Hi,
Does anyone have any information on which compression format has better sound quality? I'm comparing the newer Sony mp3 players which use Atrac against the ipod which I think uses mp3 and aac. One issue I've heard with the Sony is that people complain they need to convert their mp3s to atrac which is a pain. I would be ripping music directly from cd (or hardrive) so I don't have to worry about the whole decode/encode to get songs into atrac format.
thanks
ipod or sony? ... mp3, aac or atrac3?
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- KVRian
- 690 posts since 31 May, 2002 from chez moi
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- KVRist
- 148 posts since 30 Jul, 2002 from None
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 690 posts since 31 May, 2002 from chez moi
thanks, that was quite informative.
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- KVRAF
- 12977 posts since 29 Sep, 2003 from Ottawa, Canada
I can say from experience that Atrac3 is pretty lossy; however, depending on your needs, it's still worth considering it.
The other hassle I've had is the Sony digital rights management. Dunno if it's changed since I got my MD ages ago, though. Might be bearable now.
The MD player was really my only option, though, considering its features. I was to be travelling on a bicycle for a month, with no access to an MP3 library, so all my tunes had to come with me. You can take more tunes on a handful of discs than on a similarly-priced MP3 player. Of course, HD-based players have come down, but the battery life is still not great. I also wanted a mic input, though I have to admit I've yet to use it. The main thing was actually the battery life of the MD player, which was 50 hours on a single alkaline, or 20 on its own NiCad rechargeable.
I took a set of 4 rechargables with me, along with a compact charger. All told, it may have taken up a bit more space than an MP3 player, and making the discs themselves was a bit of a hassle (and continues to be... I rarely rotate my discs because of it), but it was the only option.
For tooling around the city, I think I'd have gone with (and still WILL go with, sooner than later) an Mp3 player.
As far as I'm concerned, ANY lossy format is still.. well, lossy. So it's not big deal for me when just taking the bus or taking my dog for a walk. If I decide to be audiophile-guy, I'll just record on the MD without compression, which I'm sure you're aware is another option with MD.
Greg
The other hassle I've had is the Sony digital rights management. Dunno if it's changed since I got my MD ages ago, though. Might be bearable now.
The MD player was really my only option, though, considering its features. I was to be travelling on a bicycle for a month, with no access to an MP3 library, so all my tunes had to come with me. You can take more tunes on a handful of discs than on a similarly-priced MP3 player. Of course, HD-based players have come down, but the battery life is still not great. I also wanted a mic input, though I have to admit I've yet to use it. The main thing was actually the battery life of the MD player, which was 50 hours on a single alkaline, or 20 on its own NiCad rechargeable.
I took a set of 4 rechargables with me, along with a compact charger. All told, it may have taken up a bit more space than an MP3 player, and making the discs themselves was a bit of a hassle (and continues to be... I rarely rotate my discs because of it), but it was the only option.
For tooling around the city, I think I'd have gone with (and still WILL go with, sooner than later) an Mp3 player.
As far as I'm concerned, ANY lossy format is still.. well, lossy. So it's not big deal for me when just taking the bus or taking my dog for a walk. If I decide to be audiophile-guy, I'll just record on the MD without compression, which I'm sure you're aware is another option with MD.
Greg
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- KVRist
- 164 posts since 13 Mar, 2002 from New Zealand
The Sony won points for battery life, but was inferior to the iPod in most others according to this comparison, the worst theing being its interaction with the software on the PC...
http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/solution-20040728.html
http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/solution-20040728.html
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- KVRist
- 164 posts since 13 Mar, 2002 from New Zealand
Also,
If quality is the main thing, the iPod has a newish lossless Aiff compression codec that cuts audio files down to about 50% size, as per this page.
http://www.apple.com/itunes/import.html
If quality is the main thing, the iPod has a newish lossless Aiff compression codec that cuts audio files down to about 50% size, as per this page.
http://www.apple.com/itunes/import.html
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- KVRAF
- 12977 posts since 29 Sep, 2003 from Ottawa, Canada
The software is god-awful. I keep looking for alternatives, but Sony hasn't opened it up for 3rd party, I don't think. Musicmatch has something, if I'm not mistaken.Zoing wrote:The Sony won points for battery life, but was inferior to the iPod in most others according to this comparison, the worst theing being its interaction with the software on the PC...
http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/solution-20040728.html
Greg
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- KVRer
- 11 posts since 7 Jul, 2004
Like I care ? WTF 128 kbit/sec bitrates ? Where did that come from 6 years ago ! Who cares. Bitrates and major compression are not really an issue anymore, those are the old days when 10 gigs was a big disk drive.
I'll use APE and i'll use 320 kbit/sec, I do not really care about size, why should I ? Compression is a some immature pissing contest, but in reality above 200 k your not really concerned much.
I'll leave the 64 kbit users to masturabate over their irrelevant comparisons.
Disco.
I'll use APE and i'll use 320 kbit/sec, I do not really care about size, why should I ? Compression is a some immature pissing contest, but in reality above 200 k your not really concerned much.
I'll leave the 64 kbit users to masturabate over their irrelevant comparisons.
Disco.
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- KVRAF
- 4215 posts since 10 Oct, 2002 from Nashville, TN USA
You will want to factor in usability to the device, too. As a former Archos Jukebox user who now has an iPod, I've found that the ease of use on the iPod has led to a wider variety of listening than I was doing before because it's just so much easier to change tracks and artists. The slim design helps, too, as it's not a big deal to use a front pocket on jeans now. My Archos was a log.
But having to use iTunes to upload music into the iPod hasn't been fun, though it works fine. It's slow and I don't like how the iPod organizes files based on tagging. I much prefer to make folders and organize things according to my own befuddled logic.
But having to use iTunes to upload music into the iPod hasn't been fun, though it works fine. It's slow and I don't like how the iPod organizes files based on tagging. I much prefer to make folders and organize things according to my own befuddled logic.
