Newsgroup: it.hobby.hi-fi
Titolo: ATRAC & MP3 files

I want to put all my minidisc ATRAC files on my PC (a Mac, but I can find
a Wintel machine to borrow). I also want a small free or public music
player which I can install on a CD-r to play sounds which I send to
others, preferably by html link within a document. 
A few years ago when the .gif file was as popular as
the .jpg for binary newsgroups I downloaded .gif images and used a dos
program called
"alchemy" to convert the .gif to .jpg  . . . which because the compression
method used different algorithms (sic) botched the switch. I believe
(fear) that if the ATRAC file is analogically expanded, and reloaded in a
MP3 compression-player decompressor, that the same degrade of data will
result. So I wanna stick w/ ATRAC for each file I already got clipped of
extra data and compressed.
Now Sony advertises a MP3 & ATRAC player, all in one w/ a USB connect,
(see J & R Catalog, NY City dealer) with digital memory chips for storage,
I wonder how similar the files are, and if I can SAFELY convert
ATRAC to MP3. Probably not.  I want to keep using the ATRAC file type and
the minidisc as storage rather than switching over to MP3.
What thoughs do you have? Sony's helpline said they'd pass my suggestions
and question along to the proper engineers. The Sony helpdesk person who I
spoke with didn't understand that analog files were not either ATRAC or
MP3, and I never even tried to explain that once material is tossed out of
a compressed file, the decompressed analog sound it makes does not contain
that lost data, so the file can only degrade as it is recompressed with
some different algorithm (sic).
How are WE gonna put ATRAC files into a PC drive, and play back through
software?
--
Robert Hedges
rhhe...@athena.louisville.edu
-- 
Robert Hedges
http://www.ecsd.com/~rhhedgz1/

 wrote in message
news:8au8uq$2gmj$1...@news.louisville.edu...


correction: The Sony Music Clip has utilities to convert CD to ATRAC3 and
for listening on the PC. Still there's no way to transfer the ATRAC from
MiniDisc to PC intact. Also note, ATRAC is used in MD while ATRAC3 is used
in PC & the Music Clip. I doubt it can be better than MD simply because it's
highly compressed.

ATRAC is not a file, it is a compression system. An MD is not a
computer device and it does not hold "files" in the same way as an
audio cassette, LP or audioCD does not have "files" on it.
If you are so concerned with quality you will need a professional
grade sound card with digital input and an MD deck with digital
output. You should record to WAV in 16bit at 44.1kHz with "auto
comprensate for jitter" enabled on the sound card.
Unfortunately the method I have just discribed will probably cost you
over $1000 so I suggest you opt for something cheaper. A reasonable
digital sound card will do the job - you can record to a generic
format (16 bit 44.1kHz) on your Mac or PC. On the PC the common format
is WAV (not sure about Mac) and this can be burned direct to CD.
The quality of MP3 is far lower than MD at bitrates below 190kbps
anyway, so analogue recording to your computer will be more than
sufficient if you have a good sound card. Just record with your
favourite recording software then run an MP3 encoder on it to make the
MP3.
Magic        ==|:o)
-- 
Location : Portsmouth, England, UK
Homepage : 
http://www.mattnet.freeserve.co.uk
EMail : mailto:
Ma...@mattnet.freeserve.co.uk
"Some of the sweetest sounds come from our smallest friends."

 wrote:

ATRAC is a completely proprietary format belonging to Sony, and they
have always exerted draconian control over it, pretty much crippling
it's use. It *only* works inside hardware made or licensed by Sony,
and they won't (so far, anyway) license it for use on computers. So
basically, because Sony decrees so, ATRAC files only exist on a
minidisc or inside your Sony made or licensed minidisc audio player or
recorder - as soon as you want to get anything *out* of those
machines, it comes out in decoded audio format. So, no, you can't
transfer ATRAC files as such to your PC. Nor can you make ATRAC files
on your PC. You would indeed, as you say, have to transfer as audio,
then recompress on your PC in some other format (e.g. MP3), and as you
say some quality loss would be involved in this. Even the so-called
"Minidisc MP3 players" do not in fact transfer either ATRAC to the PC
or MP3 to the minidisc player - they just decode the MP3 into
uncompressed PCM audio, and feed that to the minidisc recorder, which
then re-encodes it as ATRAC and puts it on a disk.
Xorys
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MP3 FAQ at:
http://webhome.idirect.com/~nuzhathl/mp3-faq.html

 software?
Until we get an MD player that we can access as a data drive, we can't, not
without encoding the output from them.
Joe

 and they won't (so far, anyway) license it for use on computers.
Actually Sony's grip is loosening.  Sony flirted with a computer ATRAC3 player
and it's still there somewhere on their website.
Also, I attended a Real Networks conference in February where Rob Glaser
announced that Sony will be getting an ATRAC3 codec into Real Jukebox...
Joe

 and it's still there somewhere on their website.
What are the possibilities of this?  Data storage on minidisk?
j

 What are the possibilities of this?  Data storage on minidisk?
Unfortunately, I think it _only_ means that Sony is trying to establish ATRAC3
as an acceptable web music standard -- like MP3 or Microsoft's WMA.  I wish
there were PC interoperability implications, but I doubt it.
Joe