MP3 Pro?

[Force Flow]

With the Musicmatch 8 release, I have come across this little blurb in the credits about "MP3 Pro" and again on the boards. What is it and what makes it different that standard MP3's?

[Boone]

From the Nero website:

About mp3PRO and compatibility:

Using advanced psychoacoustics techniques and music structure analysis, mp3PRO creates files that are more compact than original MP3 files, with equal or better sound quality and complete backwards and forwards compatibility. Your old MP3 files will play completely normally on a new mp3PRO player. New mp3PRO files will play normally on old MP3 players, but without the dramatic mp3PRO improvements. Of course, new mp3PRO files played on a new mp3PRO decoder will provide the optimal listening experience!

How the mp3PRO technology works:

When making an mp3PRO file, the new mp3PRO encoder splits audio recordings into two parts. One part analyzes the low frequency band information and encodes it into a normal mp3 stream. This allows the encoder to concentrate on less information and allows it to do a better job of encoding. This also maintains complete compatibility on old MP3 players. The second part analyzes the high frequency band information and encodes it into a part of the mp3 stream that is normally ignored by old MP3 decoders. New or upgraded mp3PRO decoders will tap into this part of the stream and put the two bands back together, resulting in the full audio bandwidth.

More Music on your media:

Offering 128 kbps (kilo bits per second) performance at a 64 kbps-encoding rate, mp3PRO doubles the digital music capacity of flash memory and of compact discs. For example, traditional audio CDs hold about 15 songs, and an mp3 CD can hold 150 or more songs encoded at 128 kbps. In the near future, when mp3 CD players incorporate the mp3PRO decoder, consumers will be able to store over 300 songs on an mp3PRO encoded Compact Disc.

Sound Quality:

The bottom line is mp3PRO provides superior sound quality at lower bit rates that traditional MP3. You simply have to experience the difference for yourself. Download the new demoversion of Nero which includes a 30 times demoversion for the mp3PRO encoder.

Why mp3PRO Technology?

Listening to music compressed with MP3 at 128 kbps sounds great. But if you go to lower bit rates the great sound starts lacking the high frequency components. At bit rates of 64 kbps and below the music may begin to sound dull. The reason is that MP3 at these bit rates runs out of bits to compress the music in full audio bandwidth and with significant detail. In this situation the developers of MP3 had to decide whether their codec should produce MP3 music with distortion (so called "coding artefacts") or with limited bandwidth. They opted for limited bandwidth. And as a result, you experience lower bit rate MP3 as band-limited music with just a few distortions.

[Force Flow]

Nice. Thanks, Boone! :)

[Mac Medic]

MP3 Pro is awful. I personally refer to it as fake MP3. As for the quality being superior to MP3, rip the same song in each format and compare for yourself, you'll see pretty quick that mp3 pro is only for people with very limited HDD space and a cheap stereo that doesn't reproduce sound well anyway.

[Doobie]

Originally posted by oem_guy_2002
MP3 Pro is awful. I personally refer to it as fake MP3. As for the quality being superior to MP3, rip the same song in each format and compare for yourself, you'll see pretty quick that mp3 pro is only for people with very limited HDD space and a cheap stereo that doesn't reproduce sound well anyway.

What program did you use to encode? I would like to give a try.