Arny Krueger in uk.rec.audio:

"The EggKing" wrote in message


IMO anybody who is looking at the portable audio situation today needs to
consider products like the Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox III. No sound
quality issues due to lossy compression unless you want it, tons of
capacity, small size and low cost.

Agreed that they're nice devices, shame about the battery life and large
size.

--
Jim H
3.1415...4999999 and so on... Richard Feynman

In message , Laurence Payne
writes
Minidisk uses a lossy compression system. If you can't hear the
difference, or don't care, you're a music-lover rather than an
audiophile and can save a lot of money :-)


Oh I can hear the difference, but for my in-car use then MD is ideal.
I'm certainly not going to mess about with anything the size and
awkwardness of a CD in the car.
One, because I wouldn't risk my CDs getting scratched, so I would have
to make a copy for the car, and two, because CD in the car is so
'twentieth century'.
--
Chris Morriss

In message , The EggKing
writes
Hmmm, thanks for all the opinions. I'm in the process of helping a family
member put together a new PC. So I reckon once my minidisc player dies I'll
leave the format alone. Hopefully by that time SS gear will have dropped in
price so I can stick my music into something the size of a matchbox.

I think I'll levae it a a seperate. I would only be using it to record and
never to play back through my system. I think it's fine as a oprtable medium
and in less than perfect listening situations (eg. on a train or in a car)
when you can't erally give two hoots about the losses. But put through a
decent setup you're definately missing something.

Thanks again
The EggKing



But the latest ATRAC is audibly superior to 128k MP3.

Are there any in-car units that have a CF slot?
--
Chris Morriss

But the latest ATRAC is audibly superior to 128k MP3.


But what about 320k MP3? which for some odd reason is stated as CD quality.

Steve

On Mon, 28 Jul 2003 19:22:56 +0100, Chris Morriss
wrote:

And Minidisc is the obvious format for car use. (Works well for me)

(I really can't understand why people put up with huge clunky CDs in the
car, they are a nightmare just to put in the player!)

DAT is, in my view, even better. I can fit a three hour opera on a
tape costing a few pounds at full CD quality. This is more than
sufficient for most journeys. Another advantage is that DAT is
effectively jog-proof.

It's such a shame that portable DAT recorders are so expensive,
especially since my old Casio machine is no longer working very well.
:-(


--
Chris Isbell
Southampton
UK

Stevie Boy wrote:

" If you ask me, 320k is excessive, especially for portable use.

Well considering the quality of 180k mp3 you can download from the web I
would want something better for my car. Having heard this over my Hi-Fi via
pc not to impressed... but then 320k of same material barely sounded much
better....maybe other factors come into play (soundcard creative
soundblaster live).

There is a huge difference in the quality of different encoders. While
the differences are obvious when listening through studio monitors, I
find running the LAME encoder at a constant bit rate of 160kb/s to give
me acceptable results for casual portable listening. I use constant bit
rate for best compatibility with the widest variety of players.

Cheers.

James.

Stevie Boy in uk.rec.audio:


" If you ask me, 320k is excessive, especially for portable use.

Well considering the quality of 180k mp3 you can download from the web
I would want something better for my car. Having heard this over my
Hi-Fi via pc not to impressed... but then 320k of same material barely
sounded much better....maybe other factors come into play (soundcard
creative soundblaster live).

Try using
the --r3mix switch in lame.

Okay.... slow down there. --r3mix?

r3mix is the result of experiment by a few techy audiophiles to find the
best settings for arcieve audio. The lame people were so impressed by the
work they built a shorthand for the settings into the encoder. '--r3mix' is
technically synonymous with '--nspsytune --vbr-mtrh -V1 -mj -h -b96 --
lowpass 19.5 --athtype 3 --ns-sfb21 2 -Z --scale 0.98'

A lot of programs using lame have an r3mix checkbox, or they might still
let you specify the swiches. For example, in audiograbber, if you choose
lame as an external encoder you can enter --r3mix %s %d in the arguments
field.

IMO ExactAudioCopy is the best program for ripping cds, and is
(almost) free.


Almost? Go on look harder :-)

Well its 'cardware' - free but for the cost of a postcard to the creator. I
think that's pretty good.

--
Jim H
3.1415...4999999 and so on... Richard Feynman

" Okay.... slow down there. --r3mix?

r3mix is the result of experiment by a few techy audiophiles to find the
best settings for arcieve audio. The lame people were so impressed by the
work they built a shorthand for the settings into the encoder. '--r3mix'
is
technically synonymous with '--nspsytune --vbr-mtrh -V1 -mj -h -b96 --
lowpass 19.5 --athtype 3 --ns-sfb21 2 -Z --scale 0.98'

I think you've given me just a bit to much info. Where's my martion
dictionary :-)

A lot of programs using lame have an r3mix checkbox, or they might still
let you specify the swiches. For example, in audiograbber, if you choose
lame as an external encoder you can enter --r3mix %s %d in the arguments
field.

Sounds more like for those who know a thing or two about --r3mix.

Go on mention a few others.

IMO ExactAudioCopy is the best program for ripping cds, and is
(almost) free.


Almost? Go on look harder :-)

Well its 'cardware' - free but for the cost of a postcard to the creator.
I
think that's pretty good.

--

Yea enough said.
3.1415...4999999 and so on... Richard Feynman

Hi,

In message , Chesney Christ
writes
A certain Chachi, of uk.rec.audio "fame", writes :

Hi, it sort of depends what you want and when you want it. As I see
it MD is
no more. You have to go solid state for portable

Not if you don't like the cost, which is considerable. Blank MDs are
dirt cheap.

I think the ongoing collapse in large CF cards prefaces the end of MD

CF cards have not collapsed to the price of MD blanks. Although I do
remember a time when MD blanks cost about ten times what they do now
(ie pretty close to the current price of an equivalent CF card).

Spotted in Dubai airport last week by a colleague -

1GByte Compact Flash cards, 64 dollars. The only problem is, he didn't
know what kind of dollars!

Still miles from MD prices, but definitely heading in the right
direction.

--
Regards,
Glenn Booth

On Fri, 01 Aug 2003 21:30:46 +0100, Laurence Payne
wrote:


I am actively looking for a replacement for my duff Sony DAT recorder.
Its main use is for time-shifting Radio 3.

What about your vcr?

Good point. Not bad quality for analogue ;-) It does score a bit low
on the 'gadget index'. :^)

The size of the tapes, compared with DAT, puts me off a little,
however. As does the potential conflict with my better half should she
want to record a television programme at the same time as I want to
record a radio concert.


--
Chris Isbell
Southampton
UK