WMA -> MP3 Conversion?

[smrybacki]

Hello all,

I have over 900 CDs ripped to WMA format which, as it turns out, was a mistake because my guitar trainer only takes MP3s plus my car MP3/WMA player has serious glitches in some WMA files. This later is a known glitch in the Windows Media Player 11 that only appears on some hardware, and I'm lucky enough to own one of the lucky pieces. The same WMAs play fine on my computer or on my PS3.

At any rate, I haven't yet purchased this program yet because I want to make sure that it will convert Windows Media Format (WMA) files to MP3 without losing any audio quality -- well except the glitches of course.

I'd also like to be able to keep the WMAs for future use in a separate folder structure somewhere to be archived to DVD os some such. Does this program do all that, and will it do a LARGE number of files as a batch, keeping the folder structure intact along the way? Also, will it bring the metadata such as song names, artists, etc along for the ride?

Thanks in advance for any responses. :confused:

[Spoon]

Re: WMA -> MP3 Conversion?

>Windows Media Format (WMA) files to MP3 without losing any audio quality

When encoding to lossy formats (mp3) the quality loss happens when encoding, not decoding, if your WMA files are not the lossless type of WMA file, then quality has already been lost when encoding to WMA, and will be lost again when encoding mp3, choosing a higher bitratre will lessen the quality lost.

[smrybacki]

Re: WMA -> MP3 Conversion?

*blank stare*

I THINK all my WMA files are ripped to 128bit resolution and I THINK that is a lossy format, but correct me if I am wrong. Does this mean that I will lose additional data if I convert to MP3 from WMA, and as a result have unacceptable sound quality?

Forgive my ineptitude in this area :-)

[Spoon]

Re: WMA -> MP3 Conversion?

If you converted to 196kbps or higher mp3, then they would sound very similar to the WMAs (if you ask me).

[smrybacki]

Re: WMA -> MP3 Conversion?

Thanks very much for the replies. very good forum here! One more quick question though as I am still confused a bit -- if I covert WMA files that were ripped at 128bit, will they be essentially the same sound-wise after the conversion to MP3, or will the better route be to re-rip the CDs into MP3 format for better sound.

[LtData]

Re: WMA -> MP3 Conversion?

It is always better to re-rip than convert between lossly formats (WMA <--> mp3, for example).

[smrybacki]

Re: WMA -&gt; MP3 Conversion?

Thanks for the reply folks, but it appears that if re-ripping is the better option, I don't need dbPowerAmp at present. I see though that the program (suit?) has grown considerably from what was once a free download...is the Reference Edition meant to be a 1-stop shop for music ripping/playing/storing and maybe other things that Windows Media Player does now, albeit poorly? If it is that, maybe I will look deeper at the product because as a musician, I am a bit of an audiophile in terms of how things sound to me. That is why I went with WMA format years ago because I thought it sounded better than MP3s. But now there seems to be so many formats out there claiming to be "the best" -- Ogg Vorbis, MP3 Pro, WMA Lossless...I have a LOT of self educating to do

[LtData]

Re: WMA -&gt; MP3 Conversion?

Reference doesn't have the ability to play audio files, and I'm unsure as what you are refering to as "storing". Playing the files will be under the responsibility of "dBpoweramp Renaissance", currently in EARLY beta.

[MusicTrax]

Re: WMA -&gt; MP3 Conversion?

That is why I went with WMA format years ago because I thought it sounded better than MP3s. But now there seems to be so many formats out there claiming to be "the best" -- Ogg Vorbis, MP3 Pro, WMA Lossless...I have a LOT of self educating to do

Topics like this are regularly debated over on the Hydrogen Audio Forums. Suffice it to say there are passionate arguments for many audio formats.

The bottom line is that WMA is usually frowned upon, because it's 1) proprietary, 2) doesn't easily work on all operating systems and portable players, and 3) arguably doesn't sound as good as equivalent MP3 or AAC compression schemes.

You're always better off going with lossless. All the various lossless formats are essentially identical, differing only in playback capability and file size.

At least you only got 900 CDs in. I know of people who ripped thousands of CDs, only to realize late in the game that they choose too low a bitrate, or should have gone with lossless (or both). dBPowerAmp's ripping application is pretty much the best thing out there, so that's a good place to start.