Mp3 To Atrac

[flatliner67]

Last year I purchased the Net MD MZ-N505. I have about 80GB of mp3 files encoded @192. I went throught the process this summer of converting these mp3s to atrac LP 2 mode. I play these atrac files on both this portable and a very cool minidisk desk called the MDS-JE480. Gee, I love this whole mini disc stuff!

Back to the conversion process via Sonic Stage. I've heard a lot of talk here about how degraded the music can get going from MP3 to atrac. Well, I know that some degradation has to happen, but I really must say that it's not all bad at all. With a well encoded mp3 @ 192, I really can't say I hear too much difference when it's converted to LP 2. Does anyone out there agree with me? Maybe I need to see an ear doctor.

Last question...I want to purchase a HI-MD player. Can I store my existing LP 2 files in this new type of disc? That would be great. Thanks for your help.

[danielbb90]

Lossy to lossy conversion isn't actually as bad as some people make it out to be, but it isn't recommended at all.

Yes, Hi-MD players can play/use lp2 files.

You can also play the old disks on a Hi-MD player.

Edited November 24, 2006 by danielbb90

[milomind]

You should be able to convert files to atrac3 or 3+ without much signal degradation. Of course it's better to have the original source, but you could remaster them sort of. decode the mp3 to wav, and re-encode to atrac might have a better overall sound. I know that some of the tracks that I did this to at least felt like they were more refined. At 192kbs you should be good.

[Sparda]

You should be able to convert files to atrac3 or 3+ without much signal degradation. Of course it's better to have the original source, but you could remaster them sort of. decode the mp3 to wav, and re-encode to atrac might have a better overall sound. I know that some of the tracks that I did this to at least felt like they were more refined. At 192kbs you should be good.

not that i would know, but wouldn't that be adding another conversion, resulting in more audio degradation? and yes i realize you are going from mp3 to an uncompressed format, but still you know.

[Avrin]

I would advice using Adobe Audition to prepare your MP3 files first. Use the "Open Append" function, which is unique to Adobe Audition. It opens MP3s in 32-bit format on a single timeline, which is very useful for full albums. You will then be able to remove gaps between tracks, if any. 32-bit format allows to do this without adding much distortion. Then convert the timeline to 16-bit (by pressing F11 - keep all default options, as they are really good), and export the files to WAV format (via Alt+8). After that import the WAVs into SonicStage, and try using CDDB on them. With a great probability, it will find the names of ALL tracks. Or you will have to correct the data for just a few of them. Then convert the files to ATRAC3@132kbps (since you only have a NetMD unit now), delete the WAVs from SonicStage, and transfer the music to your unit.

I would advice buying a HiMD unit, and using ATRAC3plus@192kbps for transferring MP3s. And yes, a HiMD will accept existing LP2 files. They will even occupy less space in HiMD mode, since bit padding is not used. And old MD blanks can be reformatted to HiMD giving the ability to store about 3 hours of ATRAC3plus@192kbps or almost 5 hours of LP2 (the discs will no longer be compatible with non-HiMD units, although it is possible to reformat them back to "classic" MD (you will have to transfer tracks back to your computer before that)).

One more thing. Only MZ-RH1 is currently able to transfer tracks FROM legacy MDs.

Edited November 25, 2006 by Avrin

[MDGB2]

If your listening on 'phones, then it isn't as bad as people make out. On par with an mp3 portable certainly.

However, if we ever got proper decks/stereo Hi-MD units to play our music I'd only recommend Hi-SP/PCM for serious listening.

[syko]

Most people don't hear the conversion from 192k mp3 => 132k atrac, which is perfectly normal. However, I am sorry to say, but a quality degradation does exist, with frequencies above 8k affected and to a certain extent the quality of spatial sound in stereo. If you want virtually no loss, you will have to convert them to SP, but just about everyone will be happy with LP2.

Heck, I can't stand the slight audio degradation, but I'm sticking to LP2 simply because of the extra storage on one disc.

[raintheory]

SP via SonicStage is only LP2 quality anyway... Just dressed up to look like SP so it will play on older units. In other words SP via SonicStage is 132kbps, not 292kbps.

[pata2001]

SP via SonicStage is only LP2 quality anyway... Just dressed up to look like SP so it will play on older units. In other words SP via SonicStage is 132kbps, not 292kbps.

Technically, it is 292kbps, because that is the bitrate of SP. However, it was transcoded from LP2, which means the quality is probably only as good or worse than LP2. The bitrate of the file itself is 292kbps. Well, to be more prcise, Sonicstage doesn't even handle SP. Whenever you transfer a track as SP to a NetMD device, the device itself is the one that encode the track to SP, not Sonicstage. Sonicstage just presumably uncompressed the LP2 track, transfer it via USB, and the NetMD device will re-encode it to SP. Sonicstage doesn't handle SP at all.

Edited December 1, 2006 by pata2001