|
Forum: The Classroom Topic: MP3 or WMA?? started by: hbar98 Posted by hbar98 on Feb. 11 2001,22:59
Hey--Was wondering..my music collection is in mp3 format, but I have been hearing a lot about wma. Is it as good as they say? I also heard about a new version of mp3...anybody know anything about that? hbar98 Posted by askheaves on Feb. 11 2001,23:03
I've never bothered to do a side-by-side comparison of the two, but remember that mp3 is a more accepted format. I tend to believe that wma sounds better just because it's a lot newer, and you've got Microsoft putting resources behind the research... obvious answer to that one. Plus, IIRC, the newest version (Windows Media 8) will be able to do streaming DVD quality movies at 500kbps (not bad at all).It's all preference right now. Windows Media Player 7 will rip wma files incredibly easily, from CD or from mp3 or whatever. Plus, if you have a handheld, it will rip into that thing too. Posted by a.out on Feb. 12 2001,01:33
I personally think that mp3 sounds better than wma, but I'm sure other people's opinions will vary. If you already have a large mp3 collection, BTW, you don't want to convert it to any other format, because you'll just be losing more sound information from the previously compressed files. Ripping from a cd is a different matter.Also, this "new mp3" could be Ogg Vorbis. It is like mp3, but completely free (as in software and hardware manufacturers don't have to pay licensing fees to Fraunhofer, the owner of the mp3 patents). It also will sound better than mp3 once it is completed, as it is still in development. You can find more info at < http://www.vorbis.com >
Posted by askheaves on Feb. 12 2001,03:52
Ogg Vorbis has been in development for quite a while. Iv'e heard of it a while back. If it's what I think .vqf, then it's the Yamaha format (which, it ruled, basically, and caught on a little bit). If it's not, then it probably has the same story. It'll be hard for anything else to catch on unless it is truly revolutionary. It would have to be difference between VHS and DVD to really catch on. The rest of the world knows mp3s, and probably will be scared to change.
Posted by DuSTman on Feb. 12 2001,15:18
As far as I know the actual file format .wma can encapsulate audio streams from any codec.You can, for example, have a WMA file that actually carries an MP3 audio stream. AAC is something that sounds good but i can't find a free encoder anywhere. (independant listeners found that mp3 had to be at around 760kbps (i think) before it was classed as indistinguishable from the source. AAC (the top audio layer of MPEG2, i believe is carried straight forward to MPEG4) was said to rate indistinguishable from source much lower, the article i read claimed 64Kbps. Microsoft is probably gradually improving a codec of their own.. I don't really think "scared" is the right word. People will be reluctant to change, because you never know what companies have made portable mp3 players that can't be upgraded to accommodate newer formats. Posted by hal0 on Feb. 12 2001,23:00
take a look at the vqf format: < www.vqf.com > .. it's half the size of mp3 and same quality.. i don't know why it never caught on------------------ Posted by askheaves on Feb. 13 2001,00:47
For the same reason that some of this other stuff won't catch on. I'm almost positive now that vqf is not Ogg Vorbis, btw. I dabbled in vqf a couple of years ago, but it really didn't look like it was going to catch on.For those who don't know, vqf is a proprietary format developed by Yamaha a few years ago probably to compete with mp3. It started hitting biggest about 6 months before Napster hit, so it had a slight chance to take over, but Napster pretty much assured that mp3 would stay at the top for a while. I loved vqf, and I ripped a bunch of my CDs into it. The problem was that it was a proprietary format, and it took a bit of a hack to get it to work, involving some of Yamaha's own software... which, I'm not sure was legal, but I don't know. That's most of the reason it didn't really catch on. For every vqf file I saw on an FTP server, I saw hundereds of mp3s. It was an uphill battle. Since then, there have been better codecs developed. But, like I said, it'll be tough to dethrone mp3s. On a sidenote, I found two problem with wma files. I actually ripped a CD at work in wma using WMP7, and put it up on the server. I was not able to play the songs because of some licensing crap that is built into the format. It would make some happy, but it was a major inconvenience for me even though I owned the CD. The other problem I ran into isn't a format issue, but a WMP problem. I ripped OutKast's Stankonia today, and some of the songs have other artists associated with the song. The automatic naming of the songs and automatic placement left the CD scattered about my music directory, with a majority of songs in the Outkast directory, and various others scattered about in directories of all of the artists involved. Major pain in the ass moving things so the album was in one directory. |