Related Links

Featured Links





Recommended Products



 

 
Featured Articles

Boosting Your eBay Auction Profits: Just Add Audio
Are You Getting The Highest Possible Profits From Your Ebay Auctions? Here's a tip: Add audio to your auctions. According to a recent report, adding audio to your eBay auctions could increase bids by as much as 22% over auctions without audio. A ...

Home Theater Audio Setup
Your home theater audio setup will depend on the space available to you, what kind of signal your receiver can carry, and the number of speakers you have. With proper setup, it doesn't matter if you have a simple stereo audio setup or a complex ...

Talkingsites Web Site Audio
People love pantomimes because they can communicate so cleverly without everuttering a sound. I find them fascinating. But imagine what theworld would be like if all our entertainment, conversation, andadvertising was done in pantomime. Aside from giving ...


Custom Search
Alternatives to Digital Audio
 

Lossless compression means that none of the audio data is removed during compression. Lossy compression means that audio data is permanently removed from the audio file. Lossy compression results in smaller files, but there is no way to rebuild the audio data to its original format. MP3 is an example of lossy compression.

Lossy Compression Formats

There are many alternatives to MP3 when it comes to encoding audio files. Microsoft reportedly developed the WMA format to avoid the licensing costs associated with MP3. WMA files can be played with the Windows Media Player that is included with the Windows operating system as well as many other audio players. It features similar encoding rates to MP3 and similar file sizes.

AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is the format preferred by Apple and is used for its popular iTunes and iPod products. AAC files can be smaller than MP3


files because it uses more efficient encoding technology. A 96 kpbs AAC file is similar in sound quality to a 128 kbps MP3 file.

Ogg Vorbis is another type of lossy compression and uses .OGG as the file extension. It is an open-source product and unlike MP3, there are no patent restrictions on its use.

Lossless Compression

For the audio purist who insists on the best quality sound possible, lossless compression offers CD quality sound. The tradeoff is larger files sizes – while MP3 can compress audio in the range of 80% - 90%, lossless compression typically compresses the file by half.

Popular lossless formats include FLAC, Monkey’s Audio, and SHN (Shorten). These formats are supported by many audio players and are popular for archiving CD collections as well as for trading music.


About the author:

Hans is editor of the Audio Howto Section of the Selected Audio Review Guide








News



Laptop Computer Planet Blog (blog)

HP Reveals 3D Laptop
InformationWeek
Hewlett-Packard has introduced its first 3D laptop, which also includes a Blu-ray DVD player and HP's best audio system. ...
HP Vice President Carlos Montalvo: Dre, HP ENVY 14AllHipHop
HP's New 3D Laptop, Envy 17: First ImpressionsUSANewsWeek.com
New HP Laptops Feature 3D, Wireless HDTV StreamingPC World
PC Magazine -SoJones -DailyTech
all 126 news articles »

Us Magazine (blog)

AUDIO: 911 Call After Samantha Ronson's Bulldog Killed Maltese
Radar Online
... reportedly killed a 2-year-old Maltese in the hallway of Ronson's apartment in West Hollywood, CA., and RadarOnline.com has the audio of the call. ...
Listen To The Sam Ronson Dog Attack 911 Call411mania.com

all 260 news articles »

Police Release Audio of Oklahoma City Officer's Call for Help after Ambush
news9.com KWTV
Vilma Escalante, Hector Escalante and Alex Mercado are suspected in the shooting of Oklahoma City police officer, Katie Lawson. Officer Katie Lawson's car ...

and more »

Esquire

Digital Pen Gives Boring Note-Taking a Modern Kick
Reuters
The pen will automatically play back the audio from that precise moment. This has the obvious benefit of helping you navigate long, meandering lectures, ...
A Better Way to Digitally RecordEsquire

all 2 news articles »

Oram Po's audio launch party
Times of India
Launching the audio recently, Suriya said, " This reminds me of my college life. Va ... has all the ingredients to be 'emerging cinema' in Kollywood. ...