What are the advantages and dissadvantages of Sony`s atrack3 and mp3`s.

[puppet]

can you ut more atrack3`s on a cd then mp3`s, are atrack3`s better then mp3`s. I got software to make atrack3`s with my sony PCDP

 

[puppet]

BUMP

 

[br--]

I can put tons of MP3's on a CD if they are compressed at 64kbps. Perhaps you should be more specific.

 

[puppet]

i heard a 64kb/s atrack3= 128kb/s mp3

is that true.

 

[br--]

No. ATRAC3 sounds pretty bad to my ears. You're best bet for file size and audio quality is to encode your MP3's in the LAME VBR encoder.

 

[leon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by puppet i heard a 64kb/s atrack3= 128kb/s mp3 is that true.

That's what Sony claims from the result of their blind listening tests: that atrac3plus at 64kbps is equal to 128kbps mp3.

Some people agree, but most reviews I've read think it's not equal to 128kbps MP3, but a bit less than that.

What you should do is try it out for yourself. Only you can decide if atrac3plus is practical for your use.

66kbps atrac3 is definitely inferior to 128kbps mp3.

 

[kurisu]

Right on, Leon - but remember puppet, there is quite a difference between ATRAC3 and ATRAC3plus. Most people here have probably not heard ATRAC3plus and define it with what they've heard before [ATRAC3]. ATRAC3plus actually is pretty good, at least as good as it can be given it's a lossy encoding method.

256kbps ATRAC3plus will be a contender amongst the other encodings, methinks.

 

[halcyon]

I personally think that Atrac3 is quite bad. Audibly worse than LAME 3.93 or even 3.96 mp3 at 128kbps.
A very good non-vendor/non-biased public blind listening test concluded the same.

http://www.rjamorim.com/test/multifo...8/results.html

Objectively evaluated, I don't think that there is much of a chance to make Atrac3 to sound better at 64kbps than mp3 at 128kbps, when Atrac3 can't even compete at 128kbps.

However, it is impossible to say that all other people will find the same with their own hearing.

I have not heard Atrac3+ and cannot comment on it.

However, the Sony comissioned for-paid test did not conclude that Atrac3+ sounds more like the original than mp3. It said that people liked it more. It is quite possible to make audio sound unlike the original, but make it more likeable to people.

If you like Atrac3 better, don't worry if others don't agree. You use what you like.

For me personally, the sound quality, wide compatibility and easiness of encoding/decodings make mp3 much better for me overall than Atrac3.

 

[kurisu]

Give ATRAC3plus a shot for me, haly. You'll be slightly impressed, I imagine.

 

[leon]

Edit-Edited.

 

[halcyon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kurisu Give ATRAC3plus a shot for me, haly. You'll be slightly impressed, I imagine.

I'd love to try it. I don't have a minidisc player/recorder with atrac3+ though (I gave away my Atrac3 to my friend).

I wish there was a decent free PC software implementation of Atrac 3+ that allowed one to encode at 128kbps.

I'd sure like to try it out.

 

[kurisu]

Glad you asked! Download Sonicstage 2 [iceeedtea's build] with everything you need.

http://forums.minidisc.org/viewtopic.php?t=4210

[scroll past the official Sony part]

p.s. Screw 128kbps, go for 256kbps. You can burn ATRAC3plus CD's with this modded software. iceeedtea was a forum moderator of mine that was a software whiz kid, and had Sonicstage 2 with a complete installer months before the official debut. This version has alot of functionality.

 

[GSTom1]

Why does Sony always want to introduce their own formats? Can’t they just design something that uses existing standards/formats?

Everyone is listen to Compact Discs and Sony introduces the mini-Disc.

In the late 1990s, Compact Flash and Smart Media are being used by almost all portable devices and Sony introduces the Memory Stick and charges a premium for them.

All portable DAP devices support mp3 and it’s the defacto compressed music format and Sony will not support it. They want you to convert everything to some proprietary format called Atrac that almost no-one supports.

What is Sony thinking?

 

[Eagle_Driver]

I dislike the way Sony does compressed digital audio: Even their HiMD units require you to convert your MP3 files to ATRAC3 or ATRAC3Plus before those units can play them back. And I do know that Sony's software tends to butcher MP3's, and sometimes their software-based alogarithm butchers the sound of even Redbook CDs as they're being converted.

Among current Sony portable players sold here in the US, only their CD-based portables support MP3 directly - and even those CD-based portables lack support for any other alternative compressed audio format besides ATRAC3 and ATRAC3Plus.

Sad, but true.

 

[leon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GSTom1 What is Sony thinking?

I was in a frequent flyer program discussion, and someone made an incredible observation - Sony immediately sprang to mind when I read it:

Quote:

Seriously though, the program is quintessential Japan. The key to enjoying it is to accept it for what it is and not try to fight it or figure out the logic behind it. I learned this lesson in 1991 watching fellow gaijin "female dog" and moan about the "system" during my 2 years in in Tokyo. You just have to role with the punches.

Some might say, don't fight the heated toilet seats with washlets, cause the bidet ole is your other choice