Napster Sound Quality Question

[LawyerRon]

Why do some sound files downloaded off Napster sound better than others?

[Omletteboy]

It's the compression rate of the mp3 when they rip the song. As well the quality of the software. Usually 256kps sounds better than 128kps, but you can't really tell the difference unless you have some super ears. Between 128 and 96 you can tell as 96 is not as loud.

[Gintaras]

Actually there are 2 types of encoding: Constant Bitrate and Variable Bitrate. Also, quality depends of how complex music is- more audio information song contains- needed higher bitrate encoding.
Look for at least 128kbps bitrate, the higher-the better.
If you downloading classical music- look for at least 160.

I just started about 2 weeks ago playing with Napster[and got addicted because I found some music that I can't find on LPs or some new that available only on expensive import CDs], I don't know much about mp3's yet. I noticed some songs are Variable Bitrate- look in bitrate window on Winamp while song is played and you'll see bitrate changing all the time.

Ron,
One suggestion[if you don't know yet], listen to the song first before burning to CDs because there- on Napster are lots of crap- skipping songs, cut-off end of song, etc.

[LawyerRon]

Gintaras,
Thanks for the info, I didn't know about the bitrate thing. Also, listening to the d/l first is a good idea too, I finally caught on to that.

[PeteS99]

I listen as its dloading sometimes.. if i hear one pop or hiss... i kill it and find another. Its really annoying how these people keep bad quality tunes... drives me nuts!

Some ripping SW, like MusicMatch, allow you to use variable or constant bitrate.. one is much more popular than the other, i forget which.. but the other isn't supported by many MP3 players.

[Erics]

LR,
Variable bitrate encodes music depending on how complex a
musical passage is.More complex passages encode at higher bitrates while quiet or less complex music encodes at lower bitrates.The result is a somewhat smaller file that packs sound quality where it's needed most.

[LawyerRon]

Erics,
Thanks for the info.

[Jenni]

I just started messing with Napster myself. So far about half the stuff I have downloaded is junk (like acoustic versions that didn't say so, or skips), which really bites, because it takes me about 45 minutes to d/l one song over my sorry phone lines. And I have already had about 10 "transfer error" problems. All in all, a great concept that is still a little rough around the edges.

[LawyerRon]

Jenni,
I know where you're coming from, I get the "transfer error" about 50% of the time. As mentioned above, listen to the song while it's downloading to get a rough idea of the quality. If you have not already tried this, when the d/l gets to 10-15%, right click on the song title and choose "play song". You'll get a few seconds of the song to judge.

[Jenni]

Thanks for the tip, I'll have to try that. And on top of all that, I let my brother borrow my ISA modem, so now I'm using a winmodem that sometimes kicks me off when I get a call. So from now until I get my other modem back, I guess I'll be d/ling at about 2 in the morning so no one calls and interrupts it!

[Gintaras]

Jenni,
Disable call waiting in your modem properties[somewhere should be a box to check/uncheck for call waiting], won't disconnect you if someone calls.

[Jenni]

That's the problem, I don't have call waiting!

[alan]

When I first downloaded Napster songs I thought the quality really sucked. At that time I believed people put up with it because it was free. However I discovered that I had to adjust down my Windows Volume Control on a number of songs so that the "crackle" of my sound card was not amplified by my powered speaker system. Once I found the average internal volume level that worked best, the quality was top notch. I now control the volume through the powered speakers rather than Windows Volume Control.