On the quality of MP3s and CDs.

[dmoltrup]

Anyone know of a simple program that will analyze a MP3 and give a report on glitches in it? Perhaps compare it to CD quality sound, if possible. I have heard of programs that will analyze the actual surface of a compact disc. It will give you a surprising report on the number of errors on the disc. The error correction built into your player hides these errors while playing, so you usually don't even detect them.

Believe it or not, there are more actual 'data read' errors on minted (store bought) CDs than there are on homemade "burned" copies. This is primarily because the original CDs are minted. I don't recall where I saw it, but a few years ago, a magazine showed scans of commercial CDs and there were an astounding number of 'invisible' errors all over the discs!

Anyway, I am off the topic. If you have heard of a program that will analyze MP3s to ensure they are worthy of being "master copy" quality, let me know.

[Ammok]

Don't know of any prog, but all you need to know is the bitrate. The bitrate is the number of samples done per second, so 96kbs will sound ok, but as good as your fm radio, 112kbs will sound pretty, 196kbs is near cd quality and 312kbs or above is superb. As an added consequence of the higher bit rate, is the file size, so if you got an mp3 of say 2.5Mb it will be poorquality, 6mb will be very good and 10mb will be excellent, for the same song.

[Slade54]

You got it backwards Ammok

The hertz its done at is the number of times its samples per sec.

The standard for mp3 and cds is 44.1kilohertz, which means that the song is sampled 44100 times every second. The higher this number, the closer to the orginal sound its suppose to be.

The bitrate is the number of bits that makes up each second of the song. So the higher the bitrate, the more data that is corresponding with the song, which means higher qaulity.

As for which bitrate is cd qaulity, that is extremely subjective, because remember, mp3 and cd audio are encoded differently.

Its whatever your ears tell you. If you cant hear a difference at 128kbps vs. a cd, then 128 is cd qaulity, for you. Everyones ears is different.

To illustrate, i was over at my friends house like last week. The speakers, man, i swear to god they were ****, some of the worst sound qaulity. Its like playing a 24kpbs 22kh song. And i told my friend that, and hes like whatever, i dont notice. If he doesnt notice, it doesnt really matter.

Ill still prolly get him a cheap 3peice set at big lots for $20. That may not strike you as qaulity, but for their price, they work great. That and i never knew GE made speakers.

[rangeral]

Yes it can be in the ear of the beholder, my son was using a **** 2pc set with an old classic creative card, bought him a 3pc set and it blew him away. Didn't help that the volume was up high when he turned it on.:D