Posted by NRen2k5 on 11/28/05 21:04

david wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I am starting an online label for high quality mp3 downloads and was
> wondering what "real people" think about some questions I have. The
> main question is: what quality settings should I use for encoding?
> I'm using 'lame' as my encoder and have been looking at the presets
> available. As my aim is to offer music with the best available audio
> quality, I have been using the "insane" preset, which theoretically
> goes up to 320 kbps. One CD I encoded--about 1 hr in length--came in
> at around 138 MB, so a little more than twice the size of what seems to
> be the de facto standard. If you are familiar with lame you're
> probably wondering which version I have, and unfortunately it's on my
> other computer, sorry. 2.something. Also, I have had trouble with the
> tagging functionality--couldn't get it to parse the command line
> correctly in either the bash or dos shell. So.. any general tips are
> appreciated. Just surfing around, I noticed a front-end called
> Razorlame. Is it any good? Anyway, time for a poll!
>
> As a listener, can you tell the difference in encoding quality at
> different bitrates and other settings?
> Would you be more or less likely to purchase an album at 138 MB vs. 60
> MB, assuming the larger file would have noticeably better audio?
> What would you like to see in an online distributor that is not already
> being addressed by the major players?
>
> Thanks in advance for any advice!
>
> Lastly, if you would like to join my "spam list", email me with the
> words "SPAM ME" in the subject. I am hoping to launch officially on or
> before 12/18/05, but I will probably be announcing only on
> rec.music.progressive, which is most appropriate for my current focus
> musically.
>
> Best Regards,
> David Oskardmay

You can find the answers to your more technical questions at
hydrogenaudio.org and I see someone has already suggested that so I'm
just agreeing.

As a listener, I can tell the difference between encodings under maybe
192kbps.

I recommend that you offer shoppers a choice. Something like 128kbps vs
VBR (Alt Preset Standard) vs Lossless. The nice thing here is you can
charge less for the 128kbps version and more for the lossless version.
After all, you're potentially paying more in bandwidth costs when they
choose the higher-quality choices so why not charge them a little more
for the quality?

- NRen2k5

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