Yep, you can see that the support for WMA files is getting more and more prevalent which is what attracted me to use the WMA lossless format as a true means of archiving my CD collection. MP3 is great for my computer and portable players but I've been a little disappointed when burning discs and playing them back on my Linn hi-fi system even when ripped at the highest available MP3 rates.
Kevin E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gary Wood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "PC audio discussion list. " <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 9:00 PM Subject: Re: transferring music collection to hard drive > Hi Kevin! With the DVD player I have now, I can play the WMA files I have > on some disks, where I wasn't able to on my previous DVD player! I guess > that more MP3 CD players are allowing for the WMA format! > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Kevin Lloyd" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "PC audio discussion list. " <[email protected]> > Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 3:09 PM > Subject: Re: transferring music collection to hard drive > > > > Hi Scott. > > > > I'm using windows media player to archive my CD collection using WMA > > lossless as my choice of format. > > > > As it says, it's a lossless format and so quality is guaranteed. > > Therefore, > > if you want to burn to CD in the future and play on a real hi-fi system, > > you're going to get the full frequency range. This is where I've noticed > > the compression in MP3 files that otherwise sound great when played on a > > computer or portable device. > > > > There are other lossless formats but I think those have disadvantages. > > Flak > > and OG aren't really supported out there in mainstream players very often > > whereas WMA is and I don't think Microsoft are going to go away too > > quickly > > so the format will be around for a considerable number of years. WAV is > > uncompressed and so is larger than WMA files but even more of a > > disadvantage > > is that you don't have any ID3 tags in WAV files. > > > > A typical WMA lossless track of about 5 mins can be around the 30MB mark > > but > > memory is cheap. > > > > I convert my music down to 128kbps on the fly when loading up my portable > > MP3 hard drive player so there's no problems in taking at least some of my > > collection with me when I travel. You could though create MP3 files from > > the WMA files by using a program like Goldwave. Because you're converting > > from a lossless format, you are able to go ahead and create files in other > > formats from your WMA masters without losing quality due to mixing and > > matching of formats. You will of course get quality degradation by > > reducing > > the bit rates. > > > > So, just to be clear, I rip to WMA lossless and keep those files as my > > archive masters. I store them on an external hard drive and don't touch > > these again. If I want to shrink the music to take away from the > > computer, > > I use Goldwave to create new smaller MP3 files or use the morph function > > that comes with my notmad explorer software to shrink the music on the fly > > as I load my Creative jukebox. > > > > Regards. > > > > Kevin > > E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Scott Blanks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: "PC audio discussion list. " <[email protected]>; > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 3:46 AM > > Subject: transferring music collection to hard drive > > > > > >> Hi folks, > >> > >> I have a number of cd's that I am considering copying to my hard drive; > > I've > >> had those discs for many years and I am concerned about deterioration > > and/or > >> scratching, etc. However, I don't know what file format I should convert > > the > >> tracks into. I have free versions of Real Player and Winamp, and of > > course, > >> Windows Media. With those, I know I can choose between mp3, WMA, and > >> possibly another format using the newest version of Winamp. What I would > >> like to accomplish is converting the tracks into a high quality file that > >> does not take up too much space. > >> > >> For those of you who have converted a large number of discs into audio > >> files, what format did you choose and why? Should I shell out money for a > >> more powerful program than the ones I've already mentioned? > >> > >> Very curious, > >> Scott > >> > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... > >> http://www.pc-audio.org > >> > >> To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... > > http://www.pc-audio.org > > > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... > http://www.pc-audio.org > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... http://www.pc-audio.org To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
