[oclug] Dumb question about MP3

[Stephen Gregory]

On Fri, Aug 18, 2006 at 10:30:35AM -0400, Croombe F. Pensom wrote:

> Warehouse? What do I gain by making MP3 files as opposed to ordinary CD
> audio files?

To add to what Bill wrote. MP3 is MPEG Audio Layer 3. It is a format
to compress audio. There are more details then you ever wanted to know
here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mp3

Audio is compressed into mp3 by throwing away sound data. An mp3
compressors removes sounds that you will likely not notice have been
removed. Compression ratios of 12:1 to 10:1 are typically considered
to have "good enough" quality. The upshot is that you can fit about 10
hours of music onto a CD. (about 1MB per minute)

It is easy to compress audio CDs into mp3 files. The audio in port is
not used instead the data is directly from the CD. This process is
known as ripping. Depending on the distro you use you have a couple of
choices of easy to use ripping and encodeing software. The quality of
the mp3s produceds will be mostly the same as the ripping software are
typically front ends to the tools cdparanoia (for ripping) and lame
(for compressing).

My favorite tool is abcde, but I won't recommend it. It is just a
bash file. Most people will probably find the Gnome and KDE tools
easier to use.

-- 
sg