[Navyblue]

I see that WMA lossless is not a terribly popular lossless format here.

Obviously it's because it is proprietary. and iPods doesn't play them, but upside is almost (if not all) all other players plays them. Which make them the most compatible lossless format (in player models, and of course there are more iPods than anything else) other than .wav.

So far I resisted the temptation of being Bill's slave. I go for open format whenever I could, I even ran Linux for a while on PC, PDA and phone for a while. But my track record hasn't been promising. I have used Microsoft OS right from DOS ver 6.0, I have always wanted to get a Mac but I somehow didn't manage to do that, I think I resigned myself to using their OS for the rest of my life. Somewhere along the way I got a PocketPC when Palm was still the market leader, and am now using a Windows Mobile Smartphone. To top it off a Zune 120 is flying across the globe towards me right now. I guess my resistance had been futile.

Not that I could hear a difference between lossless and320kbps (at least the last time I tried). I figured the Zune would still hold a lot of songs even if I stuff it up with lossless files, I wonder if I should re rip my CDs. And my Sony would play them too. I don't see any down side in the foreseeable future, unless I get an iPod or a Mac, but that is not likely to happen anytime soon, even then I guess it is not that hard to turn them into FLAC or ALAC. The only downside is my wive uses an iPod and she has to do her own ripping (which she already did for CDs that I don't bother to rip) or conversion and she kept her own library.

Am I missing something here? Is there other reason for its unpopularity apart from those mentioned?

 

[iriverdude]

If you're going lossless you may as well go for a open codec. I can't see the appeal of WMA lossy or lossless, neither for AAC or ALAC. I'd stick to OGG/MP3 or Flac.

 

[roebeet]

I think that WMA lossless is not terribly popular mainly because it's not heavily supported, to respectively disagree. iPod's don't support the format of course. But neither does Rockbox and many WMA-based players either, tmk. Just looking at my own DAP collection, I don't think my D2 or Sansa Clip support WMA lossless.

But I also disagree with iriverdude - with lossless, there's always the ability to transcode again, down the road. So, I would suggest using whatever lossless codec your player supports. And you said that player was going to be a Zune, so WMA lossless is really your only option (except for tagless WAV?).

 

[HipHopScribe]

As far as I know, only Microsoft and Toshiba have released DAPs that support WMA lossless, so you're mistaken about the support for the format. It's possible one of the more recent Cowon players also supports WMA lossless, but I'm not sure. The most widely supported lossless compression on DAPs is FLAC.

 

[walkingman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Navyblue /img/forum/go_quote.gif Obviously it's because it is proprietary. and iPods doesn't play them, but upside is almost (if not all) all other players plays them.

Er, no...

Quote:

Originally Posted by iriverdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you're going lossless you may as well go for a open codec. I can't see the appeal of WMA lossy or lossless, neither for AAC or ALAC. I'd stick to OGG/MP3 or Flac.

What roebeet said.

 

[zip22]

yeah, just because a player supports WMA does not mean it supports WMA lossless. as has been stated, very few players support WMA lossless

 

[ILikeMusic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roebeet /img/forum/go_quote.gif But I also disagree with iriverdude - with lossless, there's always the ability to transcode again, down the road. So, I would suggest using whatever lossless codec your player supports. And you said that player was going to be a Zune, so WMA lossless is really your only option (except for tagless WAV?).

Well, I would agree that a lossless format is best for archival purposes but there's no real need to use lossless on a portable player. Archive in lossless (in which case you can choose almost any lossless format because just about all of them are supported on a PC/Mac) and then choose the compressed format of your choice for your player. As was mentioned most go with MP3 due to its universal support.

 

[ottoyu34]

Hi. I hope like your zune. It is a great player. Anyways, I have tried wma lossless on my zune. Most of them are converted from flac using dbpoweramp. Lossless is lossless, not matter what type is it. logically is 1400kbps for wma lossless. actually is around 1000kbps~ depends on the complexity of the song. I would say rip your CD in FLAC and convert to wma lossless. So you would have flac for another player. But I find lossless on zune drains the battery pretty fast.

Otto

 

[Navyblue]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zip22 /img/forum/go_quote.gif yeah, just because a player supports WMA does not mean it supports WMA lossless.

Ok, this is what I missed.

Since my Sony won't play it, I guess I'd stick with 320 kbps MP3s, since I am not thrilled at the prospect of maintaining two sets of library.

So apart from Zune, is there any other players that support WMA lossless?

 

[Navyblue]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ottoyu34 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I would say rip your CD in FLAC and convert to wma lossless. So you would have flac for another player. But I find lossless on zune drains the battery pretty fast.

My Sony won't play FLAC.

The battery is another killer I guess, no point sacrificing battery life if I can't tell the difference, although I might need to try comparing again.

 

[ottoyu34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Navyblue /img/forum/go_quote.gif My Sony won't play FLAC. The battery is another killer I guess, no point sacrificing battery life if I can't tell the difference, although I might need to try comparing again.

When I compare wma lossless to CMR 320kbps.One big difference is the noise. 2nd thing I notice is the dynamic of the sound.

Im not sure how is the battery life of the 120. But lossless use around
3 times more battery power than 320kbps MP3(on average).

Otto

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Navyblue /img/forum/go_quote.gif I see that WMA lossless is not a terribly popular lossless format here. Obviously it's because it is proprietary. and iPods doesn't play them, but upside is almost (if not all) all other players plays them.

Almost all?

Close to none I would say. A lot support WMA (lossy), but very few support WMA Lossless...

That's probably one reason why WMA Lossless is not popular. Another reason is that its not cross-platform, but locked to MS Windows. While most (not all) other codecs out there are multi-platform, like FLAC, Apple Lossless, WavPack, ...

 

[Navyblue]

You are right, I can't seem to find another player that plays it. What about Rockbox?

 

[daglesj]

Just thought I'd point out that for stuff you arent bothered with having in lossless that WMA Pro at 192k works extremely well. I have all the my collection on my 30Gb Zune in WMA Pro and after several attempts of messing around with EAC/LAME/AAC/MP3 I've finally found the best lossy codec for me.

However, only the Zune supports WMA Pro. That isnt a problem for me though.

I do a lot of headphone listening and I really cant detect any lossy nasties at all.

 

[HipHopScribe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Navyblue /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ok, this is what I missed. Since my Sony won't play it, I guess I'd stick with 320 kbps MP3s, since I am not thrilled at the prospect of maintaining two sets of library. So apart from Zune, is there any other players that support WMA lossless?

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