BootTuda wrote:

I have over 20 GB of mp3s on my computer.

Not much. Change your perception of "much".

What is the best way to reduce the size of them?

Size is relative, get a bigger harddisk. If it is an old computer that
would choke on a modern disk, then get a pci sata controller and a
bigger, sata, harddisk.

Can I convert them to FLAC files

Yes, back to wave and then to flac, a non-lossy compression. They will
sound about the same and probably be at least three times larger.

or ZIPs

MP3 data are generally not compressible by zip and similar compression
algoriths, because those all work by replacing multiple occurrences of
the same data with a reference pointer to one item.

or is there something better? How can I convert them?

What you can do is to use some software for batch processing of audio
files and then convert all to a lower sampling frequency, say 32 kHz,
and a lower bitrate, say 96 kbit/second. The loss of quality will be
quite similar to one in recording on compact cassette but for wallpaper
music it may be acceptable.

Which is why the generally agreed best advice is: get a bigger disk.


Kind regards

Peter Larsen

--
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* My site is at: http://www.muyiovatki.dk *
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i always wonder, at what point does it become just a reminder of the
actual music?

greggery peccary wrote:
i always wonder, at what point does it become just a reminder of the
actual music?

The minute it hits tape. Even the best recording is still a faint
image of the original performance, sad to say.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"greggery peccary" wrote in message
ups.com

i always wonder, at what point does it become just a
reminder of the actual music?

When the music hit the mics, a tremendous lot got lost. Sometimes you don't
notice it until later when you no longer still have that great live sound
bouncing around in your brain.

We might cal it "Recordist's remorse". ;-)

"greggery peccary" wrote ...
i always wonder, at what point does it become just a reminder of the
actual music?

How bad are your ears?
How good is your imagination?

lol