Help a noob out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OnlinePredator 

Sorry if this is in the wrong section, I'm new here.

 

Does converting files(such as mp3) using the realplayer converter to WAV make it a WAV file? I've heard some people say you can't convert from lossy to lossless, though.

Same for ripping using Windows Media Player-can't I just burn the mp3 files to a disc, and than rip it as a WAV file?

 

Thanks.

Try reading these links - there's an amazing amount of queries on here asking the same thing:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/568293/any-programs-to-convert-mp3-to-wma-lossless

http://www.head-fi.org/t/431221/does-converting-to-apple-lossless-from-mp3-do-anything

http://www.head-fi.org/t/125424/mp3-file-converting

I could have listed quite a few others - but you'll get the gist from those 

There is no point converting lossy back to lossless.  All you add is size - you don't get any added quality.  If there is anything you don't understand from the links - ask away.

Shorter answer, it will not improve the sound quality of your music at all, DON'T DO IT.

Try it just for kicks. If you think the wav/flac sounds better, then that's your brain telling you it is better. Good for you.

If you don't hear a difference, switch back. 

Unless you have really good gear, 320kbps should sound the same as lossless. Discs are not an item of magic, putting lossy music on there doesn't add info to it. Think of music data as salt and the file type as a container. No matter what container you put them in, the amount of salt will no change. Unless you put them in a smaller container, then some of the salt will be lost forever. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by OnlinePredator 

But aren't files on a CD mp3 files?

So which is better, variable or constant?

Nope.  Typical modern CD has wav (lossless) files in the root directory, then subdirectories containing .cda, .flac, .mp3, and .ogg + often a directory with full whole CD continuous files in each of the aformentioned formats.

When you're playing the CD - you're playing the uncompressed lossless files in the root directory.

When you burn a  CD from MP3 files, they don't magically regain the info they've already lost from their original lossy conversion.  Once the info is gone, it's gone.

Best is to rip lossless (for PC listening or for archiving), and convert to lossy if space needed on your portable.

I rip everything to FLAC, then convert to 256aac for my ipod.  I've tried blind ab testing using foobar, and I can't reliably tell the difference between 256aac (which I believe is roughly equivalent to 320mp3 quality-wise) and flac - so this gives me best mix of quality and space for portable listening.

As far as variable and constant bitrate goes, variable will give you better size - just make sure you transcode with reasonably good quality (V0-V2) should be fine.

Hope this helps.