MP3 bitrate

[Dizzy]

Hello fellow geeks, I have a question for you.  A while back I bought a 4GB iPod Nano (yes I know Apple sucks but it was the only MP3 player I was sure would display Japanese, Korean and Chinese file names...unlike my old iRiVeR. A Korean made product displaying Korean file names? BLASHPEMY!)  Anyways, I'm filling it up rather fast and wishing I would have bought an 8GB but that's besides the point.  The reason it's filling up so fast is because a lot of the rips I download are 320 bitrate and I want to convert them to 128 so I can fit much much much more.  So I have 2 questions if you could please help me out.

1) What program would you recommend to resample MP3s?
2) Will the IDv3 tags remain intact?

[SacredCultivator]

A) You can get SUPER(c)

B) But the IDv3 tags won't be intact as it is making a separate file.

[Guchi_Jnr]

I'm just using itunes to encode them to 128 AAC files. Sounds fine and all the tags work including the album art, and that's all I need.

[thatguy]

i leave my rips as-is, unless they are flac/ape, when i re-encode them to mp3/320cbr. i have an iriver S10 (2gb) which holds about 250 mp3s (mixed 192-320 files)... and to be honest, i never listen to more than 50 different songs within 24 hours. considering that i plug it into my computer to charge every night, i just rotate the music once a week.

if you need to automate transcoding, you should switch to winamp and use the ml_ipod plugin. there's a settings tab where winamp will convert on-the-fly any audio file to whatever mp3 settings you want, as it is being transferred to your ipod. it will retain all of the id3 settings from the original file, plus you won't have to worry about creating duplicate files on your computer.



winamp
ml_ipod

just a note when installing: winamp now comes with built-in ipod support, but it's not as good as ml_ipod (which now includes support for playlists, transcoding, album art, etc). when you install winamp, choose "custom" and uncheck "ipod support". once it's done installing, install ml_ipod separately, then head into winamp preferences to configure everything.

[StreakInTheSky]

I would've said to just use itunes, but tg's way sounds alot better

I read that when it comes to lower bitrates, aac sounds better than mp3. I haven't tested it out myself as I have no real reason to convert to low bitrate aac, but you might want to consider that when you're re-encoding.

[KMEI]

OggVorbis ftw.

[Masabi]

I use a program called JetAudio which happens to also be a mp3 converter.. (yes the ID3 tags stay in tact).  I'm not going to advise you about low file sizes, this is how to get to 128kbps however.

1 ) Open JetAudio
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2 ) Right Click > Tools > Convert Audio:


3 ) Drag files to blank window
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4 ) Click "Config" button


5 ) Change the Constant bitrate on the drop down menu


6 ) Change the option at the bottom (hidden on the image) whether you want a faster conversion and lower quality or higher quality and low conversion.
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7 ) Change the location of the image, which is highlighted blue in this image, and then click start (circled).


8 ) The files will convert to wherever you put them to (I had Desktop)

[Dizzy]

thank you so much, you all rule.

[BX_LeMans]

Thats why I have a 20Gig HDD-Player(1.8"). It may not like japanese filenames but the informations for artist, album ... are taken from IDtag, and that I made completly in romanji. At the moment I have 14Gig of Hello!Project stuff on it(the complete mp3-collection from the Asshole-area excluding the H!P related) and the rest is mostly metal, rock and middleage-rock(german spoken).
To the end of summer the player needs a new and bigger HDD.

[LaJon]

I typically use Nero for all my audio encoding.  It can output every time of file format you'd ever need.



And loads of options within each.  Extremely simple and easy to boot.

[daigong]

Am I the only one that sees this thread title as "Masturbate?"

I just convert em to WAV then back to MP3 with CDeX. I like 96kps -- just enough stereo, small size.

[~Dan~]

I've been getting to grips with lossless files for encoding some of my cassettes for seeding on Dime, and while I was doing that I was also examining different files with a spectrum analyser to see the difference between different bitrates of mp3 vs lossless.  I can tell you that people encoding to 320kbps are wasting your time.  If you look at a 64kbps mp3 in a spectrum analyser, everything above 10,000 hz is cut off, a 128kbps mp3 has the frequencies cut off at 16,000 hz.  A 320kbps mp3 also has the frequencies cut off at 16,000 hz.

A minidisc recording cuts off at around 17,000 hz, so not much better than mp3, and a lossless file cuts off just above 20,000 hz.

[frblckstr1]

I can tell you that people encoding to 320kbps are wasting your time.  If you look at a 64kbps mp3 in a spectrum analyser, everything above 10,000 hz is cut off, a 128kbps mp3 has the frequencies cut off at 16,000 hz.  A 320kbps mp3 also has the frequencies cut off at 16,000 hz.

The difference is in the stereo and dynamic parts, but yes the way to reduce size (easily) is to cut-off anything above 16.000hz, a lot of people can't hear that anyway (anymore) and/or because of the environment noise polution.

and a lossless file cuts off just above 20,000 hz.

That last maybe because of the recording sample rate (44.100hz)

[Dizzy]

bwhahaha masturbate!  Thanks to your help my iPod went from 3.5GB to 2.5GB, now I have a lot more space.  I should have gotten a video so I could take Nagase Ai and Coda Risa on the road with me

[nox_xie]

bwhahaha masturbate!  Thanks to your help my iPod went from 3.5GB to 2.5GB, now I have a lot more space.  I should have gotten a video so I could take Nagase Ai and Coda Risa on the road with me

are those two JAV actor? hurm.. indeed.. (self answer.. lol..)..

[satan ahh lunn]

Dizzy there still a file that can change the bitrate and everything and the IDv3 tags will remain the same, and you can decide which to keep too

the program is called

Audio Converter Studio Maniac Tools but it is only 30 days trial

also if you wanted an Video IPod, 2,4,6,8 GB, i would recommend you to buy the Sandisk Sansa because it cost cheaper and its about the same but doesnt show Japanese, Chinese or Korean language at all.

[RionZ]

Anything below 192kbps I can hear the difference, but agree'd 320kbps is a waste, you're better off with V0 VBR or whatever if your mp3 player can handle it.

[thatguy]

320kbps isn't entirely a waste, it just depends on the quality of the original audio. Some CDs are manufactured with such terrible SNR that the audio data wouldn't even require more than 128kbps. And I've certainly come across my share of albums which have excellent SNR, and in comparing 192kbps and 320kbps rips, I can definitively hear a difference (particularly in the upper register)--although the margin drops off at around 256kbps.

But then again, storage space is not a concern for me. VBR is certainly a good option, but I need my collection to be as interoperable as possible, so MP3-CBR is my only choice (as opposed to VBR, which some players still don't support, or FLAC, APE, or TTA).

[satan ahh lunn]

well the higher the bitrate of music is higher quality and lower the bitrate is lower quality

but you can't really hear the difference between a 128 kbps and a 320 kbps audio file. unless your a big fan of metal and hard rock music, then yeah, that would be more different

[RionZ]

ya, what tg said.

and if you can't hear the difference between 128kbps and 320kbps...

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOUR EARS!? >_>