Help newbie with sound formats. -ACID Product Family

Subject:Help newbie with sound formats. Posted by: sfniko Date:12/19/2003 7:53:04 AM Really a beginner. Sound forge manual (page 58) lists various sound formats...WAV...AIFF...WMA...RM...MP3. Can someone tell me the difference in usage, what is prefered for recording music, the internet or whatever. Or where I can get the comparison information.
Subject:RE: Help newbie with sound formats. Reply by: vanblah Date:12/19/2003 9:14:25 AM For recording you'll probably want to stick with .wav ... which is usually an uncompressed sound file. Don't get compression of files confused with compression of sound. Everything else is compressed in some fashion or another. As for the internet, it could be any format that you are happy with ... .mp3 is quite popular.
Subject:RE: Help newbie with sound formats. Reply by: DKeenum Date:12/19/2003 9:51:59 AM I'm hearing some talk about people using .ogg on the internet. Have any of you been using it?
Subject:RE: Help newbie with sound formats. Reply by: Iacobus Date:12/20/2003 1:37:25 PM WAV is preferable. Like any other format, it has its pros and cons, as vanblah mentioned. You can also try Sony's own Perfect Clarity Audio (PCA) format, which is compressed-but-lossless. However, it only works with Sony's own apps, which would inhibit sharing and/or use in non-Sony apps like SONAR or Logic. WMA and RM are compressed, lossy formats that you'd typcially use for streaming audio over the Internet. You'd use MP3 for high-quality audio that can be downloaded and shared over the Internet. AIFF is, if I remember correctly, is the format most Mac systems use. It would be the format of choice for most compatibility with that system. HTH, Iacobus ------- RodelWorks - Original Music for the Unafraid mD's ACIDplanet Page
Subject:RE: Help newbie with sound formats. Reply by: metrazol Date:12/22/2003 9:04:23 AM Ogg Vorbis is...interesting. Early versions of the encoders and decoders were, well, slow. As in "Don't burn a cd with these, it'll underrrun, but not tell you, hang your machine, and then die, leaving you a coaster." Now Ogg is very nice as a free (as in speech and/or beer) alternative to .mp3. Problem is, most mp3 players don't support it, most software players don't support it, and most people have no idea what it is. Support is growing, but it is not nearly as well placed as .mp3. If you deliver something in .ogg, be prepared to answer silly questions and provide software and codecs.

Subject:Help newbie with sound formats.

Posted by: sfniko

Date:12/19/2003 7:53:04 AM

Really a beginner.
Sound forge manual (page 58) lists various sound formats...WAV...AIFF...WMA...RM...MP3. Can someone tell me the difference in usage, what is prefered for recording music, the internet or whatever.
Or where I can get the comparison information.

Subject:RE: Help newbie with sound formats.

Reply by: vanblah

Date:12/19/2003 9:14:25 AM

For recording you'll probably want to stick with .wav ... which is usually an uncompressed sound file. Don't get compression of files confused with compression of sound.

Everything else is compressed in some fashion or another.

As for the internet, it could be any format that you are happy with ... .mp3 is quite popular.

Subject:RE: Help newbie with sound formats.

Reply by: DKeenum

Date:12/19/2003 9:51:59 AM

I'm hearing some talk about people using .ogg on the internet. Have any of you been using it?

Subject:RE: Help newbie with sound formats.

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:12/20/2003 1:37:25 PM

WAV is preferable. Like any other format, it has its pros and cons, as vanblah mentioned.

You can also try Sony's own Perfect Clarity Audio (PCA) format, which is compressed-but-lossless. However, it only works with Sony's own apps, which would inhibit sharing and/or use in non-Sony apps like SONAR or Logic.

WMA and RM are compressed, lossy formats that you'd typcially use for streaming audio over the Internet. You'd use MP3 for high-quality audio that can be downloaded and shared over the Internet.

AIFF is, if I remember correctly, is the format most Mac systems use. It would be the format of choice for most compatibility with that system.

HTH,
Iacobus
-------
RodelWorks - Original Music for the Unafraid
mD's ACIDplanet Page

Subject:RE: Help newbie with sound formats.

Reply by: metrazol

Date:12/22/2003 9:04:23 AM

Ogg Vorbis is...interesting. Early versions of the encoders and decoders were, well, slow. As in "Don't burn a cd with these, it'll underrrun, but not tell you, hang your machine, and then die, leaving you a coaster."

Now Ogg is very nice as a free (as in speech and/or beer) alternative to .mp3. Problem is, most mp3 players don't support it, most software players don't support it, and most people have no idea what it is. Support is growing, but it is not nearly as well placed as .mp3. If you deliver something in .ogg, be prepared to answer silly questions and provide software and codecs.