May I ask 'Why' you are reconverting the files? Doing such whether upping or downing the bitrate will result in loss of quality of the file. mp3 is a Lossy format which means with each conversion audio information is thrown away.

It's a little like taking a photo with 100,000 colors in it. Saving it as a medium quality JPEG image file or in audio would be like converting a WAV / AIFF file as an mp3 which reduces it to perhaps 40,000 colors if it were a photo. Then re-saving the image which reduces it to 32,000 colors, etc. If you can gradually picture how it works with 'Lossy' formats whether they be image or audio format. Example of a lossy format is JPG. Take a photo & save it as lowest quality & see how it looks. That's what continually saving into lossy formats does.

As for LW reading audio bitrates, it has been known to read them incorrectly. This was also a problem with LW 4 & still exists now. LW 5 has no refresh button as LW 4 had so you will most likely need to restart LW for it to reread the bitrates. Point made to me by a LW dev about this issue was, what LW may incorrectly show you on your LW's shares window will not be what others see.

Switch is a program I also use occasionally. However there are better converters around.

Next point:

If I am seeking a song I have wanted to have for years .. I find yours ... why should i only have a reconverted mp3 at 128 kbps when I want the best quality I can obtain because that song was what was played at my mom's funeral ... or at my wedding .. etc.

Why should I have a quality of 1 out of 10 JPeg image when I could have quality 5 or 6 which you originally downloaded. OR for that matter why couldn't I have the original TIFF or other uncompressed image file if that's how you downloaded it .. TIFF as image equivalent of WAV / FLAC / AIFF, etc.

BTW if you re-save / convert a Lossy format into the same or other Lossy format no matter whether the conversion / re-save quality is set to maximum will still result in 'some' quality loss at least. Examples: mp3 maximum quality does not equal WAV or other equivalent. JPG maximum quality does not equal TIFF or Photoshop or PNG lossless quality.

I get what you're saying, but then there have been times where I've downloaded the same file - one at 320 and one at 128 - and the higher rate file is either too tinny or too bassy or just overly loud, whereas the 128 one sounds fine....

I guess we're all different when it comes to what we consider sounds good....

I mucked up the quoting - sorry

Some 320 kbps files are themselves reconverted files Yes I've come across those too, more-so than I like . Highly disappointing compared to the 'original' 128 kbps conversion files. This reconverting practice needs to be stamped out of the network. Increasing mp3 from 128 to 320 does not increase quality as you obviously know. They set to max quality but result is less quality.

(There may also be particular codecs used for conversion which also affect quality! There are definitely some poor quality codecs out there but so many options for windows users they simply don't realise.)

For you to be reconverting files sounds of desperation to save Hard Disk space. sighs. If you do reconvert, please don't share those ones. (would you want to download an audio file that had been re-converted 3-10 times lol ? JPeg -1 or worse! )

Quotes are easy to muck up lol np

I wouldn't exactly call it desperation; okay so I used to be short on hard drive space, but I could've simply chosen not to share as many files as I do....
If the files are good quality at 128 - and as I said before, I wouldn't download them in the first place if they sounded inferior - then I just don't see any reason to 'waste' space if it isn't necessary....
As you know, I now download to a 320GB hard drive, but a lot of my files are still 128....
Whatever the bitrate of a song, if I myself am not completely satisfied by the quality of a file, whether 'converted' or not - then I wouldn't expect anyone else to be - so therefore wouldn't share it, full stop.
As I said earlier, I've downloaded files at higher bitrates, I daresay a mixture of converted and unconverted - and after changing some of them to 128, they actually sounded much better. Obviously that's not always the case and if it sounds better at 256 or 320, then I'll upload it as such....

Believe me, I 'vet' all my files before sharing them - even checking that they actually do go all the way to the end - the amount of songs I've downloaded and they just cut off or have 10 minutes of silence at the end. Now that's annoying!

Lord of the Rings & PickaxeFairy

After reading through your posts I must say that I am on both sides of the fence on this one:

LOTR

You said: Well, I agree with the sentiment but disagree with every fibre of my being about the action. You see, the Internet and gnutella networks are about freedom of choice and in "no way" should individual freedoms be taken away unless it causes harm ("harm" being subjective).

PickaxeFairy

LOTR is right when he says "why convert down to a lower quality?", especially now that your original reason no longer exist, i.e. saving on HD disk space.

However, LOTR's solution sounds good and that is to keep two copies of your downloaded files, one for you to convert and consume and the other to share back onto the network.

Well guys, I now feel like a Liberal Democrat, neither here nor there and all things to all men ( a little UK political humour ).



UK Bob

Thanks for that Bob - I had a little chuckle to myself when I read that....
All advice/suggestions taken on board btw.
　
Well my new install is scheduled for a couple of weeks....
The poor guy who's lumbered with it is gonna wish he'd never got out of bed if he gives me any hassle.
　
I've got myself an Acer 'recovery' disc - seems I had it all along and didn't realise....
Just a bit of advice needed here please.... is there anything I need to know regarding a complete install?
I appreciate I'll have to re-download any applications I previously had etc etc....
I'm assuming all my drivers and necessary 'stuff' will be on the recovery disc....?


I'm sorry if my questions seem obvious to some - I'm just not that great when it comes to certain aspects of pcs and their workings
　
　

yes, all necessary 'stuff' (drivers, chipset, etc) should be on the recovery disc.

you will of course want to back up important data and that of course includes any emails stored on your HDD (like from outlook express)...

__________________


So Long and Thanks for All the Files
_____________________________________________

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Well PickaxeFairy

From what I have found out, all you (or the tech guy) need to do, when the installation is complete, is re-install WinXP then run your recovery disk, that should restore all your PC's drivers, e.g. audio, graphics, etc.

However, as Peerless mentioned, you should backup your emails, documents, browser bookmarks and all important data files (and note which Directory/Folder they came out of) so that you can put them into the place your re-installed apps expect to find them.

Anything else you require or are worried about then just let us know.


UK Bob

PS. Later on, I shall continue "the never ending" story about the lady at my workplace and her continuing struggle to get her broadband set up.

Cheers guys
Everything important has indeed been backed up. Twice

Bob - your work colleague is still having problems?
That's ridiculous.... what are they playing at!?
Do tell - what reason/pathetic excuse are they coming up with this time for making a pig's ear of things....?

Rearing off the subject of this thread slightly - sorry - but if any of you are with Virgin Media and have the XL TV Package and XL Broadband Package - you might like to know that they're currently offering 50MB Broadband at £26.50 a month....

Not that they bother to tell you about these things.... I only found out 'cos I ring them every couple of weeks to see what deals they're doing....

Due to this - I 'suggested' to them that under the circumstances, it seemed only fair that they waive the installation and activation charges....
(Which, I hasten to add, are usually the best part of £90....)

They agreed!