i am interested in creating an mp3 faq for newbies. would anybody be willing to help with the web design & information structure?

i realize there are some faq's out there right now, but none of them seem to cover everything with making a quality mp3 & offer to explain everything, nor have links to the informative sites like this one (& more)...plus nothing that exists is real easy for a newbie to understand. i think it really hurts having all the crappy sound out there on the web when it could be better, from an mp3 standpoint.

it's hard to take in all the information in if you are just learning. some people that i am meeting online are so stubborn & insist they are making quality mp3's using xing's audiocatalyst or even bladenc, some just don't want to change because their programs are so easy, etc...

it would be a very straight forward reference. ripping, encoding, decoding, etc....what to use, what not to use, how & why.

the site should at least cover the best options and the secondary options, we all know eac is best, but it can also be frustrating for a newb to use, so if ya offer up tips on how to use cdex (with screenshots & all) or if someone insists on using audiograbber, then at least they should learn how to encode with lame using audiograbber. stuff like that.

i think it would be quite a simple site to do, it's just that i suck at putting something even remotely attractive on a website.

i have the domain (great name too) its just sitting there waiting to be used, the site is already hosted, with ftp access for uploading content.

i would at some point also like to add a mpc, ogg & aac faq to the site as well.

ideas or suggestions welcome....feel free to leave a message here if you are interested or drop me an email .

- dave

Sounds like a great idea. R3mix was the source for information on MP3 Encoding, but is still fairly incomplete (EAC Setup etc.), but in the AGE of --alt-preset, MPC and Ogg something new for the newbie is needed. I would like to contribute, if I'd find some time (I'm pretty busy with school projects and translating Audacity 1.1 to German).

Fields I'd like to work on would be:
- Ripping + Encoding with CDex and lame(both exe and dll)/MPC/Ogg
- Ripping with CDex, Encoding with lame/MPC/ogg using a frontend and tagging with Tag
- Rpping + Encoding under Linux using grip, cdparanoia, perlscripts etc.
- Audio Recording + Editing with Audacity 1.1 (MP3directCut)
- Players + Decoders (XMMS, MAD, Winamp, Coolplayer, mpg123, oggdec, ogg123, 1by1...)

dev0

These are already pretty much completed in our hidden FAQ section, but it's waiting for the site update.. Of course EAC is covered too.

What's wrong with this one? Covers all, I think...

http://www.guillaume.tk

For tips, please contact me (or post here).

I agree that the newbie site is a great idea. I remember trying to learn things and everything was way above my head. It was frustrating. Things are better now, but I too still have a ways to go and things are always changing.

Good idea onthejazz, and I like the topics that you wanted covered also dev0.

Aaron

ok i am starting a list of what to include on the site, any ideas, fire away.
i would like to keep it very simple on the surface, its too easy to get confused or frustrated when you are just learning mp3, or have been used to just putting a cd in and pushing rip & encode using audiocatalyst (xing).

beneath the surface i would like to link screenshots and even more indepth information, for those needing it or just wanting more info.

people dont need explantions on everything, just make it clear what works (EAC, lame, cdex, MAD, etc..) what doesn't (xing, bladenc, etc..) here are your options and here are the way(s) you can do it, and most importantly keep it up to date.

thats all i guess. it will probably take me month to even get something decent up, with time & all but i think it will be worth it.

- dave

i don't mean to discourage anyone from making a cool site about _ANYTHING_...

but perhaps you might consider waiting until "hydrogenaudio" [hehe] launches the new site design. with it will be much of what dibrom, johnv and all the admins/mods have been working on since [at least] march.

i wouldn't have said anything unless the cat was peeking out of the bag, btw.


later
mike

Guillaume
Hey buddy just browsing through the forum trying to learn something new.
Your site certainly seems to have everything. I can't find a hole anywhere
Nice Job!!!

This statement caught my eye:



I'm only aware of one blind test which showed that one person (Nawhead) preferred the sound of MAD at 24 bits to FhG/Winamp at 16 bits. Where are the other double blind tests?

ff123

IIRC, both MAD and the WinAMP/Fhg decoder are LSB-accurate for 16-bit decoding, so the original statement is provable nonsense in the typical case without even a need to do blind tests.

--
GCP

Wasn't Nawhead the guy who didn't initially hear clipping with MAD in certain situations while some other people heard it? Yet he heard that MAD sounds better..

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/showth...s=&threadid=260

The programs, settings of the recommended list and how they are used should be content of a FAQ for newbies.

Perhaps you can describe the way from wav on CDDA -> EAC/tagging/Lame -> mp3 -> (tagging) -> mp3gain (maximizing without clipping for albums / normalizing album/radio).

Then: mp3 -> mp3 lower bitrate, with keeping ID3tags via Monkeys audio.

Then: Decoding of mp3 -> wav.

Then: 5.1 ac3 -> stereo-DS2-wav (-> mp3) via HeadAC3he (and perhaps BeSweet for batch)

These are the main ways newbies want to go perhaps.



The same for MPC and OGG would help to spread these High-Quality/multichannel formats to the world..............
MPC multichannel would be the best, is Frank reading here ?!

SV8 will have it.

3. The last method MP3 uses to compress the data is Joint Stereo. A lot of songs which are recorded in studio's contain instruments that are hearable in the left channel as well as in the right. Therefore this data is saved double (once for the left channel and once for the right). The MP3 encoder can save this information only once (mono) and therefore halves the data stream. Unfortunately this is very hard for the encoder and it can lead to severe quality loss. On live recordings for example it could occur that the instruments 'hover' between the right and the left channel. This can confuse the encoder: the information is saved mono and therefore centered between right and left, although this is not the case in the original file. LAME has without a doubt the best Joint Stereo algorithm, but even LAME could have problems with some songs.

The section above has been extracted from the website aforementioned above. I know this discussion has been in many threads in the past about the degredation of the quality of Joint Stereo.. but is the above statement true?

If the info is wrong, I would sure like to hear it. I'll change it immediately if so. Please contact me about this (even if the info is correct) or post here.

Any updates on this about Joint Stereo? Is it good? Bad? How is it if you will be not be ripping any live...then is joint stereo good, or is stereo better?

I also have an audio site (click name in sig). Only things it's missing are ripping guides recommending the best rippers and FAQs on how to use them. I haven't written anything about Real Audio yet and the audio term glossary is also way incomplete. D/Ls are out of date too. I also have a number of other ideas sitting somewhere in my head.

Nice info, short manuals (I learned that's what people like most, therefore my guide is too long). I think you should do something with the site layout, because it's not pleasant to read the white text on a light background.

It seemed alright to me, at least it seemed better than black anyway. Guess I might have to start playing with colours again :eek:

Thanks for the feedback, I like your site too, is layed out as one large FAQ, probably needs to be split up a bit to stop people from having the need to use a word finder to find the info they want.

Thanks. Someone volunteered to make a complete new layout for my site. When that is done, I will split up te guide into parts. Probably it scares people when there's so much text on the screen

Hi, I completely updated my site. I chopped the MP3 Guide into smaller segments, so I think it's easier for people to read it. What do you think of the layout .

About the MAD thingy, I'll update this as soon as possible, but I have one question:
Peter's Winamp output plugins are - as far a I know - the only plugins that support 24bit/32bit output. Now there are few soundcard that support 24bit (let alone 32bit) mode, BUT MAD DOES DECODE IT 24bit/32bit and sends it 24/32bit to the output plugin. The Audigy doesn't really support 24bit playback, however MAD can be configured to 24bit (rather 32bit, since 24bit seems to have some troubles). Shouldn't this improve quality, no matter what the soundcard supports??

[edit]
I do think the MAD decoding engine sounds better than the Apollo MPEG Decoder. Does anyone know if there are some listening tests done with this decoder? The concept of Apollo, I think, is much better than Winamp's...
[/edit]

[edit2]
I would like to know what I should add to the guide. Furthermore, MODatic, could we 'combine our powers' and make just one site as the ultimate Newbie FAQ?? I would like to work together on some "tut's"
[/edit2]

Although not directly about joint stereo, you should read this:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/showth...=&threadid=1081

The --alt-presets use joint stereo and are tuned for the highest quality.

AAC, MPC, and Ogg all support joint stereo and are all higher quality than MP3. Really, Joint Stereo is only *bad* if the implementation is bad. This goes for any aspect of any encoder really.

And about LAME "still might have some problems" in regards to joint stereo, if anyone in this thread can find problems in --alt-preset standard which are caused by joint stereo, then you'd be pretty much the first (and I'd like to know about it).

Apollo did pretty bad on Leslie's tests:
http://www.mars.org/home/rob/proj/mpeg/compliance/

Of course, those tests were conduced by a decoder developer, so some bias can be taken in consideration.

Regards;

Roberto.

Hmm, too bad. I still think Apollo has a great potential when it's combined with a good decoding engine... The advanced playlist feature is great and the gapless output does it's job a lot better than most Winamp plugins.

Besides, Winamp often skips some seconds of a song here (MAD+PP's DirectSound/WaveOut). Very strange, I think...

Can I humbly observe that this thread perfectly illustrates why a newbie faq site would be helpful?

What started as a discussion of how to help people get up and running, so they could get a good rip and encode, have some success, and learn from there - turns into somewhat obtuse discussion. That's why the posts and even faqs are so tough for newbies.

All I can say is, if you anyone does write a newbie faq - keep it simple, stick to the consensus of knowledgeable users, and don't do it if you can't put that consensus above your own subjective opinions.

Newbie faq? Your ambition is admirable, but this is rather more than a newbie needs. Yes, perhaps a few links for the guy who's ripping his whole collection of vinyl, and should consider other formats. But, for someone making the jump from MusicMatch to EAC/Lame .... ???

Is mine too complicated? I don't think so, but please do tell me if you do.