Hi Isaac,
Even that is not quite correct. If you buy regular DRM stuff from iTunes,
then it is 128 as you say. But if you buy iTunes plus stuff, then it is
256
at the very least.
All the best
Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of
Isaac Porat
Sent: Sunday 25 January 2009 12:26
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [access-uk] Re: MP3'S FROM PLAY.COM
Hi Ibrahim and all
I did some searching on the Apple store to find the situation...
I got the impression that apple sell their music in lossless I was wrong.
As far as I can make apple sell their music in the AAC format which is
lossy
in 128 kbps probably as you say.
So it is lossy not lossless.
If you use iTunes you can ripp (if you wish) your CD to Apple lossless
which means that the music is exactly as the original. There are other
lossless formats the most well known and open source is FLAC. The
advantage
of this formats is exact replica of the original the disadvantage is much
bigger file sizes. Typically lossless is 50% of the original where MP3
depending on the quality is 20% of the original.
I agree with you; I would buy MP3 to start with, it is the most supported
format and any conversion of lossless format to another one leads to
degradation. There seems to be an understanding that a variable bit rate
VBr between 192 and 320 is practically lossless for most ears so 256 and
320
constant bit rate are excellent.
It is a technical fact that converting from a lossy to another lossy one
(regardless of the bit rate used) is reducing quality because as I said,
each format shaves a bit of the sound to suit their acoustic model of the
ear; if you find it acceptable to your ear that is all that matters.
Finally on the question of lossless and Lossy formats:
A Wav file is uncompressed format which is exact replica of the original
CD.
FLAC, Apple lossless, MonkeyAudio are all compressed lossless.
MP3, WMA, OGG and AAC are all compressed lossy.
I suspect that as the internet speed goes up lossless format will become
the
norm as it is exact replica of the original CD and there is no compromise.
Regards
Isaac
-----Original Message-----
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of
Ibrahim Gucukoglu
Sent: 25 January 2009 06:41
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [access-uk] Re: MP3'S FROM PLAY.COM
Hi Isaac.
ITunes recordings are actually encoded in 128K lossless. It doesn't mean
the tracks are lossless, its just the name of the encoding type. To be
honest, having heard tracks I've downloaded from Napster and ITunes,
you'll
get roughly the same quality. As for converting napster to mp3 tracks,
well
if you buy them from Napster then you get mp3 anyway at 256K, but if your
converting them you can set sound taxi to encode at 256K, so when it plays
through my high end speakers I don't notice any degradation in quality and
I'd be more than happy to send you a sample showing this. Sound Taxi
converts digitally so its conversion process aught to be lossless.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Isaac Porat" <isaac@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 9:52 PM
Subject: [access-uk] Re: MP3'S FROM PLAY.COM
Hello Carol
First with play.com you can download files again if you loose them see:
http://www.play.com/Music/MP3-Download/6-/Help.html?page=playdigitalfaq
The MP3 format is most common meaning that it is supported by all
software
and hardware players.
It is a lossy format meaning that you loose some quality during the
conversion process ; largely depending on the bit rate. Of course price
can
be an issue but I personally would not consider a file encoded in less
than
196 Kbps; play.com do them in 196 - 320 kbps
The M4A format offered by apple is lossless (also called Apple lossless)
meaning that it is exactly like the original which is the best (FLAK is
another lossless format and there are others).
Converting a file in M4A to MP3 or WMA is feasible, but as these are
lossy
formats, you will loose something but in practice at about 256Kbps
chances
are that you will not notice any difference.
Finally converting from one lossy format such as WMA to another such as
MP3
is bad news as you loose quality further; this is because each format
uses
a
different acoustic model (related to the sensitivity of the ear to
different
sounds) so put simply each format removes their own bit off the sound.
Regards
Isaac
-----Original Message-----
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of
Steve Nutt
Sent: 24 January 2009 19:15
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [access-uk] Re: MP3'S FROM PLAY.COM
Hi Carol,
If you buy from Play, you can't download again if you lose them, so back
them up.
If you buy from iTunes, then you can always re-download, but they are not
MP3 files, but higher quality. They use Flac files which are M4A. These
can be played with Winamp or Windows Media Player, if you download the
right
plugin for Windows Media Player.
There are other companies like 7DigitalMedia http://www.7digitalmedia.com
that sell them in MP3 format, and you can re-download from them too.
Most stores sell in MP3 or protected WMA formats. Apple sell in M4A and
M4V
for video. These can be converted to MP3 if they are not DRM-protected.
Apple is removing DRM from their stuff, so I am beginning to like iTunes.
All the best
Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of
Carol Pearson
Sent: Saturday 24 January 2009 18:11
To: Access UK Mailing List
Subject: [access-uk] MP3'S FROM PLAY.COM
I'm thinking of switching to purchasing MP3's instead of CD's and so here
are some questions ...
As always, I apologise that I didn't follow the thread when it was last
discussed. Anyway, here are my questions:
Are MP3's available in various sampling rates etc., and can you buy
individual tracks from CD's, or do you have to buy the whole CD where a
CD
is listed rather than a single track? Are they all .WAV format and, if
you
lose them, can you get them again without charge?
--
Carol
carol.pearson29@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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