Compression Attributes

[gemminiii]

I'm running 98SE and a friend is running XP Home. We both have dMC Release 9. When attempting to convert, we right click, select WAVE, and then Change Format. I set Format to MPEG Layer-3 and set Attributes to 40 kBit/s, 22,050 Hz, Stereo 5 KB/s. My friend sets Format to MPEG Layer-3, but has no Attribute of 40 kBit/s, 22,050 Hz, Stereo 5KB/s. We can't figure out why that is. Why would that particular attribute be missing? He has uninstalled dMC and re-installed with no change. Any ideas? We love dMC and have been using it for years. Thanks for any help. :smile: (We convert MP3 to MPEG Layer-3.)

[RossRoy]

(We convert MP3 to MPEG Layer-3.)

Aren't MP3 and MPEG Layer-3 the exact same thing? Or is your goal really is to create WAV files, but containing MP3 data inside?.. I'm not sure I understand why you would want to take an MP3 and convert it to... MP3 (contained in a WAV).. ??

[gemminiii]

For example: Converting an MP3 of 5.63MB to MPEG Layer-3 compresses the file to 1.75MB at that particular attribute setting. It started being used years ago to convert gigantic .wav format files to more manageable size, especially for those who had small hard drives. That may not be the technical reason, but it's how I understand it. I'm not a high-end user, just poking along learning as I go. Also, some chat sites back then could not play MP3 format.

[RossRoy]

Ok, well then as a matter of fact, MP3 and MPEG Layer-3 are the same thing. The only thing you happen to be doing to reduce the file size, is to reduce quality also.

Usually, what are called "standard" MP3 are stereo files, encoded at 44100 Hz in 128 kbits/seconds.

With the setting you use, you are rencoding them as stereo files, encoded at 22050 Hz at 40 kbits/seconds. Much lower quality, but if it fits you, good for you! The files are smaller :D

What I would do, in your case, is right-click the file you want to convert, choose "MP3", set the slider at 40 kbits/seconds, leave channels at stereo, and put frequency on 22050, this will give you the exact same results, but the files will have the MP3 extension instead of WAV (doesn't make much of a difference, as most music player natively support WAV as well as MP3), and you will have this possibility on your friend's computer as well. Also, making MP3 files gives you the added benefit of Tags (right-click the file and choose Edit Tags, but you need PowerPack to do that) and you can put the information on track title, artist and album right into the file :D, which is not possible with WAVE format

Hope that answers your question.

[gemminiii]

Thanks for your input, Ross. And I do understand the difference in sound quality etc. I retain my MP3s. The reason for the conversion is because the chat site we frequent does not recognize .mp3 format, only .wav. And we found that at the attribute I mentioned, the music sounded fine for that purpose. Any smaller and it becomes distorted. Any larger and the file becomes too big and won't play in the chat room. There is no problem with any of the media players.

So, as to my original question: Why is it that I have above mentioned attribute option available in Release 9, but my friend, with the same release, does not?

Thanks again for your help.

[RossRoy]

Ok, this is getting much more technical than I thought at first!

I am guessing your friend may have a different version of the MP3 encoder dll file that is registered in windows, which in turn probably has different preset options. I guess I really can't help you there, as I don't even know what DLL file Music Covnerter ends up using when choosing the WAV encoding but compressing it as MPEG Layer-3, because I guess, in that case, that the MP3 encoding is handled by Windows and not Music Converter. I could be way off on this though, Spoon or Razgo could probably help you better about that, if they could only chime in and come to my rescue :p

Another possibility, for sending your files on the chatroom, could be to create standard MP3, using the MP3 option of Music Converter, then add the WAV header using another software. Go here then press CTRL-F and search for Wavemp3. You can't get any easier than that to add WAV header to MP3 files (thus making the MP3 file playable in the chatroom). Just click the Wave! button, choose your MP3 and off you go.

Let me know if it works.

[Unregistered]

And you think you are confused?! LoL

[gemminiii]

:D Sorry, that was me up there!! lol

[Spoon]

See the FAQ in this forum for MMC, bit about Mpeg3 option goes missing - you can install the Lame mp3 Wave ACM codec.