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mp3 in the car
Hi,
So far, I'm still using plain old cd's to listen to music, but I think the time has come to move to mp3 (or another format?). The plan is to be able to listen to a lot of music in my car and at home. I'll rip all my cd's and put them on my pc's harddisk. I've decided more or less to buy a Zen Touch 20gb player. A few general questions/thoughts come to mind: - Is it easy to use and operate the Zen Touch in the car? I believe cradles are available? - Is it easy to use and operate the Zen at home? Can I easily connect the device to my old amplifier and enjoy (practically) the same quality as I would when playing cd's with my cd player? - Is it easy to browse and find what you're looking for if you have 20gb of music on the device? - Too bad you can't connect the device to your tv to have a better UI on a large screen?... - Are these things (more specifically the Zen Touch) shock free when riding on a bumpy road? - Would you guys think it's wise to convert my cd's to WMA Lossless (to "future-proof" my music) and keep this on the HDD and then convert to lossy wma or mp3 to put on my mp3 player ? This is important because a) I don't want to rip again in a few years because of better formats and b) I'm thinking of selling all my cd's (although not sure about the selling part) - What about the GAP problem a lot of people are talking about? - The most important question is : can I totally replace my CD PLAYER at home and in the car + my CD COLLECTION with a ZEN TOUCH 20gb (and lots of storage space on my pc) without having to listen to music which doesn't sound as great ? A lot of questions, I know. I just hope some of you have a few answers! Thanks in advance for all input! -Kris |
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#4
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I started converting to CDs and I have spent years replacing all the
old 45s, LPs, 8 Tracks, and cassettes I used to have, which went at garage sales, etc. And many of them are not even available in CD format. I seriously doubt they'd be available in MP3 format. heck, many aren't available in as cassettes. Once they are gone, they're gone, and the chance of getting them again can be very slim. Also, how long will it be before MP3 is history? Thirty years ago, my home system had a turntable, reel to reel deck, and cassette deck as I tried to keep up with the changes and advances. It's forever changing, so nobody ever keeps up for long. This time around, I'm building the CD collection up, and I'll stick with that. It's as good as it gets for my needs. On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 19:18:50 -0700, UName wrote: On 12 Jul 2005 01:16:48 -0700, wrote: So far, I'm still using plain old cd's to listen to music, but I think the time has come to move to mp3 (or another format?). The plan is to be able to listen to a lot of music in my car and at home. I'll rip all my cd's and put them on my pc's harddisk. If you want pristine rips, be sure to use EAC or a similar program. Ripping directly from WMP has been known to produce the odd glitch. - Would you guys think it's wise to convert my cd's to WMA Lossless (to "future-proof" my music) and keep this on the HDD and then convert to lossy wma or mp3 to put on my mp3 player ? This is important because a) I don't want to rip again in a few years because of better formats and b) I'm thinking of selling all my cd's (although not sure about the selling part) You can cut the filesize of a track down to one half or even one third using WMA lossless, but if you're going to sell your CDs you'd better make sure all the songs with seamless transitions and other weirdness aren't fudged in the process. The original CD is still the most durable/pristine medium you can store those songs on. I think selling one's whole CD collection is penny wise and pound foolish for various reasons. I knew someone who converted his whole CD collection to 128k MP3 years ago (and sold it). I'm sure he ended up seriously regretting it; he thought MP3 was somehow lossless! WMA, AAC and other modern formats will sound cleaner than MP3 at any given (stereo) bitrate, so I'd go with WMA over MP3. Many people still don't understand that MP3 was a pioneer, but has been much improved upon. The main thing MP3 has going for it is decent sound at 192k+ and less processing power needed to decode the files. Some MP3s sound terrible if encoded with Xing and other super-fast encoders. There's a classic watery sound to them. Fraunhofer MP3s have always sounded pretty good at 128k but they still don't match the crystalline quality of WMA at that bitrate. I think WMA at 160k is excellent and at 192k it's stellar, especially for car stereo. Beware of anyone telling you MP3 has "better bass." It's most likely distortion, not clean rendering. I keep seeing that claim, along with some fools who pan WMA altogether because of some Microsoft grudge. With WMA (and AAC) more info is crammed into the same filesize, like stuffing clothes tighter into a suitcase, minus the wrinkles. - What about the GAP problem a lot of people are talking about? - The most important question is : can I totally replace my CD PLAYER at home and in the car + my CD COLLECTION with a ZEN TOUCH 20gb (and lots of storage space on my pc) without having to listen to music which doesn't sound as great ? The gap problem alone is why I'd never sell my whole CD collection after ripping it. And whatever medium you store your WMA lossless files on will likely not be as tough as an original factory CD with its aluminum pits & lands. Hard drives crash and CD-Rs have numerous errors (usually correctable with redundant data), plus a questionable shelf life and poor heat/sun resistance. I wouldn't ditch your CDs just to have the "latest thing" if you value sonic purity. It's funny how people think compressed music is an obvious improvement just because it can be stored so easily. In the future they'll have terabyte devices (holographic storage, etc.) that will render the need for compression moot. Then, you'll wish you'd kept all those CDs for a direct transfer to that future medium. UName ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---- Spike 1965 Ford Mustang fastback 2+2 A Code 289 C4 Trac-Lok Vintage Burgundy w/Black Standard Interior; Vintage 40 16" rims w/BF Goodrich Comp T/A gForce Radial 225/50ZR16 KDWS skins; surround sound audio-video. "When the time comes to lay down my life for my country, I do not cower from this responsibility. I welcome it." -JFK Inaugural Address |
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#5
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Nice post. I'd like to add that, for many people, backing up their entire
collection in wav format or as an iso is feasible, especially with the advent of 200+ GB drives at reasonable prices. On Tue, 19 Jul 2005, UName wrote: On 12 Jul 2005 01:16:48 -0700, wrote: So far, I'm still using plain old cd's to listen to music, but I think the time has come to move to mp3 (or another format?). The plan is to be able to listen to a lot of music in my car and at home. I'll rip all my cd's and put them on my pc's harddisk. If you want pristine rips, be sure to use EAC or a similar program. Ripping directly from WMP has been known to produce the odd glitch. - Would you guys think it's wise to convert my cd's to WMA Lossless (to "future-proof" my music) and keep this on the HDD and then convert to lossy wma or mp3 to put on my mp3 player ? This is important because a) I don't want to rip again in a few years because of better formats and b) I'm thinking of selling all my cd's (although not sure about the selling part) You can cut the filesize of a track down to one half or even one third using WMA lossless, but if you're going to sell your CDs you'd better make sure all the songs with seamless transitions and other weirdness aren't fudged in the process. The original CD is still the most durable/pristine medium you can store those songs on. I think selling one's whole CD collection is penny wise and pound foolish for various reasons. I knew someone who converted his whole CD collection to 128k MP3 years ago (and sold it). I'm sure he ended up seriously regretting it; he thought MP3 was somehow lossless! WMA, AAC and other modern formats will sound cleaner than MP3 at any given (stereo) bitrate, so I'd go with WMA over MP3. Many people still don't understand that MP3 was a pioneer, but has been much improved upon. The main thing MP3 has going for it is decent sound at 192k+ and less processing power needed to decode the files. Some MP3s sound terrible if encoded with Xing and other super-fast encoders. There's a classic watery sound to them. Fraunhofer MP3s have always sounded pretty good at 128k but they still don't match the crystalline quality of WMA at that bitrate. I think WMA at 160k is excellent and at 192k it's stellar, especially for car stereo. Beware of anyone telling you MP3 has "better bass." It's most likely distortion, not clean rendering. I keep seeing that claim, along with some fools who pan WMA altogether because of some Microsoft grudge. With WMA (and AAC) more info is crammed into the same filesize, like stuffing clothes tighter into a suitcase, minus the wrinkles. - What about the GAP problem a lot of people are talking about? - The most important question is : can I totally replace my CD PLAYER at home and in the car + my CD COLLECTION with a ZEN TOUCH 20gb (and lots of storage space on my pc) without having to listen to music which doesn't sound as great ? The gap problem alone is why I'd never sell my whole CD collection after ripping it. And whatever medium you store your WMA lossless files on will likely not be as tough as an original factory CD with its aluminum pits & lands. Hard drives crash and CD-Rs have numerous errors (usually correctable with redundant data), plus a questionable shelf life and poor heat/sun resistance. I wouldn't ditch your CDs just to have the "latest thing" if you value sonic purity. It's funny how people think compressed music is an obvious improvement just because it can be stored so easily. In the future they'll have terabyte devices (holographic storage, etc.) that will render the need for compression moot. Then, you'll wish you'd kept all those CDs for a direct transfer to that future medium. UName ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---- |
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#6
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On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 03:47:29 GMT, MZ wrote:
Nice post. I'd like to add that, for many people, backing up their entire collection in wav format or as an iso is feasible, especially with the advent of 200+ GB drives at reasonable prices. I'm sure there are also cases where the listener's taste changes so much that they're glad to toss half their teenage CDs and never look back. I guess it's rational to backup (and sell, if you're that poor) CDs you only bought for one or two tracks. I'd also be careful of dismissed tracks on some old CDs you might end up liking later. I remember thinking U2's "The Unforgettable Fire" (title track) was bland for years because I'd only skimmed it somehow. Now, it's my 2nd or 3rd favorite song on that album. This all reminds me of those short-lived "Personics" cassette singles in record stores circa late 80s. I doubt many people imagined digital music downloads back then. I still don't understand why cassettes are still relatively popular (are people really that lazy?). I converted to MiniDisc in the late 90s and am still using it for car stereo, but I keep wanting all my tracks in one place. Even 1GB Hi-MD has limits, and I've seen no car decks for it. I almost got a Kenwood Music Keg but I'd rather wait for a flash "hard drive" in-dash player. That will probably come soon with Samsung already demo-ing 16GB flash drives for laptops. Here today, obsolete in 6 months. UName ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---- |
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#7
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On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 19:56:55 -0700, Spike wrote:
I started converting to CDs and I have spent years replacing all the old 45s, LPs, 8 Tracks, and cassettes I used to have, which went at garage sales, etc. And many of them are not even available in CD format. I seriously doubt they'd be available in MP3 format. heck, many aren't available in as cassettes. Yes, it does make sense to convert old analog music to CDs if you can handle the labor. Something is still lost in the translation from any original. I don't know what vinyl's shelf life is. We all die in the end, if you want to take it that far! Once they are gone, they're gone, and the chance of getting them again can be very slim. Also, how long will it be before MP3 is history? Thirty years ago, my home system had a turntable, reel to reel deck, and cassette deck as I tried to keep up with the changes and advances. It's forever changing, so nobody ever keeps up for long. I'd say MP3 is already obsolete in terms of compression formats. Yes, it was the first and it's easier to say aloud than WMA or AAC, but it's not that efficient a format. I am interested in the new MP3Pro format but it's hard to tell hype from reality so far. I think we'll see cheap terabyte storage relatively soon and compression may be seen as an unnecessary compromise by many. I don't know about future modem speeds, but downloading uncompressed music could become commonplace. They may also find a way to make a lossless format as compact as today's typical compressed files. WMA lossless already has it down to 1/3rd original size on some tracks. UName ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---- |
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#8
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On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 22:32:24 -0700, UName
wrote: On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 19:56:55 -0700, Spike wrote: I started converting to CDs and I have spent years replacing all the old 45s, LPs, 8 Tracks, and cassettes I used to have, which went at garage sales, etc. And many of them are not even available in CD format. I seriously doubt they'd be available in MP3 format. heck, many aren't available in as cassettes. Yes, it does make sense to convert old analog music to CDs if you can handle the labor. Something is still lost in the translation from any original. I don't know what vinyl's shelf life is. We all die in the end, if you want to take it that far! When I said converting, I meant replacing. Converting my collection to CDs not actually making copies. Far too late for that anyway. : ( Once they are gone, they're gone, and the chance of getting them again can be very slim. Also, how long will it be before MP3 is history? Thirty years ago, my home system had a turntable, reel to reel deck, and cassette deck as I tried to keep up with the changes and advances. It's forever changing, so nobody ever keeps up for long. I'd say MP3 is already obsolete in terms of compression formats. Yes, it was the first and it's easier to say aloud than WMA or AAC, but it's not that efficient a format. I am interested in the new MP3Pro format but it's hard to tell hype from reality so far. I think we'll see cheap terabyte storage relatively soon and compression may be seen as an unnecessary compromise by many. I don't know about future modem speeds, but downloading uncompressed music could become commonplace. They may also find a way to make a lossless format as compact as today's typical compressed files. WMA lossless already has it down to 1/3rd original size on some tracks. The problem with storage, is like the problem with prisons. A prison gets overcrowded, you build a bigger one... and guess what... you'll fill it and need a bigger one in no time at all. Storage has increased tremendously from when I started with 40 MB HD and 1 MB of RAM. The problem is, in part, that the software and the OS have become bloated and still use up the storage space and resources. While compression helps a lot... I really don't think I have a need for an iPod that will hold 10,000 songs. It would take me forever to decide what to fill it with, how I want to categorize it all, fill it, and than listen. Much like the average human has a set number of people they can instantly recognize (as I recall it was something like 400). The music is much the same. Whether it's 1000 tunes or 10,000, the majority of them are probably never going to be listened to. UName ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---- Spike 1965 Ford Mustang fastback 2+2 A Code 289 C4 Trac-Lok Vintage Burgundy w/Black Standard Interior; Vintage 40 16" rims w/BF Goodrich Comp T/A gForce Radial 225/50ZR16 KDWS skins; surround sound audio-video. "When the time comes to lay down my life for my country, I do not cower from this responsibility. I welcome it." -JFK Inaugural Address |
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#9
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On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 22:09:21 -0700, UName wrote: On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 03:47:29 GMT, MZ wrote: Nice post. I'd like to add that, for many people, backing up their entire collection in wav format or as an iso is feasible, especially with the advent of 200+ GB drives at reasonable prices. I'm sure there are also cases where the listener's taste changes so much that they're glad to toss half their teenage CDs and never look back. I guess it's rational to backup (and sell, if you're that poor) CDs you only bought for one or two tracks. That's the problem that has pretty much always existed... whether it's an old vinyl LP or a CD, out of 10 tunes, only a couple are usually paid attention to, even if the entire set is played. As for being poor... I'd say it's less a case of being poor, than of being wasteful of one's personal resources. Why should I replace cassettes (looking back on the error of my ways) I already have with a CD or other. As long as the cassette is good, and sounds good to me, it would seem that I would be wiser to invest my funds elsewhere.... new albums... new audio/video equipment (just look at the prices on good HDTV's)... or, today, gas for my car so i can listen to my music as I cruise along. Poor? No. Nor does it make me poor if I happen to order albums, movies, and books from Amazon's New and Used section. Just got the Chilton's repair manual for my 65 Mustang for less than half price. The balance puts about 4 gallons of gas in the tank. Times are changing. I think people will continue to buy the toys, but I also think you will see mare care being taken in spending. I'd also be careful of dismissed tracks on some old CDs you might end up liking later. I remember thinking U2's "The Unforgettable Fire" (title track) was bland for years because I'd only skimmed it somehow. Now, it's my 2nd or 3rd favorite song on that album. Many have discovered this the hard way. This all reminds me of those short-lived "Personics" cassette singles in record stores circa late 80s. I doubt many people imagined digital music downloads back then. I still don't understand why cassettes are still relatively popular (are people really that lazy?). I converted to MiniDisc in the late 90s and am still using it for car stereo, but I keep wanting all my tracks in one place. Even 1GB Hi-MD has limits, and I've seen no car decks for it. I almost got a Kenwood Music Keg but I'd rather wait for a flash "hard drive" in-dash player. That will probably come soon with Samsung already demo-ing 16GB flash drives for laptops. Here today, obsolete in 6 months. When i began with stereo equipment, and later computers, it was 18 months for the replacement to arrive. Now it's down to 6 months. In the future, it will be outdated before it becomes available to the consumer. Actually, it usually has been. I have a 10 disc changer for the car. A CD runs roughly 20 minutes. That's about 200 minutes (3 hrs 20 min) of listening. That works out to about when I have to find a gas station and fill up, stretch my legs and back, grab a cold soda, change cartridges (I bought a spare) and get back on the road. UName ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---- Spike 1965 Ford Mustang fastback 2+2 A Code 289 C4 Trac-Lok Vintage Burgundy w/Black Standard Interior; Vintage 40 16" rims w/BF Goodrich Comp T/A gForce Radial 225/50ZR16 KDWS skins; surround sound audio-video. "When the time comes to lay down my life for my country, I do not cower from this responsibility. I welcome it." -JFK Inaugural Address |
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#10
Posted to rec.audio.car
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mp3 in the car
To take my music to the car I converted everything to mp3 by SoundTaxi!!! It works fine even if media is DRM-protected ))) http://www.soundtaxi.info __ -- waikath |
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