Karaoke!

[Captain Southbird (EHOL Creator)]

Chiisana Hana is my favorite ending, for reasons you can probably imagine. ^_^; Wow, I still couldn't believe when I downloaded it, that track is over 30 minutes long. Yuri Amano rules!

Heh, no, um... I'm assuming you have mine.  Per Neil's request, many of the MP3's are VBR which causes hell in most players which greatly overestimate the time.  (Do they only use the first bitrate they find and assume?  Cause you know about "assume"...) Point is, it's not REALLY 31 minutes... WinAmp recalculates it to be about 6:39.  



VBR's cause problems in most basic length calculations


Actual track length is about 4:58.  So not even WinAmp can quite dig through the complexity.  
I remember I fell into the same trap once with "The Conqueror Jinnai"; one I downloaded before I got the soundtracks claimed length of about 15 minutes and I thought "Wow, they can just keep on going about Jinnai..."

[Neil Lafrenais]

That only happened because you accidentally did them wrong (which is understandable as dbPower's converter is for the mp3 pros :|). You can't pin this on me, man! [scuttles away hurriedly]

[Xel]

I remember I fell into the same trap once with "The Conqueror Jinnai"; one I downloaded before I got the soundtracks claimed length of about 15 minutes and I thought "Wow, they can just keep on going about Jinnai..."

But who can't? I mean, come on.

It never fails to amaze me how good a singer our loveable dictator-in-training is.   Okiayu really outdid himself with "The Conquerer Jinnai"...  

o/~Todoroke ware koso... Jinnai Katsuhiko~...o/~

I thought of karaoke-ing it once, but it just doesn't carry the same weight that it normally does when sung an octave up by a petite teenage girl.  

[Saucer]

Heh, no, um... I'm assuming you have mine.  Per Neil's request, many of the MP3's are VBR which causes hell in most players which greatly overestimate the time.  (Do they only use the first bitrate they find and assume?  Cause you know about "assume"...) Point is, it's not REALLY 31 minutes... WinAmp recalculates it to be about 6:39.  

Well, what the heck is that about? I thought something seemed strange. What is Variable Bit Rate anyway? But look at this:





32-bit? I think not! But it must look at the supposed bit rate, file size and then determine that the file must be six time as long as it really is. So why doesn't is play slow or choppy? I still don't understand.

I does however, explain why some of the audio drama bits on OVA1 OST disc 2 appear as 41 minutes to a hour and 45 minutes in length! How could all that possibly fit on a CD?

[Captain Southbird (EHOL Creator)]

I like how it was encoded "with" me.    ... I guess that's true.  I mean, I WAS sitting there and stuff...

VBR = Variable Bit Rate.  The idea is that the compressor is supposed to dynamically change the bit rate to produce the best quality result in a given time chunk.  But since most players just check the initial bitrate (32kbps in this case) and check the file length to make an estimate of length, it of course comes out totally wrong.  (At that size, 32kbps would DEFINITELY be a long file)  VBR is supposed to reproduce the best possible sound.  But I dunno... it seems like my VBR encodes bounce too frequently between other rates for it to be properly effective (i.e. that file size is larger than it should be)

[Saucer]

I like how it was encoded "with" me.    ... I guess that's true.  I mean, I WAS sitting there and stuff...

Most encoders (iTunes, WinAmp, LAME, Stream Ripper, etc...) will have a field in the ID3 tag for the encoder that was used. I'm not sure what one you're using, but there must be a field in yours to but the name of the person encoding (CoolEdit96 had a feature like that ). So iTunes probably just looks at that field and says "Encoded with..."! ^_^;

VBR = Variable Bit Rate.  The idea is that the compressor is supposed to dynamically change the bit rate to produce the best quality result in a given time chunk.  But since most players just check the initial bitrate (32kbps in this case) and check the file length to make an estimate of length, it of course comes out totally wrong.  (At that size, 32kbps would DEFINITELY be a long file)  VBR is supposed to reproduce the best possible sound.  But I dunno... it seems like my VBR encodes bounce too frequently between other rates for it to be properly effective (i.e. that file size is larger than it should be)

It certainly wasn't 32kbps. It would sound super grainy and lo-fi. It's cool, but why didn't you just rip them at good ol' 128kbps fixed bit rate? Neil's trying to sabbotage our MP3 players!  

[Captain Southbird (EHOL Creator)]

Every CD after I found it to be so wacked was done at 128kpbs fixed I believe.

And the ID3 tagger I was using labels it as "Encoded By", but I didn't think that to be as in what software was used to encode it.    Well, it was encoded with Rob Jinnai goodness, damn it!!

[MrWhat]

VBR confuses my MP3 players too.  I don't do much MP3'ing myself, but I usually encode at 160kbps.  I honestly can't tell the difference between 160kbps and 192kbps or higher.

128kbps is "good enough" for most pop/rock recordings, I think.  But I can just barely hear a loss of quality on more lush orchestral recordings at 128kbps.  Or I imagine I can hear it, anyway.

[Captain Southbird (EHOL Creator)]

Yeah, 160kbps seems like a great rate for perfectionist quality.

Sound probably doesn't need to be less packed once you're at that rate.  [Most] human ears just aren't quite that sensitive to the subtle degration.

[Neil Lafrenais]

You're all rubbish and should use Winamp. ;)

Really though, you're far too happy with what you're given. 128kbps can sound terrible on a decent stereo system.

[Captain Southbird (EHOL Creator)]

You're all rubbish and should use Winamp. ;)

I do if I need to play a selection.  But even its "average" length calc can be off a minute or more sometimes.  And WinAmp isn't available for Mac, is it?  (Saucer's primary)

Really though, you're far too happy with what you're given. 128kbps can sound terrible on a decent stereo system.

Well, not many of us run MP3's through a stereo system.  I know I don't... Although once long ago, my sound system DID consist of an old stereo amp and twin speakers hanging on my wall.  It was cool until half  the amp blew out.  (Lost left or right channel, can't remember which.)

[MrWhat]

Really though, you're far too happy with what you're given. 128kbps can sound terrible on a decent stereo system.

I bought a pair of Bose speakers for this computer, two or three years ago, and I used them for maybe a few weeks, but my downstairs apartment neighbor repeatedly complained about them.

I recently got a new downstairs neighbor, and she plays her music louder than I do.  But I ended up putting the Bose speakers on the DVD player, instead of back on the computer.

128kbps generally sounds OK on my 15-year-old Radio Shack headphones.  And the vast majority of the MP3s I DL are unreleased live concert bootlegs, and those are gonna sound like crap, even at 160+kbps  

[Saucer]

Nope, no Winamp for Mac users. That's because we got iTunes!   Itunes is by far, the most innovative and intuitive MP3 player/management system IMHO. Especially when you have 1000+ MP3s and like to organize them all sorts of different ways. Great software.

I always encode stuff at 160kbps. That's true CD quality to my ears. 128kbps is pretty darn close. So I can't complain. But if I'm encoding it myself I always go for the best. 190kbps is a little overkill. 320kbps is REALLY overkill.

I have Harman Kardon speakers and iSub subwoofer. Sw33t! If I didn't have to go to work, I'd just sit in front of my computer all day listening to music.

[dooky]

I seem to have the opposite problem with VBR mp3s,  although none from this site... namely the Pita Ten and Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu openings. Windows Media Player often underestimates the time, insisting that a three minute track is just a minute long. Doesn't seem to affect anything... although it does meean you can't search in the last two thirds of the track ^_^