Silly question about MP3's

garbo · 10-11-2003 09:39AM #1

Hi everyone, this is my first post, this is probably a silly question but could someone tell me the best way to convert files from .WMA format to .MP3, I have thousands of songs on my computer in a mixture of formats, so software that trawls through my MP3 folder only converting the wma's would be Ideal.
Any help would be appreciated,
Garbo.

vibe666 · 10-11-2003 09:55AM

tbh, if you've got the HD space your best bet would be to move the WMA's to a seperate folder that way it's going to make it easier to convert them all without the MP3's getting in the way.

Also, why would you want to convert them anyway? both formats are what's called 'lossy' in that extra (usually unecessary) information from the tracks is removed. by converting from one lossy format to another, you are removing information from an already reduced format this will usually give you slightly worse sound than the original copy.

if you really want to do it then have a look here: http://www.wma-mp3.com/ (makes you feel a little dumb for not seeing a URL that simple coming doesn't it!:D) it was just a google search so might not be what you are looking for, but is probably worth a go.

failing that, one of the best websites for info regarding anything to do with MP3's is www.mp3.com who have everything for music downloads (all legitimate) to all the software you could want.

sceptre · 10-11-2003 10:58AM

If you have nero it'll do it (you can queue a list to convert in Nero 6)

As vibe666 says, converting between two lossy formats (wma to mp3, gif to jpg, any lossy formats) isn't ideal as it'll introduce new file noise that wasn't there before.

Hankster · 10-11-2003 11:06AM

You could also try dBPowerAMP, which will convert WMA to MP3 with their plugin, which you can get from here.

Best of all its free, unless you want to spend some cash on the PowerPack. The download speeds from the site are pretty shíte at the moment though (at least for me),so hope you're patient!

OfflerCrocGod · 10-11-2003 11:08AM

WAV and GIF files are not lossy MP3 and JPEG are........are you all getting those two confused with each other??. Wave files contain exactly the same data as that found on a CD (Raw PCM), usually thats what is put into the WAV file It's like OGG VORBIS were OGG is the wrapper(I think) and VORBIS is the music. So WAV usually has PCM, which is lossless, if you use WAV as a wrapper to stick in MP3 or VORBIS of course they are lossless........ So in closing USUALLY WAV is lossless but on its own it indicates nothing.

Dr. Dre · 10-11-2003 11:11AM

...GIF files are not lossy...

Technically they are, I would have thought. I mean you can only have 256 colours.

OfflerCrocGod · 10-11-2003 11:17AM

The fact that it can only use 256 colours has NOTHING to do with the fact if it lossless or not, a 256 colour image i.e. icon will be compressed and NOTHING will be lost in the compression. The fact it can't save images with more then 256 colours is just due to the fact that it was meant for the web and therefore had to support many platforms. 256 colours was the LCD.

Silly question about MP3's

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