Posted by John Karpich on 01/25/07 02:17

JimC wrote:
>
>
> NRen2k5 wrote:
>> JimC wrote:
>>
>>> I'm a novice regarding MP3 in general, and if there is a FAQ that I
>>> ought to read first, please let me know. - What I would like to do is
>>> get either an IPod or other MP3 player with fairly substantial memory
>>> (perhaps 4GB to 8GB) suitable for recording classical music (mostly
>>> ripped from my CD collection) in an uncompressed, high quality
>>> format. Some classical works are 30 - 45 minutes in length, so I'm
>>> thinking that it may take lots of memory, particularly since it
>>> wouldn't be compressed.
>>>
>>> If you were going to do this, what would you look for in a player,
>>> and what process, or program, would you prefer to use to rip the
>>> music to your PC and then store it in the MP3 player? Is there
>>> anything you would look for in the player (do I need removable memory
>>> chips, for example), and what program would you use? Would you
>>> prefer an IPod or a generic MP3 player for this application, or does
>>> it make much difference? Would $200 be a reasonable price for such a
>>> unit?
>>>
>>> Thanks for any suggestions.
>>>
>>> Jim Cate
>>
>>
>> Well, first let's figure out about how much memory you'll be needing.
>> Could you give me a guess as to the total number of hours of recording
>> you want to fit on the MP3 player?
>
> It would be nice to get around 10 classical works on the player
> (although 5 would be OK). If they average 40 minutes each, 10 would be
> 7.5 hours. To throw some numbers out for an initial estimate, and
> assuming that the uncompressed format would use lots of memory, and I'm
> guessing that this would be equal to around 37 hours of uncompressed
> music. (Correct me if this is way off.) I don't know what length a
> typical "song" would be, but if it's 4 minutes, for example, that might
> be equal to around 555 songs? - How many Gigs is this?
>
> Obviously, I could get by with less, but if I'm going with only a few
> selections, would it then be better to get a player with memory chips
> that could be plugged in to play particular sets of music selections?
>
>
>> Personally, I have an iPod Video (30GB) which I've very happy with.
>> However, I don't use the supplied iTunes software to rip my CDs into
>> MP3s. Rather, I use Exact Audio Copy, and then I import the MP3s it
>> creates into iTunes.
>
> Why do you use Exact Audio Copy?
>
>>
>> Since you aren't sure what brand of MP3 player to go with, I would
>> suggest you get one of Apple's iPods. They are made to be easy to use,
>> and should you have any trouble, there are millions of other users out
>> there whose knowledge and experience you can draw from.
>
> If I used an IPod, does that mean that I would have access to a bigger
> selection of music, particularly classical works, on the web from
> ITunes? Or would the results be the same or better if I ripped them from
> CDs I already have? I'm assuming that it's free with your own CDs, but
> that there is a charge on ITunes. - Anyone know how much the charge is
> for a 40-minute symphony or concerto, for example?
>
> Thanks for the information.
>
> Jim


A Wave file is about 10 Mb in size for 1 minute of music. so a 30 minute
piece would be 300 MB in size. You could fit about 20 of these on a 8GB
player. I have a song on my computer playing now that is about 26
minutes long and is about a 30MB MP3 at 192 kbs cbr. for most stuff I
don't hear much difference @ 192 KBS.

I use CDeX to rip cd's. I have used Exact Audio Copy, both use lame to
make the MP3's, Either is better at making MP3's that Itunes wich uses
an older technology. I found CDeX easier to configure, and worked well
right after installing. I had to mess with Exact Audio Copy to get it to
do what I wanted.

John

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