A question....

does it matter if i change the bitrate of a song from 128kbps to 320 kbps before changing (converting) to .wav so i can burn the song? In other words, does the quality of the song increase or does changing to 320kbps do nothing for the quality?

thanks to the ones who know and answer this.....

>JM<

NO, do NOT do that!

mp3 is a lossy format, if you were to re-encode mp3s into a higher bitrate, you bring the imperfections/artifacts of the original mp3, and combine/increase those imperfections of the new encoded file, causing even more degradation in the audio quality. So yes, it does do something for the quality- it makes it much worse.

its generally not a good idea to re-encode from a lossy compression format such as mp3.

just go from your original mp3 directly to wav for burning.

quote:

Originally posted by goodnet NO, do NOT do that! mp3 is a lossy format, if you were to re-encode mp3s into a higher bitrate, you bring the imperfections/artifacts of the original mp3, and combine/increase those imperfections of the new encoded file, causing even more degradation in the audio quality. So yes, it does do something for the quality- it makes it much worse. its generally not a good idea to re-encode from a lossy compression format such as mp3. just go from your original mp3 directly to wav for burning.

Nicely said Goodnet .

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thanx goodnet, and Dj Pete for confirming......

i should've asked this some time ago....

>JM<

Yes but not ALL codecs are the same either. I've found that the mp3 en/decoder in Cool Edit Pro 1.2a to be quite good for converting back to wav format before burning.

But the point they are trying to make is that encoding to mp3 means that you WILL, without fail, lose some of the quality. To burn a track to CD, it MUST be in wav format. Most burning software will do this for you, so you don't see it, but it does happen!

Converting from mp3 back to wav is not lossy, because the waveform is converted directly. All codecs will do this without any change in quality. The easiest way to do this if your burning software does not support mp3 burning, or if you are worried about getting buffer under-run if your computer is pretty slow, is from Winamp - go to Options > Preferences > Output and select Nullsoft Disk Writer. Click configure to set the output directory for the file.

Once you have your wav file, if you were to re-encode it as an mp3, you would lose even more quality!

Hope that makes it clear!

thanx, it's all good now, i used to re-encode all my MP3 to 320kbps, someone told me that re-encoding it to 320kbps would better the quality, then to wave and then burn...will not re-encode anymore....

>JM<

Actually DJTJ there IS a difference between letting your burn software convert back to wav or using higher quality software to convert an mp3 to wav b4 the burn process. Agreed there's absolutely NO POINT going from an mp3 to a higher bitrate mp3 as thats exactly the same as trying to enlarge a bitmap image that a small res to a higher one and thinking it'll look better because the resolution has been increased .

What I'm saying is that you should actually try listening to an mp3 being played on different mp3 played (using different codecs) and they sound different. Some don't convert the the lower frequencies (Bass) as well as others. Just as u should use a good encoder to convert wav to mp3 so should u use the best encoder/decoder to convert back to wav before burning and not just the average mp3 en/decoder inbuilt in some of these writing softwares like Nero and WinOnCD etc. ;-)

Well it sounds a lot better anyways as we all know mp3s don't have the best quality so it's nice to get as nice a sound from them as possible.

Well, it sounded like I knew what I was on about, anyway!

quote:

Originally posted by Juricimo thanx, it's all good now, i used to re-encode all my MP3 to 320kbps, someone told me that re-encoding it to 320kbps would better the quality, then to wave and then burn...will not re-encode anymore.... >JM<

OUCH that person musta been really stupid...

*pulls out a notepad and writes "WORST ADVICE EVER."*

Gives DJTJ a pat on the back and then offers him a cold Beer!!

quote:

Originally posted by Tranzmit Just as u should use a good encoder to convert wav to mp3 so should u use the best encoder/decoder to convert back to wav before burning and not just the average mp3 en/decoder inbuilt in some of these writing softwares like Nero and WinOnCD etc. ;-) Well it sounds a lot better anyways as we all know mp3s don't have the best quality so it's nice to get as nice a sound from them as possible.

well, i use MusicMatch to convert mp3 to wav.....so tell me more...anything wrong with MusicMatch, if so what can I use that's better to convert from mp3 to wav????

also, might as well ask this....which plugin lets you input a .cue file into the WINAMP???

Thanks all...

>JM<