MP3s, MODs and Music on a PPC

[JoeMoon]

I am seeking some help and understanding...

1 - Does anyone know of a utility or program that will work under windows to convert MP3s to MODs? Or at least allow me to re-rip my music to MOD files. As I understand, MODs are the smallest, most compressed music files around - right?

2 - Why when I have 53 Megs of space available on my Dell Axim can I only transfer around 21 Megs (3 to 5 songs of 128 bitrate) of music to it before it comes back and says that it is out of space?

I am really interested in getting about 60 - 120 minutes of music on my 400 Mhz Dell Axim w/128 Meg SD Card...

Any ideas, tips, clues? Thanks!

Joe...

[Janak Parekh]

1 - Does anyone know of a utility or program that will work under windows to convert MP3s to MODs? Or at least allow me to re-rip my music to MOD files. As I understand, MODs are the smallest, most compressed music files around - right?
Yes, but not in the way you think. MODs are small because they support collections of "instruments" playing "notes", like MIDI. Most MP3s can't be reencoded as MODs because they're more general waveforms.

Why when I have 53 Megs of space available on my Dell Axim can I only transfer around 21 Megs (3 to 5 songs of 128 bitrate) of music to it before it comes back and says that it is out of space?
Is this on the main unit? On the main unit, remember that some of the space is allocated to Program memory and you'd have to move the slider to free up storage space. You really don't want to be storing music on the main unit itself...

I am really interested in getting about 60 - 120 minutes of music on my 400 Mhz Dell Axim w/128 Meg SD Card...
That should be pretty easy. An hour of 128kbps MP3 should easily fit on a 128MB SD card. At 64kbps, you should get around 2.5-3 hours.

--janak

[JoeMoon]

1 - Does anyone know of a utility or program that will work under windows to convert MP3s to MODs? Or at least allow me to re-rip my music to MOD files. As I understand, MODs are the smallest, most compressed music files around - right?
Yes, but not in the way you think. MODs are small because they support collections of "instruments" playing "notes", like MIDI. Most MP3s can't be reencoded as MODs because they're more general waveforms.
Okay, that makes sense. So I would have to rip my music again using a MOD ripper of some sort? Is that correct?

Why when I have 53 Megs of space available on my Dell Axim can I only transfer around 21 Megs (3 to 5 songs of 128 bitrate) of music to it before it comes back and says that it is out of space?
Is this on the main unit? On the main unit, remember that some of the space is allocated to Program memory and you'd have to move the slider to free up storage space. You really don't want to be storing music on the main unit itself...
I tried to copy the songs to the main memory - The memory management was self adjusting for programs and data... And that didn't work. There was still about 15 megs free when it reported a "out of memory" error during copying.

I also tried copying to the SD card that had about 63 megs available, and that too would only copy over about 21 megs of music. I tried copying one file at a time, multiple files at a time... No matter how I tried it, it would report a "out of memory" error.

I am really interested in getting about 60 - 120 minutes of music on my 400 Mhz Dell Axim w/128 Meg SD Card...
That should be pretty easy. An hour of 128kbps MP3 should easily fit on a 128MB SD card. At 64kbps, you should get around 2.5-3 hours.

--janak
Maybe I have a problem with my ripper then... My music files are averaging around 7 megs when converted to MP3 at 128kbps. Should I be using a specific type of ripper or something?

Joe...

[spursdude]

Maybe I have a problem with my ripper then... My music files are averaging around 7 megs when converted to MP3 at 128kbps. Should I be using a specific type of ripper or something?

Are your songs 7 minutes long? A song at 128kbps should be the same size regardless of what codec or ripper is used. Doesn't matter if it's a 128kbps .wma or a 128kbps .mp3. It should be the same size.

[Janak Parekh]

Okay, that makes sense. So I would have to rip my music again using a MOD ripper of some sort? Is that correct?
No. You'd have to decompose the music into sheet music, record the instruments into a section of the MOD, and then program the notation. In other words, not unless are you creating music are you going to use this.

I also tried copying to the SD card that had about 63 megs available, and that too would only copy over about 21 megs of music. I tried copying one file at a time, multiple files at a time... No matter how I tried it, it would report a "out of memory" error.
Are you copying through ActiveSync? If so, try using an SD reader instead. That tends to be much less problematic.

Maybe I have a problem with my ripper then... My music files are averaging around 7 megs when converted to MP3 at 128kbps. Should I be using a specific type of ripper or something?
7 megs might be right for a 5-6 minute piece. 128 / 7 = ~ 18 - which is more tracks than the average music CD.

--janak