Mp3 SoftwareWhy do we need mp3 software in a high quality computer recording environment?
Music producers all over the world started to ask themselves: "Why do we invest in 24bit/96kHz high quality sound systems, when people listen to mp3 files?" Well honestly, I cannot answer that question. Maybe you do it just for a handful people that have the equipment and the ability to enjoy the difference. But even if you are an audiophile and don't like mp3 at all, you would still need mp3 software for different reasons:
For just listening to mp3s most people I know use a program called Winamp. It's a nice mp3 software to organize and listen to or watch your media. You can even use the windows media player that comes with windows. It lets you perform a lot of functions in the new version. Mp3 software that you definitely need is an mp3 converter. You never know what sound files you will get. Therefore you should be able to convert files in many different formats. The most important are mp3, wav, ra (real audio) for windows and au (similar wav) or snd (Sound designer II) for Macintosh. For making your own mp3s you need a high quality mp3 encoder. The encoding is the difficult part of the game. This mp3 software makes the "sound". I suggest taking the best encoder for encoding files where quality counts and a fast codec for everyday mp3 making. The MP3 Decoder is a much easier choice. Just select one that works perfectly. If you are engaged in pro audio, you will probably need an MP3 to Wav converter because most of the serious programs work with uncompressed wav. files. A good tip is having a portable mp3 player for playing long audio files without interruption. Think of buying one that can also can store other files than mp3. That means you can also put Wav files, programs, pictures, etc... on your player to easily transfer it to a friend's computer. Another alternative is a mp3 CD player. You can put 10 to 12 times as much tracks on a CDR. I personally prefer normal CD players, but if you need a really cheap storage solution it's an interesting choice. You might also need an mp3 software to mix your mp3 files. Go to MP3 Mixer to find out what this kind of software can do for you. This is especially interesting for DJs, fashion show or other playback producer. To get sound files or whole CDs transferred to your computer at high speed you need CD Rippers. This mp3 software is specialized in capturing audio to your computers hard disk without any errors, glitches or other unwanted artifacts. Yes, mp3 made storing, organizing and distributing music so much easier than before. Files are smaller, it lets you easily add additional data like artist and song title and you can buy portable solid state players, that don't stop playing no matter how hard you shake. If you add the ability to find and download almost any title from the web, there's not much left to say against sound compression. As long as the Internet stays as slow as it is, compression is an important topic. And mp3 became a synonym for compression and compressed downloadable music. Maybe one day we can dump a whole music archive in a split second from the net to our computer. But it looks like there's still a long way to go. Do you know what the abbreviation mp3 means? No?... Well, maybe it's not important but here it is (just to complete the picture): mp3: Short for mpeg layer 3 mpeg: Short for Moving Picture Experts Group (This group developed the family of digital video compression standards and file formats that let us see videos and hear sounds on our computers). layer 3: Name of a method to remove all superfluous information from a sound signal. |
