Just bought some new 2.0 PC speakers :)!

[Aedan]

Most formats are lossy - in that they throw sound they don't think you'll hear away. There's different ways of guessing at what you won't miss, and some are better than others. The bitrate is often the measure of how much is or isn't thrown away, in that the lower the bitrate, the more has to be thrown away in order to fit things in the space available.

Generally, choose what sounds best to you. If you have enough storage space, then the size doesn't really matter.

[Daniel ~]

Ok... I originally ripped from CDs to ogg, my whole collection. CDs which I assume were wav...( is it always?)

Then I converted from ogg to Mp3 and MP4 which both then grew greatly in size...did MP 3 and 4 just pretend to improve sound...I mean how did those formats know what to put back after ogg left it out? What's really going on in this instance?

[Gizmo]

It's a generally accepted rule of thumb that converting from one audio format to another introduces a minimum of about 6 dB of signal loss (basically, you cut the fidelity in half). Once lost, that signal can NEVER be regained, although it MAY be possible to 'guess' at what was there (this is referred to as 'interpolation').

CDs are normally recorded as straight 16-bit PCM (wav, though WAV actually can encompass much more than just PCM).

When you ripped to OGG, that introduced 6 dB of distortion. As Aidan says, the OGG format made a guess as to what you could afford to do without, and I find OGG to generally be a pretty good format.

When you ripped from OGG to MP3 and MP4, each of those conversions intorduced additional distortion. But here's the thing: to go from any compressed format to any other compressed format, you have to FIRST convert to straight PCM (well, strictly speaking you don't HAVE to, but that's usually the simplest way). That step created distortion, which then had to be compensated for by the following compression algorithm. This produced 'artifacts' which are likely the reason the resulting file became larger. I would expect that if you ripped the original CD to MP3 or MP4, you would find that it produced a file of comparable size to OGG.

[Daniel ~]

Thank you Gizmo and Aedan!

And no one rips to wav as it takes up to much space? In the era of Terra bite drives is there a app that does that...rips without loss of sound quality?

If I were willing to re-rip my entire collection, and I might be, what would be the preferred format...I guess what I'm trying to figure out is there better than OGG out there... and would it be noticeable in general?

[TrevorS]

If archiving WAV files from CD, how about FLAC (free lossless compression)?

FLAC - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For carry-with playback convenience, how about a minimum of 320Kbps MP3?

[Daniel ~]

Thanks Trevor... I'm still mulling over the work involved....shudder...":O}

[TrevorS]

Welcome !

As long as you already have the CD's, there probably isn't much need to archive them, but if you only have temporary access, lossless compression archiving on a multi-terrabyte drive is probably the best solution. From my own experience, 320kbps or greater MP3 sounds pleasingly near the digital source. Would definitely avoid using lower data rates though, sure, more will fit on a USB drive, but the sound is just taking it on the chin.

[Daniel ~]

It took me weeks to rip them the first and the truth is I don't have any complains with OGG sound quality...So I'll probably let that dog lie.":O}

[TrevorS]

If the sound works for you, then even if you upgrade your process, there's no clear need to replace what you have. I suggest more musical amplification and speakers would make the at-home differences more apparent (moving away from the PC scenario), but there's no inherent reason you should spend into that! What matters is you be able to enjoy your music! I gather you do and that's great !

[Daniel ~]

That I do! ":O}

[TrevorS]

Just bought another set of these speakers for another PC (open box purchase this time )! Really like them!