MP3 vs eAAC+

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As some of you know, I've recently got a phone with a music player. I've been unable to use the music player so far because of the lack of memory (no microSD card), but I'm getting a 512 MB microSD this week, so I can transfer a couple of tracks into my phone and have one less device to cart around.

Since space on my comp was never an issue, MP3s were encoded in 320 KBPS, but my phone has limited memory and 320KBPS MP3 will litteraly eat through the space on my microSD.

My phone supports eAAC+ and MP3. Which of the two is better, sound and size-wise? I intend to re-rip the tracks I want to transfer to my phone and I wanted to know if eAAC+ is worth it, or if I should stick with tried, tested and true MP3.

If eAAC+ is better, do any of you know of an eAAC+ encoder?

 

I don't mess around with AAC, but here's what Wikipedia has to say about it:

Personally, I have all my MP3's encoded at 192kbps. Anything lower and I start to hear clicks, ticks, and other noise.

You don't need to re-rip all your songs encoded at 320kbps. If you can run WinAMP, you can have it re-encode your entire music collection via batch conversion with just a few clicks. It's a *lot* faster then re-ripping every song.

 

I would not recommend re-ripping from a lossy format to another lossy format. Even if it is 320 kbps MP3s to a lower bit rate.

 

eAAC+ is way, way better. Try encoding it at 128kbps and you can't hear the difference on a phone.

Encoding from 320kbps mp3 doesn't really suffer that much quality loss. Not seeing the hardware he'll be playing on.

 

Okay! Let's get down to buisness.

No can do.

Two problems:

1 - I use Linux. Converting via Winamp would require carting the MP3s to convert on my bro's comp, and seeing how sporadically we see each other, I'd rather not rely on that. (Besides, he doesen't have Winamp Pro)

2 - This solution also requires Winamp Pro. Winamp Pro is NOT free, and since I'm a selfish, greedy bastard, I'm NOT paying for WAPro. Besides, I can't run it anyway.

So, with that out of hand. 128 KBPS eAAC+ seems to be the way to go, so that's how it's gonna be.

But I'm still stuck with my original problem - I need an encoder.

*EDIT* Now that I think about it, I have VMware for Linux laying around so I could set up a virtual Winblows machine, so if any of you know of good encoders that work in Winblows, I suppose it could do.

[ October 08, 2007, 06:43: Message edited by: Disciple of The Watch ]

 

Quick update...

I dug out my old Win2k and created a virtual machine for the sake of ripping tracks in aac+ format via Winamp.

I've ripped tracks in 96 KBPS 44100 aacPlus v2 and the end result is pretty damn surprising, I must say - I certainly didn't expected it to sound THAT good, and not to mention it takes WAY less space, which, considering my phone has 512 MB (shared with movies, pics, themes, etc), I can use every little bit of free space.

Oh yeah... thanks to the DRM applications the goons at Bell Stupidity set up in my phone, I can't use MP3s nor MIDIs as custom ringtones. I found a workaround for that - themes. Creating a theme and packing a custom MP3/MIDI as ringtone seem to work in S40 Theme Studio... I'll see how it goes on the phone itself...

 

See DotW, Windows isn't totally useless. But I am surprised that you ended up using a Windows app...I would have thought that the Linux crowd would have made such a decoder, seeing as how they make up about 1%-2% of the market.

Oh, and what was that about needing WinAMP Pro? I have version 5.08c, and I can convert stuff just fine.

[ October 11, 2007, 11:38: Message edited by: Kitrax ]

 

Truth be told, I prefer OggVorbis to MP3 and AAC because of the native support of Ogg, but neither of my two players support Vorbis, so I have to make due with what is supported.

And as for Winamp Pro, I originally thought only Pro supported CD ripping, but turns out the free version does that, but only at 2x speed (at least when ripping AAC). Still, it's better than nothing.

 

Ah...I didn't know you were still willing to waste your time with re-ripping the tracks instead of just re-encoding them.

Seriously though... a few months ago, I had a problem where I lost my entire Mp3 collection, and the backup DVDs of all my songs were encoded as FLAC files to preserve the quality. To convert all my songs back to Mp3 at 192kbps, I simply configured WinAMP really quickly, then I dumped all the FLAC files in to a folder, hit ctrl + A, and pressed enter. WinAMP converted each file, one by one all on its own.

 

Well, so far I can't afford to convert my full collection in AAC+ - not until I can find suitable 2.5mm headphones or a 3.5 to 2.5 adaptor. If the volume is as soft as it is even with a regular headset - read way too soft to be used in a noisy environement - then there's no point in retiring my Creative just yet.

I have Bluetooth, so wireless headphones could be an option too, if not too expensive.

 

Update...

I went to The Source to get the 3.5 to 2.5 jack, and I found just that, but thanks to misaligned contacts, I had sound on only one side. I could get sound on both sides by slightly unplugging the jack, but it kept disconnecting, which was a major annoyance. I returned the jack and exchanged it for a USB SD card reader - a much better solution than using my digital cam to transfer stuff on my microSD like I used to.

Looking on eBay, I found the adaptor I needed to use 3.5mm headphones. Kept note of that.

Then I went to a place I know which has a load of phone accessories - you need it, they got it (for a price, of course). They do have what I'm looking for, but bring a Nok genuine accessory, it's pricier than the eBay alternative... BUT the Nok original one also comes with headphones.

I've also checked out Bluetooth alternatives, seeing as my phone is Bluetooth-capable - but Bluetooth headphones are a dead end for my phone - it does not support A2DP.

The timing couldn't be more interesting or ironic - my MuVo battery is starting to show it's age and verging replacement. So instead of a new MuVo battery, I'll get the headphones and have one less device to cart around.

But back on topic... I've re-ripped about 90 songs to put on my phone in AAC+v2. I've pitted a 80KBPS AAC+ vs a 320 KBPS MP3, and I don't see much difference upon playback. The difference - a gargantuan one - is about the size of the encoded tracks.

So, to sum it up - MP3, move out of the way, your time is done.

 

Well, it is done, my Creative has officially been retired.

I've got the headphones along with the adapter - $30 seems a bit overkill but I can use any damn headphones I want to. The adapter has a built-in microphone and an answer/end call button. Interestingly, the button also changes tracks, so I no longer have to manually change tracks.

I've also ran some trials with 64KBPS AAC, and they don't sound as good as I had hoped, so I'll stick with 80 or 96 KBPS AAC+ v2.

The other factor that played a crucial role in my decision was the fact that my phone has expandable memory, while my Creative has unexpandable Flash memory. For the moment, my phone has a 512 MB microSD, so it's not much of an upgrade, but I plan on buying either a 1 or 2 GB card somewhere down the road.

The other big advantage was the fact I have two batteries for this phone.

Creative, you've been a trusty player all along, (except the freegames I fixed with the firmware update), but your time is done, so move out of the way.

 

You must not use your Mp3 player very often. My 5GB Creative Zen Micro is about to be retired solely because it doesn't have enough space on it. I'm constantly switching out old music for new stuff...and it would be nice to just keep my entire music collection on my player.

 

On the contrary, I use my player every day. As for my old 512 MB, well, to cram more tracks on it, I used the SmartFit option that converted those space-eating MP3s into 96KBPS WMA, which sounded just fine on playback. I managed to cram roughly 160 songs on the 512 MB one. As for my phone, I currently have 102 tracks on it, totalizing about 240 MB of 96KBPS AAC+ v2. I can't cram 500 MB of songs while I'd like to - the space on my microSD is shared between my tracks, photos, videos, themes and crap like that.

Of course, 102 tracks is nowhere near what I'd like to have on my phone... but until I get a more spacious microSD, it'll have to do.