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Digital Audio: What To Look for in Software
If there's anything that can be called a "must have" for MP3 audio lovers, it's software.
Without it, you can't listen to the tunes you download or record songs from your CD collection to your computer. Today, there are two groups of audio software:
- Audio players, which enable your computer to read audio files and translate them into music; manage playlists; and customize those playlists' look and feel using different skins.
- Jukeboxes, which combine an audio player's functions with the capability to encode, or record, audio files in several formats, including MPEG-3 (MP3), Windows Media Audio (WMA) and WAV.
If you want to listen only to music you download from the Internet, the most popular players are:
Their software, which can be downloaded for free from each company's Web site, reads audio files stored on your computer or files being "streamed" - that is, delivered - over the Internet. Then, the software lets you play those files on your computer's speaker system. Most of these players, which support the various audio formats, often include a playlist-management system that organizes audio files; equalizers that shape the sound of the music; and repeat, shuffle, fade-in/fade-out and skip-track features.
Want to stretch your sound barrier and record CDs on your computer hard drive or make CDs with a CD "burner," or copier? Then, you'll need a jukebox with encoding capability. Among the most popular software in that space:
They let you store your music in one location, create custom playlists, and use the WAV format to burn CDs.
Most encoders can transform audio files from one format to another, including MP3 to WAV. That's essential if you want to make CDs from downloaded MP3 files, or you're trying to save hard drive space on your computer.
A general rule of thumb: You'll want to record songs from your CD collection to your computer as WAV files only if you plan to use them to burn a CD. WAV files are space hogs: They use about 10 megabytes of space per minute of audio playback, which can fast fill up your hard drive.
After burning a CD, remove the WAV files you used from your computer, or convert them to MP3 files. MP3 is an excellent format for storing music on your computer, because it takes up only one-tenth the space of a WAV file. An MP3's actual storage requirements will depend on the quality of the encoding, which is measured by the number of bytes used per second of audio playback, or bit rate. An MP3 file with a bit rate of 128 kilobits per second (kbps) is considered a commercial CD-quality recording. Rest assured, however, that most listeners won't be able to tell the difference between a 128-kbps MP3 and a higher-quality recording.
RealJukebox will let you encode up to a bit rate of 96 kbps of audio playback - slightly below CD-quality audio. To record at a 128-kbps bit rate or higher, you have two choices:
- Shell out $20 or $30 to upgrade to RealJukebox Pro or AudioCatalyst's non-trial version
- Download free versions of Music Jukebox and Media Jukebox.
For more on audio players, jukeboxes and MP3 file-sharing programs, check the Streaming Audio/Video section of Cable-Modem.net, or go to MP3.com's Web site.
