hey Janak!

[kidA]

i read in another thread that you're whole digital music collection is in ogg format. I am curious as to what ripper you use. i've only tried a couple but they were painfully slower than ripping .wma in wmp 9 for me.

[Janak Parekh]

CDex (cdexos.sourceforge.net). If you're interested, make sure to grab the latest beta (update: looks like the release of 1.5 is out... woo!). Works very well for me, and it's free. As for ripping speed, it is probably a little slower than WMA, but on my work machine (Athlon XP 1800+) it takes 5-10 minutes to rip each CD, and I work in the meantime. Slow CPUs might suffer, though.

--janak

p.s. Y'know, you could have called it "Ogg ripper?" instead of "Hey Janak"... we do have other Oggers out there :lol:

[Unreal32]

What's the advantage of OGG over WMA? For that matter, is there any advantage of WMA over MP3 beyond size? Seems to me that we'd want to standardize on a format (i.e., MP3) rather than have a lot of other apps out there with no standardization.

[Janak Parekh]

What's the advantage of OGG over WMA? For that matter, is there any advantage of WMA over MP3 beyond size? Seems to me that we'd want to standardize on a format (i.e., MP3) rather than have a lot of other apps out there with no standardization.
Ogg Vorbis is an open format, with no license restrictions, and has much better quality at low bitrates than MP3. WMA is similar qualitywise, but requires a (presumably expensive) Microsoft license, and that's part of the reason you see so few third-party Pocket PC players supporting it.

If we should standardize on any, it should be Ogg, because of its open nature. That said, I doubt standardization will happen in the foreseeable future -- all three formats are used actively.

--janak

[CTSLICK]

CDex (cdexos.sourceforge.net). If you're interested, make sure to grab the latest beta. Works very well for me, and it's free. As for ripping speed, it is probably a little slower than WMA, but on my work machine (Athlon XP 1800+) it takes 5-10 minutes to rip each CD, and I work in the meantime. Slow CPUs might suffer, though.

--janak

p.s. Y'know, you could have called it "Ogg ripper?" instead of "Hey Janak"... we do have other Oggers out there :lol:

Janak,

I am really growing to like ogg. I have been using GSPlayer on my Axim...work nicely and doesn't seem to tax my device at all. What bitrate seems to give you the best compromise of sound quality vs file size?

[bdegroodt]

What's the advantage of OGG over WMA? For that matter, is there any advantage of WMA over MP3 beyond size? Seems to me that we'd want to standardize on a format (i.e., MP3) rather than have a lot of other apps out there with no standardization.

I'd add to Janak's post that I swear I hear things in the OGG files that I just don't in WMA/MP3. I'm sure I'm wrong, but there's a much clearer experience for me than when I listen to WMA or MP3.

Unreal, I agree with you that standardizing is a good idea. Let's standardize on an open and free OGG format. :D

[Janak Parekh]

I am really growing to like ogg. I have been using GSPlayer on my Axim...work nicely and doesn't seem to tax my device at all. What bitrate seems to give you the best compromise of sound quality vs file size?
160kbps. But I'm obsessive about it; perhaps it has something to do with classical music :) People say 64kbps sounds really good as well.

--janak

[bdegroodt]

I am really growing to like ogg. I have been using GSPlayer on my Axim...work nicely and doesn't seem to tax my device at all. What bitrate seems to give you the best compromise of sound quality vs file size?
160kbps. But I'm obsessive about it; perhaps it has something to do with classical music :) People say 64kbps sounds really good as well.

--janak

Concur. 64 is pretty good on a PPC with normal headphones (Sony earbuds, regular over the ear phones etc). Any headphones on the high end (Etymotic etc) will show the 64kbps degraded quality though.