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View Full Version : How much does all of this stuff cost?



DaBoogieMan
09-17-2003, 06:57 PM
:smile2: :smile2: :smile2: I have just downloaded the "free" version of dbPowerAMP. It included a player, etc. with the download. In order to get everything most people get in order to have a complete setup, what is the cost? In other words, does each item (i.e. CD Player) cost extra and so on, or you know what I'm saying. Where does the money come in, or does it come in anywhere?
Thanks so much for letting me join your Forum. I'll try not to be a pest. I was going to say something else, but I am watching my mouth.

Thaks Again, any help will be greatly appreciated.

DaBoogieMan :thumbup:

RossRoy
09-17-2003, 10:15 PM
Welcome to the great world that is dBPowerAmp!

Audio Player and Music Converter and most everything else are free, enjoy.

If you want Sveta Portable Audio (transfer audio files to your MP3 player with on-the-fly transcoding) or Powerpack (advanced features for Sveta and Music Converter such as DSP effects and such), then it's 19$ and they both come together in one package.

CD Writer (Create audio CDs and MP3/WMA CDsfrom *ANY* type of audio files that dBpoweramp can play) is 14$.

Oh and the forums are free too, and we've got a very dedicated man in charge development, that person being Spoon.

Razgo
09-17-2003, 10:48 PM
you will find some of the power pack features here: http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc-power-pack.htm

and cd writer here: http://www.dbpoweramp.com/cdwriter.htm

and Sveta Portable Audio: http://www.dbpoweramp.com/sveta-portable-audio.htm

you can download those programes and they will run for 30 days before expiring.

if you wish to use the latest beta release which is usually stable anyway you get get the beta realeses here in the beta forum: http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/forumdisplay.php?f=21

and for any problems or questions there is a search feature on the forum up the top and if you can't find an answer just ask here on the forums and we will work through any problems questions you might have.

and above all, have fun! :D

DaBoogieMan
09-18-2003, 11:29 AM
you will find some of the power pack features here: http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc-power-pack.htm

and cd writer here: http://www.dbpoweramp.com/cdwriter.htm

and Sveta Portable Audio: http://www.dbpoweramp.com/sveta-portable-audio.htm

you can download those programes and they will run for 30 days before expiring.

if you wish to use the latest beta release which is usually stable anyway you get get the beta realeses here in the beta forum: http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/forumdisplay.php?f=21

and for any problems or questions there is a search feature on the forum up the top and if you can't find an answer just ask here on the forums and we will work through any problems questions you might have.

and above all, have fun! :D

Good Morning,
This is DaBoogieMan. I really appreciate you folks answering my post. I like everyone's attitude about just enjoying this stuff. I had downloaded the J. River Media Player, (which isn't a bad player), and they have a Forum set up also. So I asked a very simple question and two of the people (I won't mention names) got very hostile about the question I asked. Anyway, I won't go any further with that. I really like this dbPowerAmp and the player, etc. It's a real well thought out arrangement. I think I will stay with this one. I just can not use the Windows Media Player. I have version 9, (only because it came with Windows XP), but they all are the same to me. Maybe I'm abit stupid, but I don't find WMP a very user friendly unit. Most people will probably disagree with me, but I have a hard time getting my playlist and files,etc. like I want them. It's very easy with this unit you guys have, and also easy to edit. I mean you can figure things out without a lot of instructions. I have, or had a situation maybe someone can explain to me. I only had two CD's in my playlist at the time. There was a CD by Travis Tritt, and one by Brooks and Dunn. Both had about the same number of tracks. However, the Brooks and Dunn file consumed a little over 15MB while the Travis file was over 56MB. I said, well the Travis Tritt CD much not of been ripped correctly, or with some mp3 ripper that does not compress the file as much as the one used on the B & D CD. To be honest with you I don't remember which system I had at the time I ripped the two CD's. The only difference I saw in the two was that the B&D file used a Lame encoder 3.92, and the bit rate was much lower. I think it was about 32bps. The Travis Tritt file was encoded by a Lame encoder also, but it was version 3.88 I think and the bit rate was 128bps on half of the tracks and half at 256bps. I tried to load the Travis file and re-rip it, if there is such a thing, but I did not have any luck. So, I learned something there. However, I thought you get a better quality track with a higher bit rate? but I don't know a great deal about the verious versions of Lame Encoders.
Can someone shed some light on this situation. I am an electronic engineer, but that doesn't mean much. They say the difference between cowboy boots and engineer's boots is, with the cowboy boots, the bull s... is on the outside.

Thanks to everyone, Razgo, and RossRoy. I really appreciate your help.
Hang in there and hope to hear from you all again.

Adious, :smile2: :thumbup: :komisch7:

DaBoogieMan

RossRoy
09-18-2003, 11:45 AM
They say the difference between cowboy boots and engineer's boots is, with the cowboy boots, the bull s... is on the outside.

Hahahaha! Nice to see an engineer who can get a laugh about his position. I work in an engineering company, and they all take themselves way too seriously. Oh I am an IT manager, I'm no engineer.


As for your question, yes files are of better audio quality at a higher bitrate, but the files also take up more hard drive space. It's all a question of what quality you can bear while keeping the hard disk usage to a tolerable level for you.

The version of the encoder itself probably didn't have much to do with anything, except maybe getting a better quality with 3.92 than 3.88 at an equal bitrate.

If you'd like a good read about different encoders and learn about the advantages/disadvantages of Lossless over Lossy and also learn about many of the different codecs available on the net today, have a look at Spoon's Audio Guide (http://www.dbpoweramp.com/spoons-audio-guide.htm), there's a lot, and I mean a LOT of information in there. Very well thought out document, there's something for everyone!

Razgo
09-18-2003, 09:01 PM
also for the re encoding the same file to another file type which is commonly called "transcoding" , the file will typically come out a little less quaility.

so if you only need to re rip a couple of albums it's much easier to do a new rip to the codec/compression you want.

if you have heaps of space you can rip to lossless first using somethiong like monkey's codec and from there you can then rip perfectly to any lossy codec like lame, ogg or whatever. then when satisfied with the lossy convert you can keep or delete the lossless files. more of a matter of preference really.

and as a rule of thumb just rip one track off the album to hear how it sounds to you before ripping the whole album.

RossRoy
09-19-2003, 12:42 AM
and as a rule of thumb just rip one track off the album to hear how it sounds to you before ripping the whole album.

You know, this is actually a really good tip.... How many time have I ripped a disc only to find that the encoding setting made it sound like crap! And I'm really prone to that situation as about 75% of my music collection consists of classical music..

Gotta put it on my "to remember" trick, thanks Raz! :D

Razgo
09-19-2003, 01:18 AM
hey your welcome. i think we take it for granted sometimes that everything will work perfect first time around. it took me ages before i found what i call the "G" spot in ogg which is VBR 192kps q-6.

RossRoy
09-19-2003, 01:21 AM
While fooling around with OGG, I found that for me, it's "G" (for Greatness of course! :D ) spot was VBR 256kbps q-8, seemed to me like it kept a better richness to the sound, especially in complex symphonies or operas

Razgo
09-19-2003, 01:28 AM
that's interesting as it was for classical type music in which i was experimenting with different ogg settings. i tried the 500kps q-1 but found it started to degrade. i will suss out the q-8 though.

Razgo
09-19-2003, 01:46 AM
i just did a blind teswt by doing the following:

i ripped "Rondeau: Allegro assai: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K 466" from an album called "The Mozart Collection" , one rip into q-6 and the other into q-8.

then started a new MMC collection and put the two tracks into it and selected random, then hold the mouse over the play button and look away. and on a piece of paper i had 256 and 192 written down and would put a tick beside the one i thought it was whilst listening to the track on my headphones.

the end result for me was an accurate account of which one was playing. i could pick the q-6 only because i feel it is a little brighter than the q-8 so the differences are definatly there.

so you are probably right saying the q-8 is a little fuller than the q-6.

can you do the test and see if you can tell the difference? i was surpirsed i got it correct though.

RossRoy
09-19-2003, 06:32 PM
I did the same test as you Raz, but I used 2 tracks.

Dvorak - New World Symphony - Mvt.1 (for it's quiet and slow beginning)
and
Dvorak - New World Symphony - Mvt.4 Finale (for the explosive beginning with lots of underlying violin work below the trumpet theme)

I was able to differentiate q-6 and q-8 except once on Mvt.4.

At q-6, in Mvt.1, I could hear some very slight noise in the quiet parts that's not there on q-8 and, after listening to the CD, it's not on the original CD either.

As for Mvt4, the difference is barely noticeable, but q-8 keeps a richer sound that seems wider on the spectral range. Also, left/right definition seemed better on q-8 too. But the differences are really really infinitecimal, you have to really be paying full attention to actually hear it (as a matter of fact, the only time I messed up, it was because the phone rang, so I lost part of my concentration on the music).

So, while q-8, in my opinion, does give a richer and fuller sound, q-6 does give some very good quality too.

I used some Sennheiser HD570 (http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/icm_eng.nsf/root/products_headphones_homeuse_hifisystems_04485). They describe them as "audiophile-quality, open dynamic hi-fi stereo headphones", whatever that means, they sound GREAT!

Now if only I had a LOT more money, I'd get the electrostatic model (http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/icm_eng.nsf/root/products_headphones_homeuse_hifisystems_03074) :D

DaBoogieMan
09-20-2003, 06:43 PM
I did the same test as you Raz, but I used 2 tracks.

Dvorak - New World Symphony - Mvt.1 (for it's quiet and slow beginning)
and
Dvorak - New World Symphony - Mvt.4 Finale (for the explosive beginning with lots of underlying violin work below the trumpet theme)

I was able to differentiate q-6 and q-8 except once on Mvt.4.

At q-6, in Mvt.1, I could hear some very slight noise in the quiet parts that's not there on q-8 and, after listening to the CD, it's not on the original CD either.

As for Mvt4, the difference is barely noticeable, but q-8 keeps a richer sound that seems wider on the spectral range. Also, left/right definition seemed better on q-8 too. But the differences are really really infinitecimal, you have to really be paying full attention to actually hear it (as a matter of fact, the only time I messed up, it was because the phone rang, so I lost part of my concentration on the music).

So, while q-8, in my opinion, does give a richer and fuller sound, q-6 does give some very good quality too.

I used some Sennheiser HD570 (http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/icm_eng.nsf/root/products_headphones_homeuse_hifisystems_04485). They describe them as "audiophile-quality, open dynamic hi-fi stereo headphones", whatever that means, they sound GREAT!

Now if only I had a LOT more money, I'd get the electrostatic model (http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/icm_eng.nsf/root/products_headphones_homeuse_hifisystems_03074) :D




This is DaBoogieMan,
Hi you all, (here in South Carolina it's pronounced y'all) That's better than some of the guys I was stationed with in the Air Force for New York City. They said youst guys. People like to laught at our accents here in the Souther part of the U.S. To bad we lost that war.....
I just finished registering and downloading the amp for $19. You can't bet the price for all that you get for it. I am very pleased with everything so far, except it may take me awhile to get accustomed to all of the new 'audio words'. I gather that you guys like this 'ogg' format best? How does that compare with the regular mp3 as far as compression of the music goes. I mean, as I said before, I would not even worry about mp3's, or any of the other compression format's if I had a 200Gb hard drive. I ripped, (that's hard to get used to, ripped) my first CD and it was ..... oh, heck I forget the ratio, compared to the original, but the music sounded great. I could not tell the difference. On my second CD that I ripped, I did not pay attention to the bit rate and that CD playlist was much larger than the first.
I also downloaded a lot of the skins you all have. Some are really creative. I wish I was creative. I have a hard time chewing gum and walking at the same time.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Thanks again you guys for all of the help. That's the best selling point of all.
Adios,

DaBoogieMan :komisch12 :thumbup:

P.S. One last quick question. How do you change, or can one change his 'signature'? That Army dude looks to much like me, and it's scary.

Razgo
09-20-2003, 08:35 PM
hi DaBoogieMan, to change your avatar just go to your profile here in the forum up top and click on "user cp" at the top of this forum then click on "avatar" to change it.

i think all the codecs are good and no one seems to be better than the other. it's just a matter of preference i think. however the ogg format isn't supported in most mp3 players. so you need to look at a format for your mp3 player.

well i have an aussie accent and i guess Spoon has a "pommy" accent? and Rossroy? i don't know how a french canadian sounds.

the headphones i use are the sony MDR-7509 here (http://www.proaudioreview.com/par/december00/Sony-Web.shtml) and here (http://www.grandmas.com/ItemSonyMDR7509Headph.html)

and a good source of headphone talk/info : here (http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/) and : here (http://headwize2.powerpill.org/ubb/forums.php?fdays=20)

and DaBoogieMan, if you want to know a lot more about the different mp3 formats http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/ is a wealth of info.

Spoon
09-21-2003, 08:47 AM
Often what determines which format will be used is what supports it, rather than the quality.

I have a mix of stuff, 80% is in Monkeys Lossless, 15% is old mp3 I havn't got around to reencoding (I have a pile of CDs on my Desk that is 4 foot tall!) and the rest is either ogg or mp4.

DaBoogieMan
09-22-2003, 03:27 AM
Often what determines which format will be used is what supports it, rather than the quality.

I have a mix of stuff, 80% is in Monkeys Lossless, 15% is old mp3 I havn't got around to reencoding (I have a pile of CDs on my Desk that is 4 foot tall!) and the rest is either ogg or mp4.


Hope Everyone had a good weekend. This is the DaBoogieMan. Boy, the further I go with this dbAMP setup the more confused I get. For a person that supposted to have an engineering degree, I am about as stupid and confused as I can get. I know you guys will probably get a big kick out of this, but this is the first player/encoder/recorder/everything, that has so many pieces to the thing. I tried just to play a music CD today, and what started the confusion was that I had downloaded about five skins. Well, changing from one to the other also changed the way the thing operated. In other words one of the sking had a split adjusting knob on the equalizer. I don't understand that at all. I think my problem is I am totally brain dead. Back in 1995, while I was still working for the DOD, I had a breakdown. So people call it a mental breakdown, or a nervous breakdown. I couldn't really tell you because I do not remember anything that happened that day. The women in the office only said they took me home. I had been fighting depression since about 1984 or so, but it was not anything to bad. I would come out of it. However, the requency of the depression kept getting worse. I did not want to go to a shrink because I had a Top Secret SI Clearance and if they found out I was seeing a shrink, I would lose my security clearance. So, to make a real long story short. I have been to four different doctors, taken at one time or the other almost every anti-depressant known to man,and also every anti-anxiety medication. That was eight years ago,and all I am doing is treading water. I don't enjoy anything any of my hobbies anymore, it just hell (excuse my language). So, I'll try and do the best I can with this dbAMP. Maybe I'll get it figured out.
I did not mean to start talking about my problem, but I need to do something. My neighbor, one street over, shoot himself in his front yard on Sunday. He and I used to talk about this depression thing and I guess he couldn't deal with it anymore. Well guys, I apologize for casting such a dark cloud over you all's conversation.
You guy hang in there,

DaBoogieMan :( :thumbup:

Razgo
09-22-2003, 03:41 AM
hi DaBoogieMan, hang in there as all is not lost. it sounds like you have been through the wringer.

first things first though. just tell us the name of the skin you are using so we can can identify with it first. i think the "split adjusting knob on the equalizer" as you put it might be the volume boost. some skins have it in the centre and others on the side. although it should say "boost" under that slider.

but best to let us know which skin it is first.

Spoon
09-22-2003, 05:41 PM
As Razgo has said, keep in there - as someone once said 'life is painful, death is painless'. I am not to best guy to speak to, perhaps one of the worst, but for me I find helping others even in small ways helps me keep on track.

Now to help you :) you can easily select which ever skin you want, initially stay with the Defualt Skin as all the help files were written around it. To change a skin select:

Start >> Programs >> dBpowerAMP >> Options Menu

Select Skins, select 'Default' and click 'Switch To'. You might also want to make sure the Skin randomizer is set to 'Never' (to the right of the 'Switch To' button).

DaBoogieMan
09-23-2003, 02:08 AM
As Razgo has said, keep in there - as someone once said 'life is painful, death is painless'. I am not to best guy to speak to, perhaps one of the worst, but for me I find helping others even in small ways helps me keep on track.

Now to help you :) you can easily select which ever skin you want, initially stay with the Defualt Skin as all the help files were written around it. To change a skin select:

Start >> Programs >> dBpowerAMP >> Options Menu

Select Skins, select 'Default' and click 'Switch To'. You might also want to make sure the Skin randomizer is set to 'Never' (to the right of the 'Switch To' button).


Hi Guys,
I did not mean to get on that depression subject, but I can't help it some times. What gets to me the most is that now I just can't do everything I used to. If I say so myself, at one time I was a good electronic engineer. NOw my memory is not so good because I went through these shock treatments they said were effective in 95% of the people with cronic anxiety and depression. Well, guees who's in the 5% catagory. All the shock treatments did was completely wipe out my short term memory and some of my long term memory. Most of it came back, but it toke a long time. I felt like I just had a stroke because even my speech was slurred.
Anyway, I believe the skin I was refering to was the 'Pioneer' skin. On the equalizer, each slider was two pieces. I did not read enough, I guess to understand why they were split like that. I think I will do like you said and try and start out simple with the default skin, and just try and play a CD before Iget into the encoding or ripping. I really do appreciate all of you guys giving me all this help. I am sorry I am such a pain. That's one other thing that gets me depressed, and that's when I can't do something and I can't figure out why something isn't working. The main heart of my frustration is this Windows XP Home Edition I am using. Most people really like it, but I could writhe a book on the XP I have. I'm not going to get into which OS is best thing again. I am just relating MY observations of the Win XP I have.

Thanks so much again, you guys are the best,
Hang in their, and have a good week,

DaBoogieMan :thumbup: :smile2: :p

Razgo
09-23-2003, 02:30 AM
i think i know what you mean now. the dap n log skin : dap n log (http://skins.dbpoweramp.net/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownloaddetails&lid=50&ttitle=_N-Log) had split buttons for it's EQ. the purpose was for it to be used as a 20 band EQ without having to make a larger screen to accomadate each slider. so they were split.

as far as trying to work things out with dbpoweramp and all it's feature's , i wouldn't worry too much as i have been using it now for a few years and still only know half of what it does. it was years before i realized all these extra colums were in MMC, and all i had to do was move the horizontal slider to see them :D