Encoding Spoken Word

[MS]

I have a "Book on CD", that I would like to transfer to my PPC, to listen
to on the PPC.

It is on 10 CDs, so could take up a lot of space. But I figure spoken word
would need much less quality than music, so could be compressed much more,
and could be monaural, as there is really no need for stereo to hear one
person reading a book.

What format have people found to work well for encoding spoken word, to get
a small file size, etc.?

I guess Audible.com does a lot of that. They use their own format, right?
(I've never tried their service.) Is it similar to MP3, or WMA, or something
else entirely? What bit rate is it? Monaural? With their "Audible Manager"
software, could one rip a CD to the "Audible" format? (I would guess no, as
that would compete with buying their content.)

Any suggestions regarding encoding spoken word audio, what programs good to
use for that purpose, etc., would be appreciated.

[bruening]

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/encoder/default.aspx

[AlanS]

" MS" > wrote in message
...
> I have a "Book on CD", that I would like to transfer to my PPC, to listen
> to on the PPC.
>
> It is on 10 CDs, so could take up a lot of space. But I figure spoken word
> would need much less quality than music, so could be compressed much more,
> and could be monaural, as there is really no need for stereo to hear one
> person reading a book.
>
> What format have people found to work well for encoding spoken word, to
get
> a small file size, etc.?
>
> I guess Audible.com does a lot of that. They use their own format, right?
> (I've never tried their service.) Is it similar to MP3, or WMA, or
something
> else entirely? What bit rate is it? Monaural? With their "Audible Manager"
> software, could one rip a CD to the "Audible" format? (I would guess no,
as
> that would compete with buying their content.)
>
> Any suggestions regarding encoding spoken word audio, what programs good
to
> use for that purpose, etc., would be appreciated.
>
>

Why not get a program and encode a section at various bitrates, using each
format and use *your ears* to decide if the quality is acceptable to *you*?

In general , for similar quality a wma file is around half of the size of an
mp3 for similar output (for music). As speech does not have the dynamic
range that music does start at the lower bitrates that your device and
selected program(s) and work up.

Remember it is your ears that will be listening to the books, use them to
decide the bitrate that is acceptable to you.

Personally I find wma are better from a file size point of view (see above),
but remember that your chosen player must support the bitrate too- I found
my intended players bitrate range did not match that of the encoder.
(eg 8kbps, 8 kHz, mono, CBR
112kbps, 8 kHz stereo CBR
were the lowest supported by the encoder but were not supported by my
listening device).

Variable bitrate encoding may help final size as spoken files can be
compressed a lot, but I found fixed rate was better here for the devices I
used because of final file size even using lowest quality settings- it
seemed designed for music.

Why not try encoding at the lowest rates supported by your player and
listen? If it sounds ok then all you have to do is choose the smaller
filesized format, if it doesn't sound ok move up the range..

[AlanS]

"AlanS" > wrote in message
...
>
> " MS" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I have a "Book on CD", that I would like to transfer to my PPC, to
listen
> > to on the PPC.
> >
> > It is on 10 CDs, so could take up a lot of space. But I figure spoken
word
> > would need much less quality than music, so could be compressed much
more,
> > and could be monaural, as there is really no need for stereo to hear one
> > person reading a book.
> >
> > What format have people found to work well for encoding spoken word, to
> get
> > a small file size, etc.?
> >
> > I guess Audible.com does a lot of that. They use their own format,
right?
> > (I've never tried their service.) Is it similar to MP3, or WMA, or
> something
> > else entirely? What bit rate is it? Monaural? With their "Audible
Manager"
> > software, could one rip a CD to the "Audible" format? (I would guess no,
> as
> > that would compete with buying their content.)
> >
> > Any suggestions regarding encoding spoken word audio, what programs good
> to
> > use for that purpose, etc., would be appreciated.
> >
> >
>
> Why not get a program and encode a section at various bitrates, using each
> format and use *your ears* to decide if the quality is acceptable to
*you*?
>
> In general , for similar quality a wma file is around half of the size of
an
> mp3 for similar output (for music). As speech does not have the dynamic
> range that music does start at the lower bitrates that your device and
> selected program(s) and work up.
>
> Remember it is your ears that will be listening to the books, use them to
> decide the bitrate that is acceptable to you.
>
> Personally I find wma are better from a file size point of view (see
above),
> but remember that your chosen player must support the bitrate too- I found
> my intended players bitrate range did not match that of the encoder.
> (eg 8kbps, 8 kHz, mono, CBR
> 112kbps, 8 kHz stereo CBR
> were the lowest supported by the encoder but were not supported by my
> listening device).
>
> Variable bitrate encoding may help final size as spoken files can be
> compressed a lot, but I found fixed rate was better here for the devices I
> used because of final file size even using lowest quality settings- it
> seemed designed for music.
>
> Why not try encoding at the lowest rates supported by your player and
> listen? If it sounds ok then all you have to do is choose the smaller
> filesized format, if it doesn't sound ok move up the range..
>
>

btw I found that stereo was better for HHGTTG. It will depend on what you
want though.

[Michael Tam]

Good day,

For spoken word, I find that MP3 works quite well... Get LAME which is
much more flexible with the bitrates you can use and also support MP3
2.5 settings.

With good encoding settings, you can get near flawless reproduction at
around 16-20 kbit/s average using VBR encoding (for mono).

Best regards,
Michael Tam

--
-------------------------------------
Michael Tam
e-mail: vitualis (at) michaeltam.com
website: http://www.michaeltam.com