How much does all of this stuff cost?

[DaBoogieMan]

: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

[RossRoy]

Re: How much does all of this stuff cost?

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.

[Spoons]

Re: How much does all of this stuff cost?

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]

Re: How much does all of this stuff cost?

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: :komisch7:

DaBoogieMan

[RossRoy]

Re: How much does all of this stuff cost?

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, there's a lot, and I mean a LOT of information in there. Very well thought out document, there's something for everyone!

[Spoons]

Re: How much does all of this stuff cost?

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]

Re: How much does all of this stuff cost?

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

[Spoons]

Re: How much does all of this stuff cost?

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]

Re: How much does all of this stuff cost?

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

[Spoons]

Re: How much does all of this stuff cost?

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.

[Spoons]

Re: How much does all of this stuff cost?

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]

Re: How much does all of this stuff cost?

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. 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 :D

[DaBoogieMan]

Re: How much does all of this stuff cost?

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. 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 :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

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.

[Spoons]

Re: How much does all of this stuff cost?

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 and here

and a good source of headphone talk/info : here and : here

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]

Re: How much does all of this stuff cost?

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.