Reasions why you should use mp3

 Better compression, You can compress a CD quality sound file as much as 11:1
with little or no loss in quality witch means you can turn that bloated 40MB 
sound file into a slim 4MB or smaller file which also means when you want to
post a sound file up on usenet a 15000 line uuencoded post can hold up to 45
seconds of CD quality sound or a 4 minute song can be easley posted in 7 
parts as supose to 80 parts using no compression at all witch can take a long
time to post and I highly suseptable to missing parts not to mention how a
ISP must like you doing that and that some people may not want to tie up thair
machine for a long period of time trying to download 1 song.

Yah! Yah! Ok so we all know that mpeg offter the best compression but
are there other reasion why we should use mpeg?

YOU BET!

 One of the nice things about mpeg is that it uses a streaming(headerless) file 
format. This is what make mpeg realy shine when it come to posting on usenet.
Ok lets say you wanna download a song but you want to prevue a part of it before
downloading the hole song, Ok all you have to to is download one of the parts and
decode that one part and you can play that part of the file(neat isn't it) so
you get an idea of what you are getting before downloading the whole thing. Unlike 
.wav or other formats which require the whole file to play, Mpeg can be cut, dice 
and slice and it will still play.

COOL!

I wanna make good .mp3 file what do I need to do?

Well first of all you need some sound to encode and you need to know what the source
of the sound is, for exsample for CD quality you would use 16bit/stereo/44.1KHz 
sampling rate and for cassette or FM radio quailty you would use 16bit/stereo/22KHz. 
Now that you know what the source is you need to record it into a .wav file. Using
the right record setting for the source you are using start making your recording. 
Once you have made your recording then its time to compress it (HERES WHERE THE FUN
BEGINS). Ok you need to use a program called l3enc.exe(info on how to get it is later 
in this text)and here is some help on using it.

For CD Quality .wav sound file you would type:

l3enc input.wav output.mp3

For a slightly smaller file try:

l3enc input.wav output.mp3 -br 112000 -mod 1

For cassette or FM radio Quality .wav sound file you would type:

l3enc input.wav output.mp3 -br 64000

For a slightly smaller file try:

l3enc input.wav output.mp3 -br 56000 -mod 1

For higher quality cassette or other analog source you might try a 32kHz
sampling rate for the source and use this setting:

l3enc input.wav output.mp3 -br 96000 

For a slightly smaller file try:

l3enc input.wav output.mp3 -br 80000 -mod 1

that's all a I am gonna talk about, there is more infomation in the docs 
about using this program and some of the features it has... 
 

Ok! Where do I get the software for doing mpeg layer 3 

Goto this web address..

http://iis.fhg.de/departs/amm/layer3/index.html

What software is avalable for mpeg

There are en/decoders for DOS, NeXT, LYNEX and SGI.
There are real time players for Windows and Macintosh.

Ok! I own a Mac and I would like to post .mp3 files, Is there an encoder for the Mac?

NO! there is not! The only thing i can think of is use your shell account(if your ISP
pervides one) and find out what OS it is and get the en/decoder program for it. and
upload the uncompressed sound file you made to your shell acount and compress it there.
(you may need to talk to your ISP about HD space for surge buffering and getting 
executing privlages) Once you compress it you may download the file back to your 
computer and post with your faverate news reader or you can post it using a news 
reader on your shell acount like TIN.

Also being a Mac user I would like to decode mpeg file?

Ok all you have to do is the reverse of what I said about encoding

Ok! I am a dos user (I HATE WINDOWS OR DON"T HAVE IT ON MY SYSTEM) and I wanna play
mpeg files in real time CAN I?

No! you can't, There is not a real time player for dos.

REMEMBER that mpeg layer 3 is still under development and they are not going to 
please everyone right now...

BTW: I got a copy of WinPlay3 (MacPlay3 for mac users) and it only play the first 
20 seconds of my song, What can i do about it?

Simple! just click on the buttion that says "REGISTER" on it and enter this info
when prompted

name = ISO FreeWare
code = 222221-025226-0002

Ok! I also get a registration message on the encoder and decoder but it seem to
work fine, So what are the benefits of having it registered?

Well for one thing, You can do batch file (de)compressing of multiple files without
having to type "N" each time you wanna run the program Also it lets you use the
other compression modes not avalable to unregistered user even thought the mode
that you will be using most of the time are avalable in the shareware version of
the program.

Ok! Ok! enought with the BS, Lets have the registration number NOW?

Now! Now! Bubbaz! Good things come to those who wait.

When prompted about entering your reg code, Type "Y" and when prompted to enter
the code then type..

  909GCB0A091E-9

There! There! Bubbaz! Now that feels much better DOESENT IT.

BTW: after you register your copy of the encoder, the serial number
will be 0001. Kewl isn't it. Its the very first reg code..

OOOW! HOLD ON! Isn't this illegal, arn't these Cracked or Pirated codes, I have a
thing about software piracy.

Well it's a grey area here, The thing to keep in mind is that the company that sells
these programs is only selling them for commercal users only' like software and
hardware developers. They don't sell it to people like you and me(asumming you are
not a commeracl user).

OK but I would like to register these programs anyways so what must i do?

Well expect to go trought hell on this one. Not only must you make a forgion
order but it will cost you a lot of money, About $250(US) (two hundred and fifty) 
to register the en/decoder program and $70(US) (sevendy) just to register the player. 
As you can see these are not your tipical registration fees and even if you do pay
the registration you still would have to sign a 4 page contract with the International
Standards Organasation or ISO before they will gave you your registration number. Also
they check and see if the company name on your registration form is a real company
or a made up name...

Another thing you might take note of and that is unlike layer I & II , Layer III is
still under development and had not fully become a standard yet...


HAPPY MPEGing :)



 


 





 
