hello people....
i was just wondering... what do you personally think is the best quality/smallist to encode MP3's and MPEG's into?
I find it really hard to judge which is more important:
good quality sound on your ppc?
or
Small size....so it doesn't waste a lot of memory
any idea?
thanks
jay
I've found the sound quality through the headphone to be `not that bad`, just wish they'd stop falling out! I convert all my audio into Windows Media Audio Format (WMA) I find the sound quailty at lower bit rates to be better than MP3 (it's only an opinion).
so I'd say for MP3 go for a bit rate of 96kbps.
and for WMA go for 64kbps.
You can download a small utility from Microsoft called Audio Converter, this gives you options as to what bit rate the converted file will be regardless of the original. Watch out though, if the original was poor quailty, it could make it worse.
Hope that helps.
yeah thanks......
i have already got windows media encoder......it is awesome
i just cant find the balance....
any one got any ideas about video's
thanks
jay
video dont use mpg or wmf use divx avi very nice quality and little file size u can get a full 2hour30min film into 170mb at 200kbs full screen
I was wondering if anyone has ever considered adding support to Android or Android's music app for replay gain. I've noticed that when playing music on my Nexus One, the volume tends to jump all over the place as I go from song to song due to individual tracks being mastered/encoded at different volumes. It can be quite jarring to go from a quiet track to a loud one and to have to quickly dive for the volume rocker on my phone.
I know it's possible to store replay gain values in the metadata of most digital audio files, so I don't think it'd be necessary to do the actual replay gain computations on the phone itself (and, in fact, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to as it could take a loooong time depending on how many music files are stored on your sd card). I think all that would really be necessary is to have the music app read those values for each file and adjust the playback volume accordingly. If I'm not mistaken, this is kind of how the "sound check" feature works in apple's ios.
Only thing is, I really don't know how involved it would be for a skilled developer to make this feature a reality. I suppose it might even involve some kernel modifications. In that case, I realize this idea might be a long shot.
Anyway, it's just an idea I had that I think would make using your Nexus One that much better as a quality portable media player. Feel free to chime in with thoughts/suggestions/reasons why this idea is or isn't feasible/etc.
If you want QUALITY audio you should start with ripping your CD's to a lossless format and avoid Normalization. You can Gain your audiofiles before putting them on your phone, but I strongly recommend to use Pro software and to be conservative as most recordings today are of a high standard.... (analyze the audio to get max peak level and gain acordingly to not exceed 0dB)
If you prefer to use MP3 or other lossy compression, well theres no point in discussing quality
cyberspaced said:
If you want QUALITY audio you should start with ripping your CD's to a lossless format and avoid Normalization. You can Gain your audiofiles before putting them on your phone, but I strongly recommend to use Pro software and to be conservative as most recordings today are of a high standard.... (analyze the audio to get max peak level and gain acordingly to not exceed 0dB)
If you prefer to use MP3 or other lossy compression, well theres no point in discussing quality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this would be nice, if all the various music download services offered well and identically authored tracks. unfortunately, they do not. so, the OP's is still an interesting and valid request.
cyberspaced said:
If you want QUALITY audio you should start with ripping your CD's to a lossless format and avoid Normalization. You can Gain your audiofiles before putting them on your phone, but I strongly recommend to use Pro software and to be conservative as most recordings today are of a high standard.... (analyze the audio to get max peak level and gain acordingly to not exceed 0dB)
If you prefer to use MP3 or other lossy compression, well theres no point in discussing quality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I definitely agree with you there and I appreciate the suggestions. Only thing is, I really don't buy CDs anymore. I don't pirate music either though. Instead, when I want a song or an album, it's just a lot more convenient to go and buy it online. I have a lot of stuff I bought from itunes a while back, but now I mostly buy from Amazon (since the Amazon MP3 app on the Nexus makes it so convenient).
Thing is, I'm not even talking about the QUALITY of the audio files. The music itself sounds fine to me (Not trying to start any audio file format wars. I realize some people can't stand the lower quality of lossy file formats like mp3 and that's fine. But even if lossy formats sounded noticeably worse to me, it really wouldn't matter since i usually use cheap headphones/speakers to listen to my music anyway ).
What causes problems for me is that since my music collection was all mastered at varying volume levels (again, not cause I ripped it myself and screwed it up cause I didn't know what I was doing; most of it was purchased from itunes or Amazon), as I skip from track to track (random tracks from varying albums by different artists all shuffled together) the volume tends to jump around, sometimes quite drastically. I may get to one song that's so quiet I can't hear it, so I turn it up. Once that song ends though, the music player might jump to another song that's kind of loud at a normal volume, but since I've already turned up the volume, now it's painfully loud.
I realize that the ideal solution would be to rip all of the tracks myself from their original lossless sources, but for me that's not an option. Additionally, I can say that using replay gain values to normalize the "loudness" of my music library works quite well in the software media players I've used in the past (such as Winamp and itunes). Even the "sound check" feature (which is just apple marketing for their glorified version of replay gain) built into the ipod touch's music player provides solid music playback of the same audio files without me having to constantly fiddle with the volume controls. If a 2 year old ipod touch can do it, I know my Nexus can.
Again, the basic idea itself isn't so complicated. While on a PC, a piece of software, such as Winamp, scans your music library, calculates the replay gain values (whether the "loudness" of each track/album is too loud or too quiet and what the proper offset should be in as a positive or negative db value) and stores them in a metadata tag in the audio file itself. From there, you load the media files (tagged with their new replay gain values) back onto your Nexus One. Then the music app would read the replay gain values for each track/album and apply them to the output volume.
The only thing I'm not sure of is how much work it would take to actually implement this idea in Android. But that's why I'm hoping to hear from others who might be interested in such a feature. Hopefully if there's enough interest, some of the devs with more knowledge about Android can chime in to let the rest of us know how feasible a replay gain feature would be.
This is definitely a feature I'd like to see as well, ReplayGain is practically essential for any music collection spanning more than a decade or so.
I hesitate to recommend this to anyone that ISN'T starting with lossless files, but it is possible (as a stopgap measure) to apply the gain stored in the tags directly to the audio data BEFORE encoding it for transfer to your device. Of course if you're starting from lossy sources this will cause a reduction in music QUALITY. My collection is largely lossless and I have done this for some time (the FLAC decoder has a useful --apply-replaygain-which-is-not-lossless switch) to create files for use on my phone.
Always glad to hear that there are others who would also be interested in a simple Replay Gain option for the stock Music app. It seems to be a common feature on portable music players these days. Certainly if apple can bundle it with their ipods, we can bundle it with our Androids. Right guys?
Mobiper.com
Thanks for the valuable discussion. Its very nice to read.
Long story short:
I have a Galaxy S8 with Samsung Music and a huge music library on my PC as AAC files in iTunes (I used to have an ipod). I downloaded them as MP3s but converted them to AAC to use in iTunes.
I would put the music on my S8 by connecting it to the PC, using Windows Media Player and moving my new songs over to the Sync tab on the right sidebar and click the green Sync button. Presto! Songs are added to Galaxy S8 as WMA files and play fine on Samsung Music.
Cut to: the other day, I just bought the Galaxy S22+ and it took 13 hours to transfer over my apps, music, etc, however none of the music will play in Samsung Music on the S22+. After Googling all day, I found out that Samsung Music (or is it Android) won't play WMA files on phones made after 2021 and because they won't add/fix a codec. Someone else posted about it in the Sammy forums, Samsung responded to get a third party app and seemed to not care we weren't using their own app. The Samsung Music app still works and loads my songs on my S22+ but the songs don't play. I'm curious if changing the file extensions on the WMAs would help.
I just want to keep using Samsung Music on the S22+ and don't want to install a third party app (like VLC or Poweramp). But so far, I've tried a variety of music players to no avail. Muzio (my 2nd favorite) gave the same error as Samsung Music and I couldn't play anything. The only one that kinda works is VLC, but the UI is very buggy and not intuitive. In fact, it's a pain to use.
Last night before I made myself go to bed after pulling my hair out all day, I downloaded Musicbee and was considering just transferring the AACS over to the S22+ even though doing so will take up a lot more space as my average AAC file is twice the size of its WMA counterpart. My phone is only slotted 256mg since I got the S22+.
Please, please help me, I am desperate and love the phone but having no music on it is a deal breaker for me and I don't have a lot of time left in my return window if i decide to go back to my S8 (which i'd rather not do cause I kinda like the S22+).
Poweramp, paid version. Been using it for over 2 years to manage my 212 gb wav/mp4 music database.
It's a complicated setup, a steep learning curve and it's the best, most customizable music player there is. Supports unlimited playlists.
Always keep a exported backup of the settings saved off of the phone!!! Keep a backup carbon copy of the library as well as it's needed for playlist reconstruction by Poweramp.
Library folder layout: Artist/Album/Song, folders for each artist and album.
In the future you sould use a higher resolution format as close to 24 bits as possible especially if paying for it.
Thanks for the suggestion, but I've already tried a lot of the most suggested players. Muzio was 2nd to Samsung Music because it felt the same, but it too was plagued by the dreaded codec issue. The next best one (and that's not saying much) was VLC, which is buggy, slow and had the tendency to refresh the entire library if you're not careful.
You're right, Poweramp has a tough learning curve and it's not a very intuitive UI even with customization.
I'm really just trying to find a somewhat painless way to get my music either into Samsung Music or even Muzio, but I know that's tough because of the codec issue. I'd take the long time to convert my music if it would be close in quality, but going from Mp3 -> AAC -> Mp3 makes me think I'll lose a lot of quality a s would be better starting from scratch (which would take months and months of constant painstaking re-downloading and headaches.
blackhawk said:
Poweramp, paid version. Been us for over 2 years to manage my 212 gb wav/mp4 music database.
It's a complicated setup, a steep learning curve and it's the best, most customizable music player there is. Supports unlimited playlists.
Always keep a exported backup of the settings saved off of the phone!!! Keep a backup carbon copy of the library as well as it's needed for playlist reconstruction by Poweramp.
Library folder layout: Artist/Album/Song, folders for each artist and album.
In the future you sould use a higher resolution format as close to 24 bits as possible especially if paying for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Androideka13 said:
Thanks for the suggestion, but I've alrea
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a tough pill to swallow but Poweramp is rock solid with no issues and near bulletproof. I spent quit a few hours setting it up but the only time I spend on it now is just adding to the playlists or the occasional backup file export.
It's graphic equalizer is second to none and is a must have if using the Buds+ to listen to music.
Have you tried retro music player or clean music player? Been my two music players over the years.
Home - Retro Music Player
Retro Music Player - The best Material design offline music player for Android.
retromusic.app
Clean Music for Android - APK Download
Download Clean Music apk 9.9.1 for Android. simple, fast, and elegant audio player
m.apkpure.com
Would changing the extension on the WMA files (to mp3) on the S22+ work? Someone mentioned this to me but I haven't had the time to try it.
sometimes it can work. but there are times when you get a corrupted file.
blackhawk said:
It's a tough pill to swallow but Poweramp is rock solid with no issues and near bulletproof. I spent quit a few hours setting it up but the only time I spend on it now is just adding to the playlists or the occasional backup file export.
It's graphic equalizer is second to none and is a must have if using the Buds+ to listen to music.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried playing around with Poweramp in my S8 and it's just OK. I mean, if nothing else works, I guess I could try using it for a while. I'm mostly concerned about re-doing all my playlists (none of them came over) and being able to add new songs onto the new phone (S22+). One would think it would be the same way as I did with the S8 but the way things have been going lately, I'm not holding my breath.
Last night, and only for a few minutes bc I was so tired and stressed, I plugged the S22+ into my PC to see if the sync function on WMP turned green (ready to sync) and it didn't, which makes me skeptical that itll work and I'll be back on here, trying to find a new way to add songs.
Do direct folder copy and paste only. I manually sync the music database to avoid hard to detect screw ups.
Never clone or compress media files as the null marks are important.
The music database should be the identical across all copies.
Your playlists may be lost and the database gets first priority. Planning ahead will save a lot of suffering and time. My database is 16 yo now, still in it's original file structure layout. Be thoughtful about it and well organized...
Setting up Poweramp is time consuming, no way to get around that. The reward is a superior player customized exactly as you want it. After which it can easily be reincarnated onto any Android or after a factory reset if you preserve the music database and the Poweramp export settings. The license also carries over seamlessly. It was a snap to set up on my second N10+; install app/unlocker, copy music database, import settings, scan music library command.
I was hoping to be able to add songs "the old way" by adding the mp3 to iTunes, converting to AAC and then syncing with WMP so the files are consistently WMA and it's the way I'm used to. I won't be home for another 5 hours so I won't know if it will even lley me sync "the old way". Also, if I'm just gonna drag and drop then I'll be dropping the AAC files, which was a problem since they're so big. If I leave the songs as Mp3s and drag and drop, then I'll have inconsistencies in files and volume.
Just tried listening to the same song on SM and on Poweramp and Poweramp sounded dull, flat and lower. Granted, I have the Smart Volume on in SM but I couldn't find anything like that in Poweramp. Another strike against it I guess.
I really just want SM to work, it sucks because I'm not asking for a lot, just for a SAMSUNG app to work on a SAMSUNG product. What a concept, right?
Adjust the graphic equalizer, it gives you far more control than a one button fixes all. By fault it's setting is neutral so it's not the problem.
Check it's Audio Info page and output settings.
blackhawk said:
Adjust the graphic equalizer, it gives you far more control than a one button fixes all. By fault it's setting is neutral so it's not the problem.
Check it's Audio Info page and output settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no idea how to read, let alone set an equalizer. I like one size fits all for volume so I'm not constantly fiddling with it up, down, etc.
Androideka13 said:
I have no idea how to read, let alone set an equalizer. I like one size fits all for volume so I'm not constantly fiddling with it up, down, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From the Galaxy store install Sound Assistant, it will allow up to 100 volume increments to be set.
Adjustments of the equalizer bands is done by ear. It will vary depending on output driver(s) and listening area as well as the source music.
Generally it should be a smooth wave across rather than abrupt ups and downs.
You can set multiple profiles and assign by song or folder.
This is the profile I generally use for the Buds+
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Thank you for replying and being so quick with suggestions - I appreciate all the back and forth we've had today. If I wanted to forgo Poweramp and just use SM, what would you do in my situation?
. Convert the AACs (which started out originally as Mp3s) into Mp3s using iTunes?
. Use Musicbee to move the AACs over to the S22+ even though it'll take up twice the space as the WMAs?
. Change the file extensions of the WMAs to Mp3s on the S22+ and cross your fingers?
I ask because the Poweramp learning curve is still very tough, even after playing with it all day. Plus I'm now concerned with adding new music going forward to Poweramp on the new phone because something tells me it's not going to be easy since I'm not even sure my S22+ will connect/sync with WMP.
Keep the music in it's original format. Converting it can end up degrading the audio quality.
I can't say what I would do other than what I have done. Got tired of screwing around which why I use Poweramp. Many of the other players can't be configured correctly to meet my needs or have other issues.
You're not going to throw Poweramp together in a day or two unless you already set it up before and saved the settings.
You need it first to display the database correctly.
Then the audio setup, equalizer, etc.
Then create the playlists.
There are many settings to explore beyond the default ones as time permits. As you build it up remember to backup the settings so if you "break" it somehow playing with the settings you only loss the time to the last backup.
blackhawk said:
Keep the music in it's original format. Converting it can edd up degrading the audio quality.
I can't say what I would do other than what I have done. Got tired of screwing around which why I use Poweramp. Many of the other players can't be configured correctly to meet my needs or have other issues.
You're not going to throw Poweramp together in a day or two unless you already set it up before and saved the settings.
You need it first to display the database correctly.
Then the audio setup, equalizer, etc.
Then create the playlists.
There are many settings to explore beyond the default ones as time permits. As you build it up remember to backup the settings so if you "break" it somehow playing with the settings you only loss the time to the last backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've already gone through Poweramp and gotten things mostly the way I like them. There's a few things I still can't figure out, but I'm getting the hang of it. I'm definitely going to keep my phone and will probably fork over the money for the full version of Poweramp. I plan to keep messing with it and try to forget SM...for now.
On the side I may try to convert the AACs to Mp3 via iTunes and see for myself how bad they sound in comparison and try to get SM eventually. I'm definitely taking a break from all things phone music for a few days to get my head back on straight.
Thank you again x 1000 for all of your replies and support, you've saved me from going COMPLETELY insane over this.
Thanks again,
Brian
You're welcome.
Take your time and think it through first.
I would not convert those files, use as is.
Read this and do some more searches ie aac vs mp3 etc.
Never go to a lower resolution format and avoiding converting altogether is the best plan.
If you rip a CD to hard drive always save as a wav and -nothing- else. Many CDs are in fact HDCDs and possess up to 22 bit resolution. It is contained as subtext on the wav file. Converting a HDCD wav file will destroy the HDCD encryption and render it as a 16 bit image or lower. It must be saved as a wav file to preserve the HDCD encryption! 22 bits vs 16 is a lot.
A 24 bit or higher DAC can glean up to 90% or so of the encoded subtext. No HDCD converter is needed however if available, use it as it will glean 100% of the HDCD encryption.
The data stream must remain in the digital realm until input into the 24 bit or higher DAC or HDCD converter! Either electrical or optical toslink (highly preferred for ground loop blocking isolation) can be used between devices like the PC and stereo preamp to stay in the digital realm vs a analog signal.
Tony Harding of Denon Electronics was kind enough to patiently teach me about HDCD technology back in 2004.
blackhawk said:
You're welcome.
Take your time and think it through first.
I would not convert those files, use as is.
Read this and do some more searches ie aac vs mp3 etc.
Never go to a lower resolution format and avoiding converting altogether is the best plan.
If you rip a CD to hard drive always save as a wav and -nothing- else. Many CDs are in fact HDCDs and possess up to 22 bit resolution. It is contained as subtext on the wav file. Converting a HDCD wav file will destroy the HDCD encryption and render it as a 16 bit image or lower. It must be saved as a wav file to preserve the HDCD encryption! 22 bits vs 16 is a lot.
A 24 bit or higher DAC can glean up to 90% or so of the encoded subtext. No HDCD converter is needed however if available, use it as it will glean 100% of the HDCD encryption.
The data stream must remain in the digital realm until input into the 24 bit or higher DAC or HDCD converter! Either electrical or optical toslink (highly preferred for ground loop blocking isolation) can be used between devices like the PC and stereo preamp to stay in the digital realm vs a analog signal.
Tony Harding of Denon Electronics was kind enough to patiently teach me about HDCD technology back in 2004.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info! I'm getting used to Poweramp but there's a few things I'm still not on board with. One is the volume leveler we briefly touched on. The other is that when I'm scrolling through tracks or albums, info go the slightest bit off center in my swipe, I get taken back to another part of the app. Similar thing happens when I hit the Back button on my phone and it exits the app instead of going back to the main screen or to the album I'm playing.
I'm also trying to find a way to remove songs from playlists like "recently added" or "recently played" but it only gives me a prompt to delete the song completely. That's annoying.
I'm not 100% on board with Poweramp but it works bettwr than I originally thought (thanks to you) and it works for now, or until I find a better solution.
Also, when it comes to converting the AACs (back) to mp3s, I had someone else tell me that as long as I started out with a good, high quality file, that then conversion shouldn't hurt sound quality too much, if not much at all. Most of my Mp3s that I converted to AACs were 320mbps and they converted to 128mbps AACs. Idk, just something I was told and want to see for myself.
You need to get used to it's navigation, lol it still tags me sometimes even now. Lol, I need to explore Poweramp more as there may be better ways to interface with it.
When you remove a song from a playlist it should remain in the library. I tested it and it doesn't remove it on my copy.
You can also move songs up/down on the playlist.
If the format is playable there's nothing to gain by converting it except potential data loss. When initially downloading or buying though always choose the highest resolution native format.
Otherwise you'll end downloading or buying the same song many times to get better sound quality. Once you hear the difference you can't go back to the ignorant bliss you once enjoyed
Open room listening with two stereo speakers (or more channels/speakers) is quit different from listening to headphones or buds. In the former the audio waves interact with each other to reproduce the sound stage present where it was recorded. You are electro-acoustically coupled, like voodoo magic.
The better the recording, playback equipment and listening area acoustics the more realistic the sound stage reproduction.
If a 50khz audio wave collides with a 40khz wave, a 10khz wave is created. While you can't hear the primary waves of the first two, you can hear their byproduct. This is why you never want to limit inaudible frequencies; they create the sound stage. Thousands of these interactions per second across the audio wave bandwidth produces the sound stage as if you where there.
You'll hear sounds coming from midair all about you... not just the sound sources.
Because of this you want high resolution recordings that faithfully record from 10hz to at least 50khz or higher. Then it will truly suck to only have a flat sounding MP3... they sound like crap compared to a sparkling HDCD.
Yes, well... welcome to the fking planet
blackhawk said:
You need to get used to it's navigation, lol it still tags me sometimes even now. Lol, I need to explore Poweramp more as there may be better ways to interface with it.
When you remove a song from a playlist it should remain in the library. I tested it and it doesn't remove it on my copy.
You can also move songs up/down on the playlist.
If the format is playable there's nothing to gain by converting it except potential data loss. When initially downloading or buying though always choose the highest resolution native format.
Otherwise you'll end downloading or buying the same song many times to get better sound quality. Once you hear the difference you can't go back to the ignorant bliss you once enjoyed
Open room listening with two stereo speakers (or more channels/speakers) is quit different from listening to headphones or buds. In the former the audio waves interact with each other to reproduce the sound stage present where it was recorded. You are electro-acoustically coupled, like voodoo magic.
The better the recording, playback equipment and listening area acoustics the more realistic the sound stage reproduction.
If a 50khz audio wave collides with a 40khz wave, a 10khz wave is created. While you can't hear the primary waves of the first two, you can hear their byproduct. This is why you never want to limit inaudible frequencies; they create the sound stage. Thousands of these interactions per second across the audio wave bandwidth produces the sound stage as if you where there.
You'll hear sounds coming from midair all about you... not just the sound sources.
Because of this you want high resolution recordings that faithfully record from 10hz to at least 50khz or higher. Then it will truly suck to only have a flat sounding MP3... they sound like crap compared to a sparkling HDCD.
Yes, well... welcome to the fking planet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I made a mistake, the stock playlists like "recently played," etc. are the ones that prompt me to delete the entire song. Playlists I create allow me to just remove the track from the playlist.
I wasn't questioning your knowledge regarding the AAC conversion, just throwing out a different bit of knowledge I heard. I'm not very knowledgeable with audio and the technical side, but I know what my ears like so it's good to know even a little bit of the tech of it all. I usually listen to my phone music either with buds or in my car so I'm not that much into the surround aspect of it all, but it's good to know. I think I'm going to still keep trucking with PA for now.
I have given myself the day off today but tomorrow I'm going to try to sync a newly downloaded WMA file to my new S22+ the old way (iTunes -> AAC -> WMP -> Android) and see what happens. The other day, in my stressed-out haste, I plugged the S22+ into my PC and tried to move over a Mp3 with that method and the sync button in WMP didnt even turn green (allowing me to sync). I'm not sure if it's because it's a different phone than my S8 or what, but I'm really hoping it doesn't happen, because even with PA, I want to be able to add new songs and I just want uniformity and ease, but don't we all?