is 256 kbps encoding good enough? While experts say it's hard to equate a bit rate with sound quality, this level of compression gets closer to CD-quality.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
128 CBR?
160 CBR?
192 VBR?
256 CBR?
320 CBR?
I've been thinking of converting/reencoding 100GB of songs from 320 to 192 overnight (using dBpowerAMP).
Bad idea? Would certainly free up TONS of HD space, but if you're dealing with lossy to begin with, is it worth (re)compressing even further, i.e., 320 to 192, or better to just transfer the 320's from HD to DVD-R's or add an additional HD for storage, keeping original BR intact?
So is 256 kbps encoding good enough? While experts say it's hard to equate a bit rate with sound quality, this level of compression gets closer to CD-quality.
The higher quality is a great marketing tool. Most people won’t notice the difference, but who is not going to pay an extra $.30 for the hi-quality version. Great boost to the bottom line. Pure profit.
 |
iPod |
| Send FReepmail if you want on/off iPing list WARNING: This is a high-volume Ping list. Turn your headphones down |
|
| The List of Ping Lists | |
Thanks, Marty — was going to copy you and Petronski on this, but wasn’t sure if it was an important enough story, to be honest.
If in doubt, get the original CD and do it that way. Do a higher VBR rate where possible (it reduces the more silent parts to almost nothing while expanding to get more detail when needed).
The same holds for JPEGs. You will end up with a worse picture than you should if you’d just JPEGed the original to that size.
bflr
I recently listened to some Rush through headphones on my buddy's iPod and I did not need to convince myself that it sounded horrible. It was the first thing I noticed! Now there are those bands out there, Rush being a good example, for whom sound engineering is paramount when they go into the studio. That being said, I don't think a lot of today's popular music (i.e. rap, nu-metal, "pop" punk) really requires great fidelity. But for music where a lot of effort went in to engineering the mix, the compression and distortion is very noticeable.
Most people probably couldn't care less if the songs sound terrible. They just want to put 20,000 of them on their iPod player.
LOL. I prefer 8-track's which have been through the washer myself.
BTW, Ever heard of them MFSL Gold CDs? They used to be $20-$25 each at Harmony House circa 1991; now some of 'em go for big bucks. I guess the company folded in 1999.
There's a guy on the stairmaster next to me at the YMCA who is always listening to "Dark Side of the Moon" on his iPod (I can hear the muffled, crackling din of "Money" squeaking out, even though I'm 2-3 feet from him).
When he was finishing working out one day, I joked, "The TVs here should show 'Wizard of Oz' so you can synch your iPod to the movie. Really weird stuff happens then."
His reply?
Well, let's just say I left the facility thinking, 'Yes! Seven blank stares today! I smashed my old record!'
I heard you should start the sync at the beginning of the lion’s second roar.
Some previous generation external USB2 enclosed hdd SKU’s are being sold at incredible discounts right now.
example
BUY.COM
Cavalry 500GB 3.5” 7200RPM 16MB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive
FREE BUDGET SHIPPING
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$99.95 After Rebate (expires 5/31/07)
Buy.com price: $129.95
List price: $154.84
http://enews.buy.com/cgi-bin5/DM/y/nkHW0LKDNT0MB20B6y30GP
That comes out to only 20 cents a GB.
With 500GB, and plug and play USB2, you can take the HDD with you and share music easily. Enough extra space to do a full backup of your primary partition.
The value is there for ever increasing your storage capacity and trying to archive as much as you can at the highest quality you can.
Don't worry -- I won't quit my day job.
When encoding in lossy format (MP3, OGG, etc), you should ALWAYS use VBR. I prefer 320kbps/44khz VBR. (Actually, I prefer FLAC, but if we’re talking about music going on my iPod, 320kbps VBR it is.) Anything in CBR should wither and die.
One thing the article leaves out is the advancing quality of the encoding programs. Ten years ago, there was a vast difference between a 128kbps and a 320kbps mp3—obvious to all who listened. Today, most people would not be able to tell the difference between a CD and a 192kbps VBR mp3, thanks to the great encoders we have today. (And I don’t just mean the advent of VBR.)
256kbps DRM-free mp3s from the iTunes Store? It’s a great deal, even if we’re paying an additional 30 cents per song. The biggest problem right now is that none of the music on the iTunes Plus Store appeals to me. Of course, I have eccentric tastes—ever hear of Yasunori Mitsuda?
Whoa! That sounds like me, although I don't workout at the Y. Listen, here's a secret; pipe in Dark Side of the Moon directly into your ear canals at a good volume and get on a Stairmaster. Put the Stairmaster at an intense level. I guarantee you will be totally zoned out to another world. Quite amazing, really.
I use Exact Audio Copy with the latest version of the LAME codec and typically use around 192 VBR. I’m not a golden eared audiophile but I can tell the difference with most mp3 music. Using this setup it is indiscernible.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.