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View Full Version : FINALLY - I got something to work as it was supposed to (almost)!

shawnc
12-31-2002, 02:15 PM
Based on some excellent advice gleaned from this forum yesterday, I downloaded the Media Player Bonus Pack and converted all MP3's to WMA. The process worked FLAWLESSLY and actually cut the file size IN HALF. I thought that was amazing.

The good news does not end there. I was able to copy the converted files from my desktop to the SD card in my Dell. All I had to do was dock the Dell and go into My Device. I saw the SD Card folder and pasted the My Music folder into it. IT WAS SO SIMPLE.

But (you knew there was a "But") only two minor complaints. One is my own fault. Since I assumed I would need some type of Card Reader to get the files onto SD card, I just purchased one off of ebay BEFORE trying what eventually worked. Oh well, total cost of 4 in 1 reader with shipping - $18. Cost of getting something to work as it should.....PRICELESS!

The 2nd problem is that when using my headphones I can hear a slight "gurgle" noise in the background when playing my WMA's. It is not constant but consistent enough to be irritating. I played a couple of songs without the headphones and could not detect the noise. I'm going to pick up some "noise cancellation" headphones but don't know if this will do the trick. Has anyone else noticed this when converting from MP3 to WMA? I don't remember what the conversation rate was, I just used whatever the default setting is. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Lastly, I listened to MP3's.....oops, I mean WMA's on the busride into work (about 1 hour). Normally this would cause my ipaq battery to drain completely (sometimes it would not make it the full hour). I just checked the battery on my Dell, it is at 95%. 95%, CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT. I love this machine! Though I also noticed that my backup battery is at 90%. I can't imagine why it would not be at 100%. Oh well, who cares :D !

If anyone has any advice on the background music, I would appreciate it. Also, for the "technically challenged" like myself, just wanted to let you know that you do not need a reader to copy files to SD/CF cards.
Rirath
12-31-2002, 02:57 PM
Maybe look into MightySync too... then you can simply set a folder and have that folder automatically sync a small collection of WMV to the SD card. It might save you a bit of time, and it's like $6.
Janak Parekh
12-31-2002, 05:03 PM
The 2nd problem is that when using my headphones I can hear a slight "gurgle" noise in the background when playing my WMA's.
Did you hear a gurgle with the originals, or with other original content? If not, then it's the transcoding. Transcoding is a very lossy mechanism that can introduce a lot of noise and artifacts into music, and that's why I never do it. :)

--janak
shawnc
12-31-2002, 05:16 PM
Did you hear a gurgle with the originals, or with other original content? If not, then it's the transcoding. Transcoding is a very lossy mechanism that can introduce a lot of noise and artifacts into music, and that's why I never do it. :) --janak

No - there was no background noise with the pre-converted files when listening to on my 340MB microdrive on my ipaq 3650. You mention that "transcoding" is not a sound process, are there alternatives? I like the idea of reducing file size since my SD card is smaller (128MB w/256MB on the way). I'm not a music purist so the range is not that significant to me. I would like to get rid of the gurgle however as it is somewhat annoying and something I don't feel as though I should have to settle for.

Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanx!
Janak Parekh
12-31-2002, 05:23 PM
No - there was no background noise with the pre-converted files when listening to on my 340MB microdrive on my ipaq 3650.
But that's too many variables - we're trying to figure out if it's the Axim or the transcoding process.

You mention that "transcoding" is not a sound process, are there alternatives?
The only other alternative is to reencode the music, which may or may not be preferable to you. While I'm no purist, I do notice the artifacts on the transcoding and it bothers me, although I don't recall a "gurgle" per se when I last transcoded via WMP.

--janak
shawnc
12-31-2002, 05:49 PM
[quote=shawnc]No - there was no background noise with the pre-converted files when listening to on my 340MB microdrive on my ipaq 3650.
But that's too many variables - we're trying to figure out if it's the Axim or the transcoding process.

Never thought it might be the Dell. I assumed it was either the SD Card (Sandisk) or the conversion (transcoding?) process.

You mention that "transcoding" is not a sound process, are there alternatives?
The only other alternative is to reencode the music, which may or may not be preferable to you. While I'm no purist, I do notice the artifacts on the transcoding and it bothers me, although I don't recall a "gurgle" per se when I last transcoded via WMP.--janak

It is a very difficult noise to describe and "gurgle" may not be the optimum choice of words. It is annoying enough that I think I will take your suggestion and try to reencode using different options. I thought there were different rates that the user could select. Maybe I will play around with those.
Thanx for the help.
Sven Johannsen
12-31-2002, 06:57 PM
Coupla comments. 1) Since you bought the SD card reader, use it. You will find the transfer speed remarkably faster than going through ActiveSync.

2) the size difference is likely because the converter assumes a half rate change, i.e if it ses a 128M MP3, it encodes to a 64M WMA. The hype is that they sound the same. (people debate that at length). Media player does play MP3s, though not all of them it seems. Try sticking one or two on the AXIM, and listen to the original MP3 and see if the objectionable noise is there.

3) If the noise is not there, see if the converter will let you convert a 128M MP3 into a 128M WMA, just for fun since it won't save any room. If possible, try re-encoding from the original CD directly to wma with Media Player on the desktop (though I expect you probably don't have the originals). The '64M wma sounds like a 128M mp3' claim is definately based on them being encoded directly from the source.
shawnc
12-31-2002, 07:06 PM
Sven,

Thanx for the info. I will try what you suggest.

Coupla comments. 1) Since you bought the SD card reader, use it. You will find the transfer speed remarkably faster than going through ActiveSync.

Just for clarification, I don't think I went through active-sync. I did not place the files into the folder I use to sync to my PPC from my desktop. I went into My Computer, located a "My Device" icon, selected it and did a copy/paste to drop the My Music folder from my desktop directly into the SD folder under my device. Maybe this is the same as using active-sync but I didn't think so.
Kati Compton
12-31-2002, 09:05 PM
Just for clarification, I don't think I went through active-sync. I did not place the files into the folder I use to sync to my PPC from my desktop. I went into My Computer, located a "My Device" icon, selected it and did a copy/paste to drop the My Music folder from my desktop directly into the SD folder under my device. Maybe this is the same as using active-sync but I didn't think so.

You're still going through the USB communication path to the device itself. Usually card readers are much quicker.