Best format for music

[CaseyKees]

Apple developed a codec for lossless compression of digital music which is stored in a MP4 container and has an extension of .m4a. IIRC, all music purchased from the iTunes store was only available in this format. I haven't bought anything from the iTunes Store in years so I'm not positive.

My entire iTunes library is in this format and I just ordered an HTC Incredible so I'm also interested in how I'm going to be able to play my music on it.

I transferred my music to my SD Card on my Eris that I had for a week and a 1/2 and it worked. My music I am assuming is in the same format as yours. It worked in the Eris but skipped. Wonder if this is why it skipped. I don't want it to skip on my Incredible though.

 

[Flaring Afro]

that's kinda like saying no smart phone has a good display when comparing them to the latest HD tv's. everything is relative ...but these are good,give em a try

Which again brings the point of you don't have to worry about the quality of mp3 vs mp4 since earbuds won't make a difference (unless you make it a low bitrate or something). Just like 720p or 1080p wouldn't make a difference on the Incredible's 480p screen.

Why I asked which headphones he was using.

 

[dalumberjack]

Headphones - Earphones, In Ear Headphones, Stereo Headphones

Klipsch makes some good earbuds. I have never tried them but everyone I know that has dropped the money on them swear by them.

 

[CaseyKees]

Which again brings the point of you don't have to worry about the quality of mp3 vs mp4 since earbuds won't make a difference (unless you make it a low bitrate or something). Just like 720p or 1080p wouldn't make a difference on the Incredible's 480p screen.

Why I asked which headphones he was using.

Actually, I thought about it and made a remark in a post a few minutes ago above, I wonder if my file format was the cause of my skipping on my Eris?

They are not MP4's, they are m4a's.

Sorry, learning as I go here. I assumed since they said MPEG-4 audio that they were MP4's.

 

[Flaring Afro]

Actually, I thought about it and made a remark in a post a few minutes ago above, I wonder if my file format was the cause of my skipping on my Eris?

They are not MP4's, they are m4a's.

Sorry, learning as I go here. I assumed since they said MPEG-4 audio that they were MP4's.

It's possible. I believe mp4 might be technically more stressful for the processor to decode and play. I really am not sure though since I've never had trouble playing either and therefore never really looked at it hard. Also, the third party codec might not read it correctly for some reason?

I know ogg is the best (or one of the), but each song is something like 30mb, I think. It has much better quality potential than cds and mp3s though.

 

[jikhead]

It's not really going to make a big difference on such low quality speakers. I'd be very impressed if someone could hear the difference between files at 320 kbs vs. 128 kbs. So as long as the format is accepted, then it should be fine. But a pro to using lower bitrate is that you'll take up less memory.

Even if you're using nice headphones, I'm not so sure it'll make much of a difference coming from a phone.

You are absolutely wrong on this. I use only 320 kbps because I do some deejaying and want the highest quality song file without having to go to WAV in order to reduce down on HD space. You can tell a difference. I have some $10 sony earphones I use when I go jogging and mowing the yard. If I play a song while mowing, the engine noise will totally drown out the song and I can't hardly hear it at all. Listening to a 320 kbps song while doing this is drastically much louder than a 128 kbps. Another reason to go Android and ditch the iPhone. Of course, I'm an Apple hater all the way!

 

[CaseyKees]

Well, ITunes lets me copy a file to MP3's so I will try that, then see how that goes with the Incredible. Luckily, my computer is new so it's going rather quickly! Will just have to see how it sounds I guess! The "highest quality" rate they have is 192, so I chose that. It's done 20 albums in about 10 minutes, so the whole thing should only take about another 1/2 hr.

Don't know if it will work, but I guess it's worth a shot!

 

[rfreschner]

They are not MP4's, they are m4a's.

m4a is the extension for Apple's MP4 (or AAC) files.

 

[Markiz]

if not, just burn audio dvd, i doubt you would need more than a couple, and than rip it with wmp, or winamp. although there are better tools (bonkenc, its really not complicated: you select cd and click rip basicaly)

Apple's politic of taking people as idiots has led to these people not really getting around when they try something new. Which is what it is suppose to do
Still, freedom is a nice thing once you get the hang of things.

 

[rfreschner]

Well, ITunes lets me copy a file to MP3's so I will try that, then see how that goes with the Incredible. Luckily, my computer is new so it's going rather quickly! Will just have to see how it sounds I guess! The "highest quality" rate they have is 192, so I chose that. It's done 20 albums in about 10 minutes, so the whole thing should only take about another 1/2 hr.

Don't know if it will work, but I guess it's worth a shot!

I've heard that converting an MP4 to MP3 or vice versa will cause a degradation in the quality of the sound so I'd rather not do that. I'll continue to look for an app that runs on the Droid that will play MP4s.

 

[CaseyKees]

I've heard that converting an MP4 to MP3 or vice versa will cause a degradation in the quality of the sound so I'd rather not do that. I'll continue to look for an app that runs on the Droid that will play MP4s.

I will just have to see how it sounds. It's worth a shot and has required very little effort on my part except for selecting the setting and the selecting all my albums, then selecting convert to MP3. It has been running in the back ground for about an hour and only have about 10 albums to go.

For the amount of time I spend listening to my music from my phone, the quality may not be too big of an issue, but I'll have to see

 

[rfreschner]

^^^^^

Let me know how you make out.

 

[CaseyKees]

^^^^^

Let me know how you make out.

Will do! It finished copying the files while I was making egg salad for hubby for his lunch for the week.

I think I may transfer the mp3's into their own files so that I can transfer them more easier to the SD card.

 

[jonhapimp]

I've heard that converting an MP4 to MP3 or vice versa will cause a degradation in the quality of the sound so I'd rather not do that. I'll continue to look for an app that runs on the Droid that will play MP4s.

Not really it's just the settings you use to convert them

 

[rhippler]

Not really it's just the settings you use to convert them

Actually every time you re-encode a file you loose quality.

Now where do you put the music? I read the manual and it just says to copy files to the root of the card. seems like that would make a mess of the root folder if everything were dropped there. is there a specific folder where media is kept on android? I know there was one on BlackBerry.

 

[chris61292]

Isn't AAC best quality ?

 

[jonhapimp]

Actually every time you re-encode a file you loose quality.

Now where do you put the music? I read the manual and it just says to copy files to the root of the card. seems like that would make a mess of the root folder if everything were dropped there. is there a specific folder where media is kept on android? I know there was one on BlackBerry.

Not every time

 

[CaseyKees]

Actually every time you re-encode a file you loose quality.

Now where do you put the music? I read the manual and it just says to copy files to the root of the card. seems like that would make a mess of the root folder if everything were dropped there. is there a specific folder where media is kept on android? I know there was one on BlackBerry.

When I had my Eris, I made a file for Music on my SD card and put it in there. But I am by no means an expert...obviously...but I know I read about it in the Eris forums...it just never mentioned the format.

I'm not sure about the Incredible though with its on board storage, but I'm thinking that I would still use an SD card so as not to bog it down with music.

 

[amarryat]

Not every time

Based on what? MP3 is a lossy compression scheme, ie you lose resolution. In order to maintain quality, you need a lossless compression scheme.

 

[amarryat]

When I had my Eris, I made a file for Music on my SD card and put it in there. But I am by no means an expert...obviously...but I know I read about it in the Eris forums...it just never mentioned the format.

I'm not sure about the Incredible though with its on board storage, but I'm thinking that I would still use an SD card so as not to bog it down with music.

Hopefully it scans the media card and locates the files appropriate files for each type of media. That way you can copy from your computer and maintain your file/folder organization.

 

[jonhapimp]

Based on what? MP3 is a lossy compression scheme, ie you lose resolution. In order to maintain quality, you need a lossless compression scheme.

he said
"Actually every time you re-encode a file you loose quality."
now how about you read what i was replying to, he didn't say mp3 file or something of the sort, he said any file which could be anything

 

[amarryat]

he said
"Actually every time you re-encode a file you loose quality."
now how about you read what i was replying to, he didn't say mp3 file or something of the sort, he said any file which could be anything

So how about you read the entire context of the conversation to which you replied, especially the quote:

I've heard that converting an MP4 to MP3 or vice versa will cause a degradation in the quality of the sound so I'd rather not do that.

And that is a correct statement.

 

[Opivyattack]

Hold on, am I missing something here? I have read every post in this thread and most seem to recommend downgrading quality because you won't be able to tell the difference in quality through headphones. Isn't anyone here planning on using their Incredible to play songs through your car or home stereo? I know for a fact that I am planning on being a heavy user of this feature (my commute is about an hour each way). I surely cannot be the only one? I'm definitely in the boat of using as high quality of audio as you can. It may take up more space but with 8GB built in and another 32 supported via SD card... I don't see why not.

 

[jonhapimp]

So how about you read the entire context of the conversation to which you replied, especially the quote:

I've heard that converting an MP4 to MP3 or vice versa will cause a degradation in the quality of the sound so I'd rather not do that.

And that is a correct statement.

But he replying with an incorrect statement even if my statement was incorrect, two wrongs don't make a right. so please stfu

 

[amarryat]

But he replying with an incorrect statement even if my statement was incorrect, two wrongs don't make a right. so please stfu

Context pal, context. He said (and I am paraphrasing) that he heard that any time that you convert between MP3 and MP4, you will lose some quality. That was the context - was it not? And then you said not every time. My statement was based on the context of the thread. And that is you will lose quality during an MP3/MP4 conversion. You can keep the vulgarity out of it too.