Sound Formats

Chipiron wrote: Perhaps this thread is not new, but I haven't found it ... I want to compare the sound quality of several audio formats: mp3, wma and aac. I know wma and mp3 but I've never used aac I will use the files for a portable device, so, I don't need a higher quality than 128 kbps wma or so. What would be the equivalent in aac? I know the equivalence is not exact but I need some orientation. Is there any good article on the subject on the web? Thanks a lot.

Chipiron,

You might find the following threads useful. Some of them discuss the various formats MP3/WMA/OOG/AAC/FLAC etc. and also give URLs for sites which have audio comparisons and further details. There is also discussion on the SACD vs DVD-A debate and the vinyl vs CD debate, with some interesting comments. It's worth reading through them all - you'll probably learn quite a bit.

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4034

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=990

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1795

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=716

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=864

MikeEnRegalia wrote: ^ Right beneath the dropdown in the options where you can select the format of the ripped files, there should be a checkbox to enable/disable copy protection. Of course this decision has to be made when the files are created ... once encrypted, they can only be decrypted with the appropriate keys.

ah i thought the copy protection was something else but its too late blah...i guess i have to use my hacking skills to try to decrypt the code it is pretty old it was encryptet in DRM Ver2 so i guess that will make it a bit easier

MikeEnRegalia wrote: maidenrulez wrote: NEVER USE WMA...the f**king files is encrypted with DRM wich makes them unplayable on other pc's....I am currently having the trouble of my life crackin this DRM protection...as for MP3'S you should atleast concider 192 or even 256kbps because 128 is quite awfull to listen to... Not exactly true, you can configure the Windows Media Player to encode the files unencrypted.

No f**king way...i ripped some stuff from cd's to wma files on a old machines and backed up the wma files...Now on my new machine it wont play on any kind of media player because it says it needs the liceneces from the old machine...but i dont got the f**king licensces and you cant f**king turn them off

f**kING MICROSOFT MEDIA PLAYER

Thank you all!

I've read that both wma and aac claim to get acceptable quality at 64kbps. I've checked that it's false for wma, and it seems to me that, following your advice, it's false for aac as well...

Chipiron wrote: Perhaps this thread is not new, but I haven't found it ... I want to compare the sound quality of several audio formats: mp3, wma and aac. I know wma and mp3 but I've never used aac I will use the files for a portable device, so, I don't need a higher quality than 128 kbps wma or so. What would be the equivalent in aac? I know the equivalence is not exact but I need some orientation. Is there any good article on the subject on the web? Thanks a lot.

My opinion is that all these formats sound pretty much the same. They are all highly optimized, and perhaps WMA 64kbps and AAC 64kbps have a little advantage compared to mp3 64kbps ... but who would want to listen to that anyway?

With 128kpbs, I can hear no differences.

BTW: Depending on the quality of your portable device, encoding in 192kbps can make a HUGE difference. I use mp3 64-192kbps VBR ... this results in files with 160kbps avg.