What is MP3???

[Prevost]

I am getting sick of hearing of it and of finding Portable audio saying "MP3 compatible". What is MP3? How do I get music in this format?

I have seen among other things that iPOD keeps music in this format up to 7,500 tunes or so. It would be really nice to have this. I will miss having my music with me next two weeks (I will travel to Barcelona, Minorca and Rome)

[Janak Parekh]

MP3 is short for MPEG Layer 3; it's a compressed audio format. Think of MP3s as a JPEG-equivalent in the audio world; it's capable of shrinking music down to as much as 10% of the original size without sounding like total crap.

You can obtain MP3s on the Internet (both legally and illegally) via web sites, FTP sites, and P2P networks, but you can also "rip" music CDs into MP3 format, which is what I do with all the CDs I own. You can then copy these files onto devices like the iPod, or Pocket PCs with memory cards, and bring them around with you.

Here's a quick Google search (http://www.google.com/search?q=mp3+primer&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8) on MP3 primers. CDex (http://cdexos.sourceforge.net) is one such "ripping" program (and it's free).

There are competing formats, BTW, some of which are newer and better, such as Ogg Vorbis (www.vorbis.com) and WMA (Windows Media Audio) (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/codecs/audio.aspx). The latter is built into Windows operating systems, and you can use recent versions of Windows Media Player to rip CDs to WMA format.

[Prevost]

There are competing formats, BTW, some of which are newer and better, such as Ogg Vorbis (www.vorbis.com) and WMA (Windows Media Audio) (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/codecs/audio.aspx). The latter is built into Windows operating systems, and you can use recent versions of Windows Media Player to rip CDs to WMA format.So, is WMA included into Windows Mobile 2003 (hey, I caught the name!).

How does sound quality compare between an iPOD and, say, the 2210?

[Prevost]

CDex is asking me this two requirements:
1. Adaptec's ASPI manager
2. CD-ROM which is capable of extracting digital audio (IDE-ATAPI or SCSI drive)

1. What is this???
2. How do I find which kind of drive I have?

[Janak Parekh]

So, is WMA included into Windows Mobile 2003 (hey, I caught the name!).
WM2k3, like all Pocket PCs, supports both WMA and MP3 via the built-in Windows Media Player. WM2k3 happens to support the latest & greatest version of WMA (v9).

How does sound quality compare between an iPOD and, say, the 2210?
I can't speak for certain for the iPAQ 2210, as I don't own one, but most iPAQs have had amazing sound -- amongst the very best in handheld devices. The iPod has crystal-clear sound, but it doesn't have a custom equalizer -- just some presets; the "Rock" preset works pretty well, but I wish I could fiddle it. In particular, I can get better bass quality on my iPAQ (3870) then on the iPod, and I can scale it based on the music that's playing. I don't think you'll be too disappointed with either choice, though.

--janak

[Janak Parekh]

CDex is asking me this two requirements:
1. Adaptec's ASPI manager
If you're running Windows NT/2k/XP, you can tell it to use the "native driver" when it complains on startup, and it should work OK. Otherwise, you need to get an ASPI driver. Try a Google search.

2. CD-ROM which is capable of extracting digital audio (IDE-ATAPI or SCSI drive)
Any modern CDROM (say, over 16X) should extract digital audio perfectly. (Slower ones should too, but cheap old CDROM drives sometimes introduced pops and clicks into the rip process.)

Once you've got the music ripped, you can use a number of playback programs, including Windows Media Player or WinAMP, to play it back.

--janak

[Prevost]

CDex is asking me this two requirements:
1. Adaptec's ASPI manager
If you're running Windows NT/2k/XP, you can tell it to use the "native driver" when it complains on startup, and it should work OK. Otherwise, you need to get an ASPI driver. Try a Google search.


--janakI guess after I download one, I will need to tell CDex the path to find the driver. Or does it find it by itself?

BTW, I am downloading CDex now.

BTW again, I STILL do not get any notifications on replies. Sorry.

[Janak Parekh]

I guess after I download one, I will need to tell CDex the path to find the driver. Or does it find it by itself?
Yes, it finds it by itself.

BTW again, I STILL do not get any notifications on replies. Sorry.
I know, it's on my list of things to address, I just haven't had the time. :(

--janak

[maximus]

I will miss having my music with me next two weeks (I will travel to Barcelona, Minorca and Rome)

Moving on to the second section of your post. Are you planning to listen to music on ipods or PPCs ? If you are planning to use PPCs, there are a lot other types of compression method/format available (other than MP3 and WMA). I personally prefers oggs, because it produces fairly good audit quality at lower bitrates. Lower bitrates = smaller files size = more songs in your storage card.

[Prevost]

Moving on to the second section of your post. Are you planning to listen to music on ipods or PPCs ? If you are planning to use PPCs, there are a lot other types of compression method/format available (other than MP3 and WMA). I personally prefers oggs, because it produces fairly good audit quality at lower bitrates. Lower bitrates = smaller files size = more songs in your storage card.Yeah, I am planning that, but not for this trip :cry: ...I have not enough time to set it up. But I will. And thanks a lot for the suggestion. Personally, I would rather have separate devices, especially if I move into Mac :mrgreen: . It looks to me like PPC are physically weaker than iPODs, and it will be sad to lose my workhorse PDA while having fun (something not supposed to be having it within he he). Also there is the battery life issue in something like a long trip like this I am going soon.

Now, another question: does CEex rip into different formats, of only MP3? If so, which program will allow to rip into, say, ogg format or WMA?

[CameronK]

Keep in mind, if you're going to buy an iPod, you need to rip your music in MP3 and not ogg or wma. The ipod only supports MP3 and AAC (or some weird proprietary format like that). Personally, I've had a great deal of luck with my Nomad Jukebox Zen MP3 player from Creative (http://www.nomadworld.com). It plays MP3 as well as WMA, and does it for a hundred or so less than the iPod.

[Janak Parekh]

Now, another question: does CEex rip into different formats, of only MP3? If so, which program will allow to rip into, say, ogg format or WMA?
It rips into many formats (not sure about WMA, though; for that, just use Windows Media Player itself). Check out the settings on the Encoder tab. They'll keep you busy for a while. ;)

--janak

[maximus]

Also there is the battery life issue in something like a long trip like this I am going soon.

Ah, the fabled battery issue. I am using an axim with 3400 mAH battery, and I had 10+ hours of music, with another application running in the background (Running Voice GSM) and I still have around 30%-40% left in the battery.