Let's Talk Computer Audio

Converting From Lossless Format to MP3

David, September 11, 2007

Because I rip all of my music in lossless format (Windows Media 10), I am currently having to re-rip albums in mp3 in order to build a library on my wife's mp3 player.

Is there a way to do this straight from a lossless song?

Re: Converting From Lossless Format to MP3

Jeff (Editor), September 12, 2007

I salute you for not settling for anything but the best sound quality. You can convert your library to relatively painlessly using MediaMonkey.

MediaMonkey is the Swiss Army Knife of computer audio (for Windows) and it's free. You can download it from the Knowzy Software Library.

After you get it installed, here are the steps to convert your WMA lossless collection:

1. Run MediaMonkey. In the left pane of the program, browse to your WMA collection. You'll find it either under My Computer or My Documents.
2. Expand the folder containing your music collection. The top subfolder will be called "All." Select it. You will now see your entire collection in the right pane of MediaMonkey.
3. Select all of your songs by going to the Edit menu and clicking "Select All."
4. Go to the Tools menu and select "Convert Audio Format." In Convert Tracks dialog box, you need to change two settings, Destination and Format.
5. The "Destination" field serves two purposes: It tells MediaMonkey where to put converted files and how to name them. Designate a folder to save the files, such as C:\WifeTunes. Then describe how to name the files using placeholders such as <Artist>, <Title>, etc. Depending on your preferences, you will end up with something like C:\WifeTunes\<Artist>\<Year> <Album>\<Track#> - <Title>. As you build the template, you will see a preview of your new file names below.
6. Select MP3 as your format, then click Settings to choose the sound quality. You can calculate disk space and listen to sound clips at various levels of quality in our article "Comparing MP3 Bitrates."
7. Once you are satisfied with the destination and the format, click "Ok" and the conversion begins. You can watch the process at the bottom of the MediaMonkey window.

One note about MP3 encoding in MediaMonkey: Because of a licensing restriction, you are only allowed to encode to MP3 for 30 days. With some extra effort, you can continue encoding to MP3 forever. Just download the free LAME encoder and extract the file named lame_enc.dll to your \Program Files\MediaMonkey folder.

That's your quick tutorial on converting audio file formats with MediaMonkey. Let me know if you get stuck on any of the steps.

Re: Converting From Lossless Format to MP3

David, September 13, 2007

Wow! Thanks for that info.

It is so hard getting info from anyone who understands computers and quality audio. Trying to talk to computer techs about lossless or other audiophile issues brings a "deer in the headlights" look. I am into high end audio but am trying to educate myself about incorporating my pc.

One other question: When I rip music to windows in either mp3 or lossless, the rip is a lower volume than the original. I have done direct comparisons with the rip vs. cd at the time of rip and after and it is consistent.

The pc and cd player are the same but the rip is lower. I even tried putting it back on disc from the rip and if memory serves, it was back to original volume. I did read your article on audiograbber audio leveling but this seems like a ripping problem not a playback one.

Any ideas?

Re: Converting From Lossless Format to MP3

Jeff (Editor), September 14, 2007

You are welcome. I'm glad to be of service.

I can all but guarantee the difference in volume you're noticing is a playback issue, not a ripping issue. Playback from a CD-ROM typically goes through an analog output back into the sound card. Audio files are played directly through the sound card.

The "Windows Mixer" application allows you to individually adjust the volume levels of the analog and digital sources on your sound card. You can run the mixer by going to Control Panel, then Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices, then Sounds and Audio Devices, then the Advanced button under Device Volume.

Your CD-ROM playback volume is usually called CD Player, but is sometimes called Line In. The volume for audio files is called Wave. Even if both of these are set evenly, it still doesn't guarantee the volumes will play equally.

The real test would be to burn a lossless file to an audio CD and compare it on an independent CD player (like in your car or home stereo). Play the original and then play the copy. The volume should be identical.

Lossless means just that- an exact, bit-by-bit copy of the original. If the volume were adjusted, it wouldn't truly be a lossless copy.

In WMA Lossless mode, Windows Media Player is incapable of ripping anything but an exact copy of the CD. Other programs with more capabilities have potential to make changes to the original audio on the CD.

Re: Converting From Lossless Format to MP3

David, September 14, 2007

OK, I'll try those volume settings.

I had previously burned a lossless cd and compared it on my home cd player and you're right, it was the same as the original.

Thanks!

Please Help: "No Sound Device or No Mixer Device Installed"

Rosa Vallejo, October 11, 2007

I recently rebooted my computer and now I can't play cd's or any kind of sound from my computer. I keep getting a message "No sound device or no mixer device installed." It played up until the reboot.

Re: Please Help: "No Sound Device or No Mixer Device Installed"

Jeff (Editor), October 12, 2007

Be prepared- this may be a tricky one! I have two things you can try. Neither are much fun.

My guess is that you've had this computer a while. Maybe two years or more? Windows XP is probably bloated and confused after plugging in devices and installing programs over the years.

The first thing to try is reinstalling your sound drivers. If that sounds difficult, it is nothing compared to the second option I'm going to give you: Reinstall Windows.

Here's the step-by-step for reinstalling your sound driver:

1. Right-click on a "My Computer" icon
2. Select "Manage" from the menu
3. In the Computer Management window, click "Device Manager"
4. In the right pane of the window, open the leaf that reads "Sound, video and game controllers"
5. Now you need to find your sound card in the list. You should see around six items in the list. I'm not sure which item it is, since it's unique to your computer. What I can tell you is which of the items is not your sound card:
   • Audio Codecs
   • Legacy Audio Drivers
   • Legacy Video Capture Drivers
   • Media Control Devices
   • Video Codes

   That should narrow down your choices. One of the remaining items is your sound card.

6. Select your sound card and press the Delete key. Don't worry, we're going to get it back!
7. In the "Action" menu, select "Scan for hardware changes." If we're lucky, little information bubbles saying "Found New Hardware" will start popping up in the bottom right of your screen.

Hopefully Windows found your sound card again and music is filling the air. If not, you will need to take the much more drastic step of reinstalling Windows.

This is not a trivial task. You will need the original discs that came with your PC. You should back up any important data and have a couple of hours to spare. I also recommend enlisting someone who has installed Windows before.

Hardware problems are tricky things. Having a techie tinker with your computer is often the best way to go in these situations.

Good luck!

Disappearing Music Files

David, November 10, 2007

Sometime in the last two weeks I have had a number of songs go missing from my computer. I use XP Media Player 10. Most of my music is lossless but some are mp3 or wma. It appears that the missing items (at least the ones I know of) are of the latter two varieties. I have found about 20 missing but out of thousands of songs it will take a long time to find how much is actually lost.

No recent power outages or anything unusual. I did run my 40g drive down to about 5-6g remaining a couple of months ago but cleaning out duplicate files got me up to around 13g free space.

This drive is a dedicated music library with only a couple of movies occasionally on it. I have used some of these files in the last weeks so I know it happened recently. Is there any way to find the missing files and/or keep this from happening again? I purchased a 320g USB external drive but it is acting goofy so am hesitant to trust it for a backup.

Re: Disappearing Music Files

Jeff (Editor), November 12, 2007

This is one of those mysteries that may ultimately go unsolved. I can give you some pointers on locating the music, assuming it's not lost forever. I can also assure you that you are not doomed to a life of randomly disappearing music files- they went away for a reason.

There was one thing in your letter that raised a red flag: You mentioned cleaning out duplicate files. Is it possible some of you music files could have been caught up in the sweep? Did you use a program to find duplicate files or use your own judgment (both have the potential for error)?

When you say missing songs, it could mean one of two things: Missing from your Windows Media Player library or physically missing from the hard drive. If they are missing from the library, you can simply add them back (once you find them). If they are missing from the hard drive, they may be gone for good.

Here's how to search your entire hard drive for your missing music files. From the Start Menu, select "Search." When the Search window appears, click "All Files and Folders." Finally, type in the name of a song you are missing in the top text box that reads, "All or part of the file name" and click "Search."

If your files show up in the search, they probably just went missing from your Windows Media Player library. Right-click the music file and select "Open Containing Folder" to see where these files are located on your hard drive. You can drag the music files right into your library.

If your search didn't turn up any missing files, your last resort is the Recycle Bin. You may find some, if not all of your missing files in there. If you do find them, the "Date Deleted" may clue you in to how these files were deleted. (What was I doing that day?)

Good luck to you. And get that backup system in place as soon as you can. The more you play around with your music collection, the more chances you have to mess something up!

Best Format for Music Player: MP3 or WMA?

David, February 14, 2008

I just purchased a new Sony mp3 player and I want to know which is the best format to rip my cd's into.

I am torn between WMA VBR or MP3 VBR. Which do you think I should try?

I have ripped a few albums using WMA VBR between 135kps>215 they sound good but I just want to make sure I get the best I can for the space I have to use; my player is an 8GB.

Is Mp3 better than WMA?

Re: Best Format for Music Player: MP3 or WMA?

Jeff (Editor), February 18, 2008

This is an excellent question. The short answer is WMA has better audio quality than MP3 at the same bitrate. You can use a lower bitrate with WMA, allowing you to pack more songs into the precious 8GB of space you have available.

However, this is a narrow way to look at the digital music collection you are about to build. Here are some other things to consider:

• Is your MP3 player the only place you will listen to your ripped music?

  Ripping your CD collection is a tedious process. Most people only want to go through it once. You are talking about ripping to sub-CD audio quality to save space. You may need to repeat this process all over again when space is no longer a consideration. You might be better off ripping to a high-quality or lossless format and then converting what you need for your MP3 player at lower sound quality.

• MP3 is the most compatible audio format in existence

  WMA works fine for your particular MP3 player and your computer. But it's not a universally compatible format like MP3. iPod's, for example, cannot play WMA.

• Saving only 10 to 15% space, using 10 to 15% more battery life

  WMA is a newer format than MP3 and uses less space to encode at the same quality. While it's a subjective figure, the space savings is in 10 to 15% range. However, WMA also requires more brain power to decode, meaning it is going to work your MP3 player harder. I read in an article once that you can expect a decrease in battery life of about 12% compared with MP3 files.

• Does it matter? Run the numbers

  If you're a big music fan, 8GB is not going to come close to holding your entire music collection. You will have to be selective about what music you put on your player. If you have fewer than a hundred CDs, you may be able to fit everything on your player using CD quality MP3s. You can estimate how much space your collection will take in our article "Comparing MP3 Bitrates." Variable bitrates tend to average out near the high number in the range, so choose a rate close but not exceeding this number.

There you have it. If you take the short term view and need to pack as much as you can into that 8GB, go WMA. If you want a music collection to last beyond this MP3 player, rip to high quality and convert down for your MP3 player.

Tagging a WAV File?

Mike Whitaker, July 31, 2008

I convert old vinyl to WAV files (for CD burning and later conversion to MP3). I find that whilst I can add advanced editor tags to files saved as MP3 in Windows Media Player, I can't add them to WAV files. Why - or can it be done?

If you know how, Help. Thanks.

Re: Tagging a WAV File?

Jeff (Editor), August 4, 2008

Unfortunately, the WAV file format is about as raw as they come. It does not support tagging of any kind. Your best bet is to use a more modern lossless format.

You didn't mention what program you're using to record the audio from your turntable but I'll venture a guess: Audacity.

FLAC (my personal favorite) is the only lossless format that Audacity can export to. However, you need to download the beta version to export to FLAC. (More on the current state of FLAC support in Audacity.)

Windows Media Player does not support FLAC natively. If you want advanced tag editing, MediaMonkey does the trick nicely for free.

MediaMonkey supports FLAC out-of-the-box. You can edit tags directly in the media library. You can multiselect tracks, right-click and select "Properties" to edit tags en masse. And the hi-res album art from Amazon is the icing on the cake!

Once you tag your FLAC files in MediaMonkey, you can convert them to MP3 with all the tags intact.

For my proposed solution, I'm making three assumptions: You're using Audacity to rip vinyl, you want to start saving in FLAC and you're willing to give up Windows Media Player for MediaMonkey. If that's the case, the following tutorial is for you.

With Audacity 1.3.3 in hand, here's how to export your vinyl rips to FLAC with basic tagging:

1. Do your normal recording from your record player.
2. When it comes time to save your track, select "Export" from the File menu.
3. In Export dialog, select "FLAC Files" from the "Save as type" drop down list.
4. Click the "Options" button. Select "8 (best)" from the Level drop down and make sure the default "16-bit" is selected.
5. Now for the tagging! Fill out the artist, the album, the genre, everything except the track title and the track number.
6. Click the "Set default" button. This remembers all the tags you just enter so you don't have to retype them on track 2.
7. Now enter the track title and track number.
8. Click OK and your done!

Audacity will not download album art. This is where MediaMonkey comes in handy. For the album cover artwork, highlight all the songs in album and select "Auto-Tag From Web."

Hope that helps!