PLEASE people. I'm a longtime music lover, and hate to hear EXCELLENT music turned into trash!
When "ripping"...encoding...whatever you want to call it...please allow the software you are using to set the sampling levels automatically, if it has such a feature and I think the default on all of them is automatic. When you see a "level meter" etc. on the Winamp equalizer window, for instance...a properly ripped mp3 will be so that the highest level in the entire recording just barely reaches the top. When you don't know what you're doing, and you think you're doing the right think by boosting this level so that all the meters zoom right to the top...and stay there...you are RUINING the mp3!! Whenever a recording is ripped at this level, it means that all of the music that is now "above" the top of the meter...is "clipped"...REMOVED...not heard! This results in the "kkkkkkkkk" sound...the high-pitched kacking and hissing that wasn't part of the song to begin with and now ruins it. I just attempted to download Avril Lavigne and somebody has attempted to rip excellent tunes at 192 bitrate, but has pushed the level into the stratosphere so that half the music is clipped out and it sounds like crap...in a vain/stupid attempt at increasing volume. I've been trying to find Cardigans "Erase-Rewind" and "Deuce" for YEARS and can't find unclipped rips. PLEASE...learn how to use proper leveling...or use the "automatic" mode. And then use "VOLUME"...for more volume!

i agree on that totally,
what you could just do though is not download the mp3 from file sharing networks but from a legal network or just buy the cd, both of those ways insure you that it's good quality.

but i do agree that ppl must know what they do before doing it.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Panic_Fire
[B]i agree on that totally,

THANK YOU...FOR THAT

what you could just do though is not download the mp3 from file sharing networks but from a legal network or just buy the cd, both of those ways insure you that it's good quality.

PLEEEEASE! We all have our own reasons for downloading from file-sharing networks. I didn't intend, and don't WANT to get into a stupid argument about money rights, etc. I buy my share of CD's. Mostly I personally use file-sharing downloads when I don't want to, or can't afford to, buy a whole $20 CD for one song off of each one that may interest me...or that I like. Or to explore new music...new groups that I may end up BUYING CD's of. Am I replying to a RCIA "rights nut" or just...well...whatever. I feel "the rich"..are rich enough...and do OFTEN contribute financially in whatever way I can to new bands, new musicians just starting out with their new music out there...that I FIND on P2P FILE-SHARING networks. This was just a technical post, intended as good advice. Not obligatory, spurious, or derrogatory in nature. And originally anyway...NOT POLITICAL!

but i do agree that ppl must know what they do before doing it.

THANKS AGAIN...FOR THAT.

In addition, I do indeed belong to TWO of what you refer to as "legal networks"...and have downloaded a significant share of improperly encoded mp3's from there, too. The only difference is that you get your "money back" and that's only on the 99 cents "per" one. On the other, it's a monthly thing, and no recourse is available other than to complain...like here...or attempt to educate...as here.

Get OVER your need to enforce your "interpretation" of proper ethical standards on others. It's all "relative" to the gigantic, corporate realm of stockholders and legal incentive anyway. And p2p file-sharing is "here to stay." It's going...nowhere.

Here here, Jambora you dont have to explain yourself and the reasons for using a p2p network to anyone and obviously everyone on this forum uses this network for one reason or another and this forum is used to help people not hang crap on them just keep on rockin and ignore crappy replies.....

i wasn't trying to be political or ethical, but i recognize your problem and just tell you that the only way to get good quality, is trough getting the songs legal or get it from a friend that has the cd and knows how to rip, there are millions of ppl out there, that rip cd's but don't know a friggin thing about what they do.

i was just handing you a way to gain good music. i understand that you won't buy a whole cd, just for 1 number, that's why i use P2P aswell, but i don't mind having to search for one GOOD quality number for hours on end, it's part of this way of getting your stuff, i know what you mean man, but i just accepted that as part of this way of obtaining files.

Agreed. With both of you. I just get frustrated, at times. Although I do have a dsl, it's not overwhelmingly fast. I find one good song...burn't at a good 192 kps bitrate and love the new author and their music. I then look and find what seems to be a big group of cuts from the same burner. I spend the day smiling, as good old 'puter downloads what I'm sure will be a wealth of new, entertainment. Only to hear kkkkkkkkackkackkcakkkkkkk...

And like I said, I find a couple songs from soundtracks or not otherwise available, like the Cardigans songs...and for literally years, after download...delete...download...delete...still cannot find a proper rip.

Like you said, in these cases it's time to mosey on down to my local music store, buy the two soundtracks for the two songs...and put them in the heap of un-listened-to cd's.

You're correct. Again...I just get frustrated.

if you have been looking for years, then that's a good reason to buy it indeed, but for me it's a hobby, not a MUST to have have some particular songs, so i spend time on them and even derive some kind of satisfaction after hours of searching to find a good ripped song.

also i rip a LOAD of cd's myself, i might tag some and release them so ppl know they come from me (well under a pseudonym afcourse) and see it's good quality.

but as of yet i don't have to much rare numbers mostly popular numbers not worht releasing, ppl will just download the one with most hits (even if it has the kkackkkakkkkackkka)

Oh absolutely. When I want something, and I don't wanna pay for it (isn't that a song too? Jane's Addiction?) I don't just download the one with the most hits. I do look for the best combination of midrange bitrates (I don't have humongous storage abilities after all, just adequate...and I can indeed tell the difference between a 128 and 256 rip piped through my home system) and hit number, as they do tend to download faster. But if they turn out to be kacks (have we invented a new term here?) I start branching out until I've checked everything everywhere I can. Download...delete...download download download delete delete delete. Only when after extensive failure to I frustrate and buy a CD for one or two songs. Whole music CD's I like I just buy to begin with, and usually then rip, as indeed I too rip quality. And I also go out and buy the CD's of new groups I like just getting started etc. and even contribute a bit of cash here and there when deserved. I pay my dues. I just have...well...limits. When Metallica's leadman insists I pony up another $15 or $20 to his $200,000,000.00 to get one song I like off a put that I don't otherwise like...I draw the line and go to P2P. Especially knowing I've already contributed to 4 or 5 lp's and 4 or 5 CD's already in his coffers. And especially on my salary LOL!

Also, I may as well ask, although there are undoubtedly other places where each of these posts probably belong.

I'm not extremely familiar with why so few rips are done with variable bitrate? To me, they all seem to sound just excellent, as long as they're not kacked. A friend tells me that the software adjusts it's ripping for a perfect combination of needed sampling for intense portions, along with not wasting disk space on soft spots/pauses etc. As an engineer by trade, it makes perfect sense technically, although someone just "said" once to establish a manual bitrate, and a variable shows up in the search as a blank so that might raise a flag or something. I've recently used the variable bitrate, and just love it's facets. Is there something else here?

Also, if anyone DOES happen to have the two Cardigans songs I've mentioned, let me know. I have lot's of stuff I would certainly not mind ripping for you in exchange. "Erase-Rewind" is on the Gran Turismo CD and also on the "Thirteenth Floor" and the "Never Been Kissed" soundracks. "Deuce" is off the "Matrix" soundtrack, and I think on one of the albums too. Literally every single burn...of these two are kacks. Probably because one person improperly kacked them and everyone else has just been redistributing the same kacks. But I'd hate to spend $40 or so for two songs, when I already have the other stuff off them I like.

Any help?