MP3 can sound OK when done right, but it's very sensitive to the quality of the source material. With uncompressed, "digitally pure" source material, it'll generally do fine. But it quickly falls to pieces, especially below 192 kbps, if you try to encode anything containing analog tape hiss, stereo channel phase errors, or any previously compressed digital media (even if it came from an allegedly "transparent" compressed format like MiniDisc).chriscollins said:
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The license to encode RealAudio was the real holdup as I remember. In the late 90s, I priced this and I think it cost $5995. Some of the major radio operators would have been forking over more than a million dollars to set up the Real encoder on their stations.
PTBoardOp94 said:
Yeah Real Audio was pretty pricey (if you needed more than a few streams - If I remember the personal encoder they had streamed to a handful of people) .. I played with it in back in the late 90s and the quality was aweful
Makes low bit rate mp3 sound great!xmusicmatt said:PTBoardOp94 said:
Yeah Real Audio was pretty pricey (if you needed more than a few streams - If I remember the personal encoder they had streamed to a handful of people) .. I played with it in back in the late 90s and the quality was aweful
That was a problem for us too. What was it? 25 for free then you had to pay if I remember correctly.
xmusicmatt said:Yeah Real Audio was pretty pricey (if you needed more than a few streams - If I remember the personal encoder they had streamed to a handful of people) .. I played with it in back in the late 90s and the quality was aweful
I remember listening to BBC Radio 2's ~44 kbps Real Audio 8.0 stream over a 56K dialup connection a decade ago, and it sounded better than what I've heard from most HD2 and HD3 channels on FM IBOC today -- and definitely worlds better than the wishy-washy, "underwater"-sounding 32 kbps Windows Media Audio internet streams that a lot of stations like to use.
FYI: A sweet spot for low-bitrate MP3 streaming I've found is 40 kbps, 22.05 kHz mono. It gives you 10 kHz audio bandwidth with realtively minor artifacts, basically sounding like wideband AM mono reception. Don't even try stereo with MP3 lower than 56 kbps, and for any stereo MP3 below 112 kbps you really need Fraunhofer's Intensity Stereo encoding -- LAME's Mid/Side Stereo encoding is not optimized for bitrates below 128 kbps.
R
RolfTaylor
Guest
John
Yes, I make keys, among other things! I am primary for the lawn and garden department and backup for hardware, electrical, and plumbing. Also cutting glass and rescreening screen windows. I have not yet been trained on paint tinting.
It is the lowest stress job I have had for decades.
It is a new store so, it is fun to be helping build something up. The owners, "get it" so we do right by our customers.
Rolf
Yes, I make keys, among other things! I am primary for the lawn and garden department and backup for hardware, electrical, and plumbing. Also cutting glass and rescreening screen windows. I have not yet been trained on paint tinting.
It is the lowest stress job I have had for decades.
It is a new store so, it is fun to be helping build something up. The owners, "get it" so we do right by our customers.
Rolf
littlejohn said:>Rolf Taylor
>Twins Ace Hardware
Uh, Rolf, are you now the Duplicate Key Jockey?
In 1969 and early 1970, I used to leave my job as Overnight Gerbil for WCOV-AM in Montgomery and repair to Thompson's Hardware in Scenic Millbrook, AL. I'd open the store and put in a couple of hours till the owner got there at ten. Paid better than radio, too.
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