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John Cletheroe's
PC and Internet Hints |
MP3 is also called MPG3, MPG-3, MPG Level 3, MPG Level III, MPEG 3, etc. I have also seen mention of MPEG1 Level 3 which appears to be the same as MP3 from its description.
MP3 uses the same type of highly efficient and extremely clever fractal-based algorithms for sound compression as JPG does for photographs. Just as the JPG algorithms were designed specifically to compress photographs efficiently, so the MP3 algorithms were designed specifically to compress sound and music efficiently.
Like JPG, MP3 is a slightly lossy format, meaning that the final sound is not quite identical to the source. However, the degradation occurs in a very controllable manner and so can easily be kept to a level below that discernible to the listener. As with JPG, there is no loss when copying or transmitting MP3 files, only when creating or editing them.
What is the difference between an MP3 file and a conventional WAV file?
Conventional WAV files are not compressed. For sound or music of any significant duration, WAV files are huge.
The size of a normal good quality WAV file is very roughly 10MB per minute of sound or music, whereas that of the equivalent MP3 file is very roughly 1MB per minute. In other words, the MP3 file is very roughly one tenth of the size of the equivalent WAV file, with no discernible difference in quality. However, the compression ratio does depend on the nature of the sound or music recorded in the file and therefore can differ.
The much smaller size of MP3 files makes it feasible to store them on the sizes of hard disks commonly found on modern PC's and also to download them via the Internet within a reasonable time, even with only a modem connection.
Why did you say conventional WAV file?
Because there are now two major types of WAV files:
All MP3 player programs suffer from break-ups - interruptions to their output when the PC is very busy, for example when loading another program from the hard disk.
One of the most popular MP3 player programs is Nullsoft's WinAmp (distribution file size 476KB). Of the MP3 player programs I have tried, I have found WinAmp by far the least susceptible to break-ups. The program has a vast array of configuration parameters, best left at their default values until you become familiar with the program's basic operation. The program's only serious disadvantage is (in my humble opinion) its appalling "pinball machine" graphical design style, a problem which sadly seems to afflict many music and sound programs.
Microsoft's Windows Media Player V6.01.05.0217 can play MP3 files. I believe that the old version of Media Player that was supplied with Windows 95 probably could not. As far as I can discover it is not possible to open more than one file at once in Media Player V6.01.05.0217. The program can open and play an M3U playlist but I cannot discover any option to display the playlist. On my PC Media Player suffers from constant breakups when typing text into Word 97, which doesn't happen with WinAmp. On a friend's PC it suffers constant breakups when any other activity takes place on the computer but this may be due to having Active Desktop enabled and we haven't yet tried WinAmp. For these reasons, in my opinion WinAmp is a far superior choice for playing MP3 files.
It is also possible to purchase standalone non-computer equipment capable of playing MP3. There are now several Walkman-like MP3 players, employing ram as storage instead of disks or cassette tape. You connect such a device to your PC and copy MP3 files from the computer's hard disk into the device's ram. These players typically have 32MB of ram (sufficient for 30 minutes of music) and cost in the region of £100 to £130 in the UK. More recent models offer 64KB of ram and so can store more music but are more expensive. Details of one such player are available on the RioPort web site.
Empeg are in the process of producing a car MP3 player. It will store up to 7000 tracks on a 28GB hard disk and use the Linux operating system. Tracks will be downloaded onto the device's hard disk from your PC.
I do not know of any standalone MP3 players which use high density exchangeable disks such as Iomega Zip disks or CD-ROM's for storage but they might well exist. The latter is a particularly inviting concept since a single CD-ROM could hold about ten hours of high quality music in MP3 format. DVD disks could hold even more.
Although I don't know of any audio CD players which are capable of playing computer CD-ROM's holding MP3 files, such a capability seems an obvious possibility for audio CD players in the near future. I received an email from Lynne Edwards saying she has heard that some DVD players have this ability. The LG Electronics brochure dated Spring/Summer 2000 published in the UK includes a DVD player which can "play back MP3 music files recorded onto PC data CD-R and CD-RW disks without needing to uncompress these files". Incidentally, the same brochure features two portable MP3 players and a two-deck CD player which can copy audio CD's at high speed onto blank audio CD-R or CD-RW disks - an indication of how this technology is now extending from computers into conventional domestic electronic devices.
How would you advise configuring WinAmp?
This is obviously a matter of personal choice, but with a high resolution screen format I would advise trying the program's double-size option (OPTIONS > DOUBLE SIZE). The font size for the playlist is configured separately (OPTIONS > PREFERENCES > OPTIONS > PLAYLIST FONT SIZE) and can also be usefully increased from the default if you use a high screen resolution. I then place the main window and the equaliser side by side at the top of the screen with the playlist, extended to nearly the full screen width, underneath.
What is a WinAmp skin?
A WinAmp skin is an optional additional set of files which create an alternative user interface for WinAmp. Only the graphical appearance such as the shape and colour of items (such as the various displays and controls) is changed, not their position. Most skins seem to have a similar graphical design style to that of pinball machines and amusement arcade video games, where garish colours and fancy shapes and fonts are used, making it very difficult to distinguish the controls. A few skins are available in which the controls are easily seen, for example Cold Fusion (distribution file size 100KB).
A large number of WinAmp skins, including Cold Fusion, can be downloaded from the WinAmp web site.
Do I need a WinAmp skin? What happens if I try to run WinAmp without a skin?
You do not need a skin in order to run WinAmp. WinAmp works perfectly without a skin - or rather, it works perfectly with the skin which it has by default when you install it. The default skin is reasonably clear and obvious.
However, skin files tend to be small and installing skins is a very simple operation, so you may wish to try a few as an experiment.
What is a WinAmp plug-in?
A WinAmp plug-in is an optional set of files which adds extra facilities to WinAmp. There are two main types of plug-in:
I would especially recommend the magnificent Geiss plug-in, available from WinAmp's web site. This plug-in produces a display on the whole screen, creating wonderful rapidly moving images which scroll, zoom, swirl and twist. This plug-in requires DirectX 6, a software package available from Microsoft's web site which allows programs running under Windows to rapidly access the screen, sound, joystick, etc. Many modern games programs install a version of DirectX, but perhaps not version 6 which is fairly recent. Up to version 6, DirectX was upwardly compatible, in other words a program designed to work with a specific version of DirectX will also work with all later versions (but almost certainly not any earlier versions). Unfortunately version 7 of DirectX appears to be incompatible with previous versions and installation of it creates some very serious problems on some PC's. DirectX 5 components had an internal version number of 4.05.00.0155 and DirectX 6 components have an internal version number of 4.06.00.0318. I do not yet know the internal version number of DirectX 7. If you install a program which includes DirectX, be careful not to overwrite a later version of it with an earlier version.
A particularly useful I/O plug-in is Nullsoft's Crossfading Output, which fades from one track to the next. It is available from WinAmp's web site.
Plug-ins vary considerably in their complexity of installation, configuration and usage. Be sure to read any instructions which come with them, for example on their accompanying web pages or in README.TXT files. Some plug-ins provide very pleasing displays or useful effects and you may well wish to explore them.
What does an MMSYSTEM326 error indicate?
If an MP3 WAV file is played on a Windows 95 PC without the necessary codec, the file will not be played and an MMSYSTEM326 error will occur. You need to obtain and install the required codec - see the answer to the next question for details. See later in this page for an explanation of what a codec is.
What do I need to play MP3 WAV files?
In order to play MP3 WAV files, you need a sound board and external speakers, any program capable of playing conventional WAV files, and also a suitable codec for playing MP3 compressed WAV files.
A suitable codec is available for downloading from the Fraunhofer web site or from the Sound America web site. The distribution file is L3CODECX.EXE (233KB). To install the codec, just run the distribution file. Installation is trivially simple. Installation adds "Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec (decode only)" to the list of codecs in CONTROL PANEL > MULTIMEDIA > ADVANCED > AUDIO COMPRESSION CODECS. After installation of this codec all programs capable of running conventional WAV files will be able to run MP3 WAV files as well as continuing to be able to play all the types of files they could previously play.
What do I need to create my own MP3 files?
To convert conventional WAV files to MP3 files you need an MP3 encoder program. A large number of these programs are available for downloading on various web sites.
The BladeEnc encoder works very well. It is a DOS program. To see a list of the program's command line options, after installation just type in the program's name with no parameters or switches. Version 0.94.2 of BladeEnc operates very considerably faster than Version 0.72 did.
Because of the huge amount of processing required, encoders take longer than real-time to encode. In other words, a track lasting three and a half minutes might take more than seven minutes to encode on a 233MHz computer, although this time depends on the computer's processor clock speed and whether other programs are running at the same time. BladeEnc allows you to specify its priority. High priority settings will make encoding run faster but will seriously impinge on the speed of other programs being run at the same time. Low priority settings will allow other programs to operate at near-normal speed but make encoding take considerably longer. BladeEnc allows a batch of files to be encoded automatically using a wildcard filespec such as *.wav, which is extremely useful. BladeEnc continuously displays the predicted remaining time for the conversion of the current track and the entire batch.
It would appear that DOS MP3 encoders are much faster than those which run under Windows. A Windows encoder that I tried took fifty minutes to process a three and half minute track compared with about seven minutes for BladeEnc V0.72. The same file took about three minutes to encode with BladeEnc V0.94.2.
After testing the encoded MP3 files, be sure to delete the corresponding WAV files from your hard disk, in order to reclaim huge amounts of space.
So far I have been unable to locate any programs which provide facilities for editing MP3 files (cropping, volume adjustment, etc) although this would seem an obvious requirement. Software supplied with almost all soundcards provides facilities for performing such operations on WAV files - consult your soundcard software printed or electronic documentation for details.
What do I need to copy tracks from an audio CD?
To copy tracks from an audio CD you need a CD Ripper program. Such programs are also sometimes called DAC programs (Digital Audio Conversion). A large number of these programs are available for downloading on a variety of web sites.
The WinDAC32 CD ripper, downloadable from mp3.com, works well.
Depending on the speed of your CD-ROM drive and your computer, CD Rippers can operate faster than real-time. For example, a track which normally lasts three and a half minutes might only take thirty seconds to be copied to your hard disk.
What are the stages involved in getting a track from an audio CD into an MP3 file and then playing it?
There are two physical types of writeable CD's:
Modern CD-R/CD-RW drives can write to both CD-R and CD-RW disks. Modern CD-ROM drives should be able to read both CD-R and CD-RW disks although older drives may have problems (I think read problems are more likely with CD-RW disks than CD-R disks). If you are considering purchasing a CD-R/CD-RW drive then check the speed at which it can record each type of disk and also the speed at which it can read disks (although most people retain their old CD-ROM drive, so as to make copying disks easier).
CD's of all physical types (mass produced, CD-R and CD-RW) can have a variety of overall data format, including:
Some CD-R/CD-RW drives (or their software) can only write to disks in one burst, which must not be interrupted. This is known as "disk-at-once". More modern drives (or their software) can also write in several separate bursts, known as "track-at-once". The most modern drives (or software) can also write individual files, known as "packet writing" or "drag and drop" (since files can be drag and dropped to the CD-R/CD-RW drive as if it were a normal disk). If your drive only supports disk-at-once or track-at-once then you need to assemble all the files to be written to a disk before commencing the writing process. You also need to disable any screen saver and power saving options on your PC which might interrupt the writing process. You must also leave the program to complete the writing process without doing anything else on the computer which might interrupt it.
If you want to produce a CD which you can play in a normal audio CD player, then you need to convert the files from MP3 to uncompressed WAV format and you also need to write the disk in the special format required for digital audio CD.
The WinAmp program can convert from any sound file format that it can play (including MP3) to an uncompressed WAV file. To do this: OPTIONS > PREFERENCES > AUDIO I/O > note your current choice of output plug-in (so you can restore it later) > select NULLSOFT DISK WRITER as the output plug-in > CONFIGURE > specify the output directory (the location that the WAV files will be written to). Then when you use WinAmp play a sound file, instead of playing sound through the speakers the program will write a WAV file in the specified directory, with a file name based on that of the source file. A set of files can be converted by opening them at the same time or by means of a playlist. The WAV files are written at much faster than real time. Converting a file from MP3 to uncompressed WAV format will multiply the file size by a factor of ten. Follow the same procedure to restore your normal output plug-in and return WinAmp to its normal operation. (My grateful thanks to Jerry Mckee for telling me about this option in WinAmp.)
The software provided with a CD-R/CD-RW drive may have an option to create a digital audio CD format disk, given a set of WAV files. If not, then software to do this task is probably widely available (I've never tried looking). CD's produced by this means can be played on a conventional audio CD player but of course can only hold as much as a normal audio CD.
The M3PO audio CD player manufactured by Terratec can also play computer data format CD's which hold MP3 files. I would guess that this is likely to become a standard feature for audio CD players in the near future. The M3PO can also be fitted with a hard disk for storing a huge number of MP3 tracks. (External links checked Oct-00.)
Hand-held portable stereo "Walkman" units are now available which hold MP3 tracks in electronic memory, the data being downloaded from your PC. These are described in another section of this page.
Excellent and highly detailed information on all aspects of CD-R and CD-RW can be found at Andy McFadden's CD-Recordable FAQ (external link checked Mar-01).
What are the quality parameters of a conventional WAV file?
The Golden Rule: the higher the quality, the larger the file.
www.mpeg.org has an extension collection of technical information.
To attempt to find an MP3 copy of a specific track, in any search engine, try looking for:
+"artist name" +"title" +mp3Don't expect to easily find all the tracks you are looking for. In my experience your chances of finding what you want are very remote but this probably depends on your musical tastes. Even if you find a site listed with the track you want, it may well no longer be operative. Many MP3 sites have very short lifetimes. I have never found an operative copy of any track I have searched for.
Try the Lycos MP3 search engine.
Try the MP3Meta search engine.
PeopleSound offers conventional digital audio CD's by largely unknown artists for sale by mail order at prices below the norm for CD's in the UK (although this is probably more expensive than the norm in other countries). They also offer a few free sampler tracks from each CD in MP3 format which can be downloaded. The same tracks are also available in Real Audio streaming format for online sampling. The PeopleSound site doesn't work with the Netscape Navigator V3 browser but it is ok with Internet Explorer V4 and V5 and also with Netscape Communicator V4.6. If you use Star Downloader to download MP3 files from PeopleSound, remove the prefix from the URL in Star Downloader before starting the download. This may also be necessary in similar download utilities. URL verified Apr-03.
Vitaminic is very similar to PeopleSound. The two companies have now merged but maintain separate web sites. Some of their artists overlap both sites, sometimes with a different track selection on each. If you use Star Downloader to download MP3 files from Vitaminic, change the destination filename in Star Downloader before starting the download. This may also be necessary in similar download utilities. URL verified Apr-03.
Sound America has a huge collection of television themes, mostly in MP3 WAV format.
The WinMX system provides a peer-to-peer MP3 file sharing system, in other words a realtime MP3 search engine and FTP program. Only sources of specified tracks which are currently available are listed and full speed details of each of those sources are given. The WinMX program must be downloaded and installed before the system can be used. You may have concerns about the copyright implications of using WinMX and similar systems. Currently (Mar-03) WinMX is completely free of adware and spyware, which plague most other similar programs.
Microsoft's Windows Media site is also worth a look. It would probably be better with Internet Explorer than any other web browser.
When downloading an MP3 file using a web browser, it is often necessary to right-click on the link and select SAVE from the resulting mini-menu, rather than left-click on the link.
Remember that even MP3 files are large by Internet standards, about 1MB per minute, so you may wish to select a time to download when your Internet usage costs and/or phone call costs are at a minimum (for example, maybe at the weekend).
For information on all aspects of computer technology, including MP3 and CD-R/CD-RW and many other topics, you might like to try the following sites:
Most programs which involve the use of sound in any way, such as games, CD Rippers, MP3 Encoders and MP3 Players install any codecs that they require automatically without you needing to be concerned about them at all.
For the curious, a list of currently installed codecs can be found in CONTROL PANEL > MULTIMEDIA > ADVANCED > AUDIO COMPRESSION CODECS. I would caution against modifying anything in this area of Control Panel unless you are an expert.
What is PCM?
PCM is Pulse Code Modulation. The volume of the sound is sampled at regular intervals, extremely frequently - thousands of times per second. Each sample is converted into a binary number and that is stored in the file or transmitted. In order to play back the data, each binary number is converted to an analog voltage, at the same rate as was used during recording. I believe that PCM is the simplest, uncompressed method of holding sound information, as used in conventional WAV files.
What are "all-in-one" MP3 programs?
"All-in-one" MP3 programs combine the functions of a CD Ripper, an MP3 Encoder and an MP3 Player.
I've tried two "all-in-one" MP3 programs.
Compared to the combination of WinDAC, BladeEnc and WinAmp one such program (I forget its name) was, in my humble opinion, awful.
MusicMatch's Jukebox V4.4 was slightly better but still suffered from numerous drawbacks. The distribution file is a huge 4.5MB download. The free version of this program is limited to a maximum encoding speed of 96kbps which is inadequate. Despite experimenting for some time with the program's various recording parameters all results while operating in digital mode suffered from constant clicks and drop-outs. Switching to analog mode cured this problem but the results were very muffled. The program utilises the entire computer until the whole MP3 creation process has been completed, whereas a separate ripper and encoder allows the ripping process to be completed very quickly and the encoding process to be performed in the background, freeing the computer for other work at the same time. Jukebox's approach does have the advantage of not requiring hard disk space for a huge intermediate WAV file, however. The Jukebox program, in common with several other music and sound related programs, suffers from an awful "pinball machine" design style. The program is more than somewhat over-eager to access various servers via the Internet, in some cases it would seem purely for marketing reasons. Jukebox appears to play MP3 files cleanly but it offers no obvious advantages in this respect over WinAmp.
Other all-in-one MP3 programs may be better than these two examples.
What is DAC?
DAC is short for Digital Audio Converter (i.e. a CD Ripper), or Digital Audio Conversion, i.e. the copying of tracks from an audio CD to a computer's hard disk.
What is Ogg Vorbis?
Ogg is an alternative highly compressed lossy audio file format. Vorbis appears to be the company which invented it. Various Ogg encoders are available for download free of charge from the Vorbis web site. There are no Ogg players as such, but add-ins for other players are available, and most modern WAV/MP3 players also include the ability to play Ogg files. Technically, Ogg appears to be very similar to MP3. Judging by comments on the BladeEnc and Vorbis web sites, using Ogg encoders seems to be legally preferable to MP3 encoders because the Ogg algorithm has not been copyrighted. However, bear in mind that this comment only applies to the algorithms and the encoding programs, not to the material being encoded.
Most recently modified 14-Apr-03