Posted by CQ on 12/28/05 17:54

In article <1135788730.510798.299910@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
cornev@gmail.com says...

> i got a jukebox for christmas and have started loading on songs. i've
> about 450 songs on it with only a gig left, the box said i can store
> 1500 songs!!

At least you haven't blamed the company that made the jukebox for lying
to you yet.

The box almost surely says something like "up to 1500 songs" or "about
1500 songs" or "1500 songs at XXX bit rate". Without knowing what brand
or which box you might have it is hard to be more specific but:

All mp3 players make claims as to capacity based on fairly low bit rates,
often as low as 64MB wma. Most mp3s you will come across (you ARE
dealing with mp3, right? I mean, you did come to an mp3 group with your
question) are a bit higher bit rate than the ones they use to calculate
their capacity and therefore are a bit larger than what they would like
to have you think they need to be.

A very high quality VBR or a 320 Kbps (which is overkill IMHO) mp3 file
can easily be 11MB in size and 450 of them is all you would need to fill
up the first five gigs of a six gig player, which is the size some
manufacturers claim will hold "up to 1500 songs".

Are you making the mp3s yourself? If so, ask back and you can get some
help and tips in how to make perfectly good (transparent to the original
source) mp3s which will take up far less space.

Are you downloading your mp3s? If so, look for ones that are a bit
smaller, VBR files or CBR as low as 192 Kbps should sound perfectly fine
on your portable and will take up far less space. Avoid 320Kbps or, if
that is all you can find resign yourself to either using up your space or
converting your files to a smaller size. (Note: Converting compressed
format files to either more compressed or another format is not a very
good idea as it may possibly introduce (audible) artifacts which can be
very disconcerting through a pair of cranked up ear-buds. However, if
the 320Kbps file you have is a true 320Kbps file, and not one somebody
converted from a lower bit rate (which is VERY bad), you probably won't
run into any problems doing this, although you should never re-share
files you have converted in any manner. It just ain't proper.)

Are you buying your mp3s or other music format files? Look for an option
on the site you are using for smaller files of the same songs. Most for
sale sites will have ones much smaller that 10MB or more, though, so I'm
doubting this is the problem.
--
CQ

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