Thread: mp3 compression

  1. #1
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    mp3 compression

    I recently got an mp3 player, and i'm wondering if there's any freeware/shareware tools that will allow me to compress existing mp3s.

    Right now I can only fit ~18 average sized songs on the player, and i'd like to squeeze some more on.

    Thanks.

  2. #2
    Mayor of Awesometown Govtcheez's Avatar
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    I think mp3s are almost uncompressible without quality loss...

  3. #3
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    Wow, that was quick.
    I don't mind quality loss (I expected it to be so) it's just those 192k+ bitrate mp3's which are hogging space. I'd like to take them down to 128k or less.

  4. #4
    Mayor of Awesometown Govtcheez's Avatar
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    I don't know of a way to drop the quality w/o resampling the mp3s themselves - I'd google for something, though.

  5. #5
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    Look for audio/mp3 programs.

    If you don't want to risk somewhat more dodgy programs with google, try http://www.download.com

    Also, mp3's are horrible. Only use THE highest quality possible digital cd wav rip of a song done by yourself. Anything less will be worthless. MP3's bitrate isn't even what stinks.

    It's the fact that, you know with pictures, you loose color with jpg's? With mp3's you lose frequencies!!! *gasp*

    So, like me, where I have a nice little DJ equipment setup, I hate that alot! Mp3's are like the speaker company Bose. No highs, no lows, must be bose. That's what mp3's do pretty much, get rid of what isn't used the most, and that's usually the best stuff.

    Buuuuuut, since you don't care, search for a decent little resampling tool.

    Edit:
    Try a program called, "Right-click MP3"
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  6. #6
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    Ahh! My player came with some software which allows me to do this. Yay. Thanks for the help anyway everyone.
    Edit: Scrap that. It only looks as if it can.
    I'll check out the program you suggested Shadow.
    Last edited by Eibro; 01-14-2003 at 03:57 PM.

  7. #7
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    bad idea

    MP3s are already quite compressed. when you compress them further, you really just change the encoding format, and it is quite likely that you will actually end up with larger MP3s than if you left them alone. it is rare that you will save more than a few bytes worth of space

  8. #8
    Its not rocket science vasanth's Avatar
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    I would sugest you use Music Match Jukebox.. Here you can bring down the qualty.. And at 128 the quality is quite high..

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    I know a lot of people don't like it, but WMA is the format I use. It works exactly the same, is about 1/3rd the size, ad no discernable quality loss.
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  10. #10
    I use 192 KB/s on my MP3 player for MP3's, and 128 KB/s for WMA files for it. I got 700 MB to work with, so I don't really need to worry about compression too much (it reads the MP3's off of CD-RW disks). My next MP3 player is going to be the IPod for Windows.

  11. #11
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    iPod

    i have a mac 5gig iPod, and it rocks. id highly reccommend getting one. i have about 930 songs on it, most about 3 minutes long and 320 kbs. currently i have 500 songs and Pirates of Silicon Valley on it, so i can hook it up in the mac lab at school and watch the movie. if you are looking for an all around cool device, i reccommend the iPod (but get bigger than 5 gigs, i do wish i had more space)

  12. #12
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    I use vorbis

  13. #13
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    Okay so WMA's are smaller, as the same quality? My player supports WMA compression, so If I can find a program that converts mp3->wma i'd be all set.

  14. #14
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    I just bought the jukebox Zen, 20Gb for the same as a 10Gb iPod.
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  15. #15
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    >I know a lot of people don't like it, but WMA is the format I use. It works exactly the same, is about 1/3rd the size, ad no discernable quality loss

    its impossible for two formats to be different sizes (give or take a few hundred bytes) if they have the same bitrate. The 1/3 size is probably due to the differences in bitrate. Also, some say they cant detect a difference between an mp3 encoded at 192 compared to 128 (although you really have to know what to look for to be able to tell the difference, unless you use a really pathetic encoding algorithm).

    What you should do is do your own test. Take a high quality mp3, wav or whatever, convert it to a lower quality mp3 and wma and see which one sounds better to you.
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