Re: MP3>AIFF

["Timothy" <wanderlost@crosswinds.net>]

Eric,

The problem isn't with the conversion, it's with decoding and re-encoding 
of
lossy-compression sound formats like MP3.  By lossy compression I mean that
the encoding algorithm throws away *a lot* of the original sound data when 
it
compresses a file.  When it comes time to decode the file (for example, 
when
playing it back) the decoder attempts to guess what the lost data is 
supposed
to be.  So decoding an MP3 file (and you have to decode it to play or edit 
the
wave data), and then re-encoding it to another compressed format - even 
MP3 -
is going to result in more loss, because the encoder has to throw more 
sound
data away, forcing the decoder to guess again what lost sound was when it
decompresses it.

If an MP3 file is all you have to work with (you don't have the 
uncompressed
original?) your best bet is probably to decompress it, work with the
decompressed file until you have absolutely no more changes to make, then 
as a
last step re-encode it back to MP3.  It will still result in loss.  But you
should never decode/re-encode or convert back and forth to and from lossy
formats like MP3 or RealAudio.  Formats like that are really intended for
final production.

hope this helps,
Tim

----- Original Message -----
From: "eric" <eobertha@inreach.com>
To: <Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2000 4:26 PM
Subject: Re: MP3>AIFF


> thanks!  then do you know of any app that let's you edit mp3 directly so 
>to
> avoid the conversions?
> eobe
>
> Jonathan El-Bizri wrote: