Re: WBRS Brandeis Radio?

[Aaron Read <aread@speakeasy.net>]

At 10:38 PM 9/28/2003, rogerkirk wrote:
>Variable Bit Rate uses whatever bit rate is needed to accurately encode 
>information.  Complex sounds use high bit rates (up to 320Kbps) when 
>needed and lower bit rates whehn possible.  The resulting file 
>theoretically sounds as good as 320Kbps encoding while only taking up as 
>much room as a 176Kbps encoded) file.  Compared to 256Kbps, that can 
>amount to a few extra Gb of disk space.

Ah...that makes sense I suppose.  I dunno, though...I've seen VBR MP3's 
screw up on some  automation systems so I'm inclined to avoid them.  IIRC 
they also are more processor & memory intensive...which is fine in theory 
but if you get a memory leak things will go to hell that much faster.


>May I inquire what defect you hear in Joint Stereo?  I have no axe to 
>grind, but you are the first person I've heard express that.

Maybe it's just me, but the stereo imaging always sounded so flat on a 
joint stereo MP3 vs. a true stereo MP3.   Like it was a mono file that 
someone had just panned a little left and a little right to fool you into 
thinking it was stereo.

Since you made me curious, I did a little googling on what joint stereo 
really is and found this:
http://www.modatic.net/audio/stereo_vs_jointstereo.php

It would explain why j-stereo is common on VBR and why I think true stereo 
sounds better since I encode all my MP3's at 256kbps minimum.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aaron "Bishop" Read             aread@speakeasy.net
FriedBagels Consulting          AOL-IM: readaaron
http://www.friedbagels.com      Boston, MA