Music format question.

[Chukchi Husky]

I have a portable music player that can support MP3, WMA and AAC formats. Which one should I use?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I wouldn't use WMA. I've had many problems with it, and the qualities not so good compared to MP3, although only thing I judge by is ears.

MP3 is is a common one. Haven't heard of AAC.

 

[GVBN]

Doesn't really matter, assuming your files are around 192-256 kbps you probably won't notice much of a difference between them anyway

 

[Macha]

MP3. Nearly every music player (software or hardware) plays mp3s. Only WMP and some MP3 players play WMAs and AAC is not supported on a lot of devices.If you ever upgrade using MP3's will make it easier for you because of this.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Someone once told me that, between MP3 and WMA, that WMA is the superior one because they have more range and that all MP3s sound tinny.

 

[taper]

Are you ripping cds or buying online? If you have cds, if at all possible you should rip into a lossless format like FLAC, and from there transcode into a lossy format like AAC or mp3 for your player. This way you still have a pure original if you get a new player that uses a different format. Transcoding from one lossy format to another doesn't really work all that well.

I'd avoid WMA, it's Microsoft's half-hearted attempt to get music into their standard. mp3 is the most common format, almost everything plays it. AAC is basically an upgraded mp3, and on paper is better, but I haven't done any ear-to-ear comparisons. As long as your player supports it, might as well try AAC, it's becoming more and more common.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I'm ripping from CDs. What should I use to rip them?

 

[taper]

Take your pick. I use Sound Juicer on Linux now, but I used to use Winamp on Windows. I'd find one for Windows that can also transcode into the lossy format you choose. I haven't kept up on what can do what on Windows.

EDIT: Remember that lossless music takes up a lot more room than mp3s. I have over 100GBs of FLAC on mine, which is around 300 full albums. You might need an extra hard drive, but it's worth it.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

There is an open-source transcoder called MediaCoder, to transcode. It's still in beta, I think, and has a learning curve, but it is very flexible.
http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/

 

[lndm]

All lossy sound formats will show their weaknesses if they are used at a low bit-rate. At a high bit rate they will sound close to as good as it gets (for most people, anyway).

In this day and age of large memory cards in players, there are less times when it really matters and you should be able to make your choice based on convenience.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

EDIT: Remember that lossless music takes up a lot more room than mp3s. I have over 100GBs of FLAC on mine, which is around 300 full albums. You might need an extra hard drive, but it's worth it.

How much space would it take per album (if the longest is 80 minutes)?