Re: [ARSCLIST] Lossy compression losing quality (was Re: [ARSCLIST] Pristine Audio and the Milllennials . . .)

["Richard L. Hess" <arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 04:09 PM 2007-12-10, Howard wrote:

> As I remember, Windows Media Player has certain options regarding 
> ripped formats, and I think it includes WAV.  So if I rip audio CD 
> tracks to WAv files, there's no loss of quality?  What about WAV to MP3?

Hello, Howard,

If you rip CD tracks to WAV files (which is indeed supported by 
Windows Media Player) it is lossless.

If you rip WAV files to MP3 files it is lossy, the same as if you rip 
CD tracks to MP3.

As others who know what they're talking about have said, MP3 is a 
perceptually coded format. It is lossy. It is a delivery format. It 
is not an archiving format. Things shouldn't be bumped UP from MP3 to 
anything else. Go back to the original.

With that said, MP3s are much nicer than cassette tapes -- especially 
256 kb/s MP3s (the default of Windows Media Player is 128 kb/s).

Cheers,

Richard


Richard L. Hess                   email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aurora, Ontario, Canada       (905) 713 6733     1-877-TAPE-FIX
Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.