Do not use MP3
Play Ogg instead. It sounds better, it’s free software, it’s just better. If your portable media player doesn’t play it, just get a desktop player that transcodes on the fly.
It sounds better
Honest. I’ve done the comparison myself. An MP3 in its highest quality settings, with the best encoder there is (LAME), still doesn’t sound exactly like the original. An Ogg Vorbis file encoded using an average of 130 kbps (quality setting 4.9) is indistinguishable from the original.
I did the tests using an expensive sound card and a very expensive set of Technics headphones. The difference is dramatic.
It’s free
Yes, it’s free. Free as in free beer. But, more importantly, free as in freedom. You’re free to do whatever you want with Ogg. You do not need to pay royalties for software patents. You’re not at the mercy of giant corporations
How do I switch?
You don’t need to switch your music collection to Ogg. The best course of action is to just rip any new CDs to Ogg directly. The Play Ogg page has more info about it.
If your portable music player doesn’t support it, there are countless player managers that will transcode the files into MP3 before saving them to your portable music player. For example: I have a Palm T|X that doesn’t support Ogg (it does, but let’s pretend it doesn’t). Amarok transcodes each Ogg music file into MP3 before saving it to my Palm’s memory card. I don’t have to do anything — it’s fully automatic!
May 18th, 2007 at 8:03
You mean mp3 files are not free? itunes is not free? emule, limewire and the rest of the gang are not sharing files for free?
Mario Ruiz
Visit http://www.oursheet.com
May 18th, 2007 at 18:31
I think I was very clear when I said free as in freedom.
May 19th, 2007 at 2:12
the source code for encoding mp3 files is closed source, where Ogg Vorbis is not…
Rudd-O, what about the poor fellas using Gnome? Amarok, afaik, is for KDE…
May 19th, 2007 at 4:48
L: There is Exaile, and there’s also Rhythmbox, but honestly I don’t know of any good iPod or portable music player managers for GNOME. Ignorance gets the best of me, sometimes
May 21st, 2007 at 17:11
I use MP3s because i’m a DJ, there’s not a DJ Software that uses Ogg files, of course that is better and lossless format, but, i will not change all my music library to Ogg. How much time will last rip my cds in ogg format? Think about it!
May 22nd, 2007 at 13:03
“the source code for encoding mp3 files is closed source, where Ogg Vorbis is not…”
Not quite… there are free and open source MP3 encoders such as LAME and there is nothing stopping someone from writing a close-source and proprietary Ogg Vorbis encoder. (There probably exists one too, although I am not aware of any.)
The difference is that the specifications for Ogg Vorbis are public domain and, more importantly, the format is not encumbered by patents. You don’t have to license Ogg Vorbis technology from some random person and no one is going to demand you pay a royalty for implementing it. That is not the case with MP3.