With my new computer and MDS-PC2, I've been making compilations of MP3s on
MD for the past couple weeks. While the "playlist" method using winamp or
Real jukebox will produce satifactory results, I've been using Cool Edit
2000 to play back songs one-at-a-time. This has allowed me to catch and
correct problems with the MP3 files, generally level-related, although the
occasional file has had a DC offset problem. One problem I have noted with
Cool Edit is that it "remembers" the value of the last sample that was
played, so if you play a bit of the file as a test, then stop playback, it
will produce a pop when it is restarted at the beginning unless silence is
played first. I've been using a TOSlink connection from the PC to the MD,
with excellent results.
My impression is that, while MP3 encoding produces more audible artifacts
than ATRAC, one can achieve very satisfactory results from well encoded MP3
(128Kb) files. The most frequent problem with MP3 files seems to be
clipping from excessive "overs" resulting from too-high levels. Second on
the problem list is aliasing, probably caused by doing A/D conversion on a
computer sound card with a poor anti-alias filter. I've heard some really
good sounding (and also some really bad sounding) MP3 files, so my guess is
that a lot of the flaws often attributed to poor MP3 sound is really the
result of poor encoding practices.
In summary, I feel that the MP3/MD marriage will bring me a lot of musical
enjoyment by allowing me to hear a lot of great music that I would otherwise
not be exposed to.
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