On Tue, 28 Mar 2000 05:23:08 +0100 "PrinceGaz" [EMAIL PROTECTED]
writes:
Hey guys!
For some time I have been listening to an audio stream which I'm
receiving at 20kbps
encoded with Windows Media Player codec. It's 1960's music and the
thing is it's
quite acceptable (comparable to a intermediate distance AM radio
station) and I'm sure
would be perfectably acceptable for audio books. When I say 20kbps
thats the actual
data transfer rate, not my connection to my ISP.
Ok.
Some quick arithmetic shows that at 20kbps, a 150MB minidisc would
run for over 16
hours at this rate, fantastic for an audio book and without the
terrible distortion you
get with a similar speed RealAudio stream. Perhaps once MS has
actually hit the
bullseye and come up with a great algorithm.
No. MS incorporated several codecs with WMA. VQF is much better at
compression. However it is decent at lower bitrates. Better than MP3 and
VQF doesn't go that low.
I know it is 70:1 compression, well okay 35:1 as it's mono but I
could happily listen
to it on a bus, coach or train.
Umm, it's 70:1 compression. Remeber, compressed audio is all about your
bitrate, not your properties. A 96kbps Mono MP3 @ 44.1 Khz would be the
same size as say a 32khz stereo MP3 at the same bitrate. Only reason most
people think theres a difference is because most encoders won't allow
certin birates to be used.
Thats seven times higher than MD,
hell its over three
times the 128kbps MP3 format we slag off and being mono halved
again. I would be
happy to have an audio book recorded in that format and run for 16
hours on one
standard MD, hey for listening while travelling I could live quite
happily with it, a stereo
version would be better (eeek, only 8 hours per MD :-)
Yes, this would be nice, BUT, will the current ATRAC chips PLAY a stream
encoded at that without having to change. I'm thinking it wouldn't. But,
if it is backwards compatable with earlier versions, they just might be
able to pull such a thing off. And if your going to keep it 20kbps, if
your using stereo, it'd STILL be 16 hours, but, youd more than likely
double the birate to 40 kbps.
Okay listening here at home on my hifi the compression artifacts are
quite noticeable,
this codec seems to deal with them a helluva lot better than
RealPlayer does, and is
actually enjoyable even at 20kbps!
RealPlayer G2 7.0 is good at lower qualities, but WMA does handle it
somewhat better.
-J.R.
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