Are Amazon MP3 downloads in VBR?
Aug 29, 2010 at 12:54 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 9
wicked.ludicrous

wicked.ludicrous

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I was told that Amazon $5 albums were downloadable in VBR by default. So I just bought/downloaded my first one and it turns out it's not in VBR, but just CBR 256....
For those who have ever downloaded from Amazon, have you ever managed to download as VBR?
Thanks
 
Aug 29, 2010 at 1:29 AM Post #2 of 9
it depends entirely on the album
 
some are CBR, some are ABR, some are VBR
 
the only constant is that they were all encoded with LAME
 
Aug 29, 2010 at 1:34 AM Post #3 of 9
FWIW, all the songs I have from Amazon MP3 (which, admittedly are just one album and a few other songs) are VBR V0.
 
I would think necropimp is right, though, if he's experienced or heard about the variation.
 
Aug 29, 2010 at 2:05 AM Post #4 of 9
I've only downloaded a couple of albums from Amazon, but they've been in VBR.
 
Aug 29, 2010 at 9:36 AM Post #5 of 9
Ohhh.
It's not possible to see how the files are encoded in Amazon before buying/downloading them, right?
 
Aug 29, 2010 at 7:00 PM Post #6 of 9
you are correct there is no way of knowing unless someone has reported on the encoding
 
a few known amazon mp3 encodes (just what i can remember off the top of my head)
 
all Wolves in the Throne Room albums are ABR ~240ishKbps
Bloodbath - Breeding Death EP -V0
Foghat - Fool For The City 256Kbps CBR
Diablo Swing Orchestra - Buthers Ballroom -V0
 
i'll go through later and report on some others
 
Aug 30, 2010 at 6:51 AM Post #8 of 9
I've gotten two albums and they've been V0.
 
Here is what their Help says about the media downloads
 

Digital Music Format

Amazon.com's digital music downloads are available in MP3 format—the most widely compatible music file format supported by most media player applications, hand-held music devices, and some CD and DVD players. Here's more information about music files from the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads store:
  1. Bit Rate: Where possible, we encode our MP3 files using variable bit rates for maximum audio quality and smaller file sizes, aiming at an average of 256 kilobits per second (kbps). Using a variable bit rate allows us to allocate a higher bit rate to the more complex sections of music files while using a smaller bit rate for the less complex sections. The average of these rates is then calculated to produce an average bit rate for the entire file that represents the overall sound quality. Some of our content is encoded using a constant bit rate of 256 kbps. This content will have the same excellent audio quality at a slightly larger file size.
  2. File Size: A typical 3-minute song takes up approximately 5MB of storage space.
  3. Download Times: A single MP3 file 5MB in size will download in less than one minute on a typical broad-band Internet connection. A similar download on a 56k dial-up connection can take up to 30 minutes.
  4. Album Cover Art: Album cover art is included with each song you download.
 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_mp3land_recformat?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200389400
 
Aug 30, 2010 at 11:53 AM Post #9 of 9
I think it depends on when they did the encoding.  Their standard a couple of years ago was CBR 256K, and I think they've left a lot of their catalog at that bitrate instead of going back and reencoding.  Anything added to the catalog in the last year or so is VBR-V0, with an average of 256K and a peak of 320K.
 
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