[ipodfan]

OK, I got really excited about this music site after reading the posts and browsing their catalogue, especially when I saw that their bitrates were 192 or sometimes 320. Well, I've downloaded 2 albums so far and both of them have bitrates that vary, some as low as 167, mostly in the 170s and 180s. What's with that? Is there any way to tell what the bit rates are before you download? Most of the sites let you know. I was going to purchase an album by soprano Natalie Dessay but now have decided not to because of this. Any comments?

[Nightfly]

Originally Posted by ipodfan

OK, I got really excited about this music site after reading the posts and browsing their catalogue, especially when I saw that their bitrates were 192 or sometimes 320. Well, I've downloaded 2 albums so far and both of them have bitrates that vary, some as low as 167, mostly in the 170s and 180s. What's with that? Is there any way to tell what the bit rates are before you download? Most of the sites let you know. I was going to purchase an album by soprano Natalie Dessay but now have decided not to because of this. Any comments?

Ipodfan,

I have been using Mp3skyline recently and what you are seeing in
those variants are that the downloads are VBR and in a quiet passage
a 192 VBR will drop to 180 or 170......and for 256vbr you will see variants
like 214 or 198 ..Vbr is a better quality download and these numbers you see
are a testament that are indeed Variable Bit Rate.

[ipodfan]

Originally Posted by Nightfly

Ipodfan,

I have been using Mp3skyline recently and what you are seeing in
those variants are that the downloads are VBR and in a quiet passage
a 192 VBR will drop to 180 or 170......and for 256vbr you will see variants
like 214 or 198 ..Vbr is a better quality download and these numbers you see
are a testament that are indeed Variable Bit Rate.

OK, thanks for the quick response. Do you think the operatic soprano Natalie Dessay from them would be as high quality as in 192 or 320 from aom3?

[Nightfly]

Originally Posted by ipodfan

OK, thanks for the quick response. Do you think the operatic soprano Natalie Dessay from them would be as high quality as in 192 or 320 from aom3?

I found that sometimes they don't put the rate down on the album
page just VBR but that is not necessarily mean inferior quality.
I was pleasantly surprised at 256kps one time in this instance.
They should have more consistency in labeling the quality of their
albums.It is a important part of the buying decision.

My suggestion is to download one song if you are not sure and check the quality before committing to the total album.
On Mp3sparks you choose and purchase the type of download you want in the expert mode.So you are assured of the quality and you also pay
upon the quality that you choose.
It's your choice.I have found though, that the Mp3skyline quality of download to be of good sound and pleasing to the ears.But every one has different criteria.I am just speaking for myself here.

[ipodfan]

Originally Posted by Nightfly

I found that sometimes they don't put the rate down on the album
page just VBR but that is not necessarily mean inferior quality.
I was pleasantly surprised at 256kps one time in this instance.
They should have more consistency in labeling the quality of their
albums.It is a important part of the buying decision.

My suggestion is to download one song if you are not sure and check the quality before committing to the total album.
On Mp3sparks you choose and purchase the type of download you want in the expert mode.So you are assured of the quality and you also pay
upon the quality that you choose.
It's your choice.I have found though, that the Mp3skyline quality of download to be of good sound and pleasing to the ears.But every one has different criteria.I am just speaking for myself here.

Thanks. I'm loving my new earphones by the way. I'm hearing things I never heard before, in different ways.

[Nightfly]

Originally Posted by ipodfan

Thanks. I'm loving my new earphones by the way. I'm hearing things I never heard before, in different ways.

Yes they do make a big difference,and to realize the song you're listening
to, actually has a bass-line and the cymbals are more than a swishing sound in the background.

[skyforger]

Hi there,

let me comment bit rates issue, if y'all don't mind..
so, our files are encoded at constant bitrates as well as at variable ones. bitrate can be always found under the blue "download" icon.

if bitrate is "192 kbps" or "320 kbps" then you can obviously expect the file with the specifed bitrate.

When you see VBR under the icon - this means that track is encoded at variable bitrate. i must clarify that 90 per cent of our VBR tracks are pure and up to original sound. Why is it VBR? simply - this is best encoding method for quality/file_size relation. please read more at our help section, there's clarification what is VBR.

yes, we receive low-quality tracks time from time (regarding the total daily upload mass) but this happens very rarely. please report us about bad ones and we will refund balance and try our best to replace such tracks with proper ones.

enjoy us

P.S. ipodfan, when you see 160 or 170 kbps for VBR file, this is only average bitrate. it does not really mean that all the sound is low as 170 kbps during the whole playback. VBR will definitely drop bitrate when there's silence in the music but will increase it up to 256 kbps when rendering full orchestra and high noise percussions.
but your Winamp (or the like) will show you 170 average kbps in result.


regards,
skyforger

[gluteus maximus]

Originally Posted by skyforger

P.S. ipodfan, when you see 160 or 170 kbps for VBR file, this is only average bitrate. it does not really mean that all the sound is low as 170 kbps during the whole playback. VBR will definitely drop bitrate when there's silence in the music but will increase it up to 256 kbps when rendering full orchestra and high noise percussions.
but your Winamp (or the like) will show you 170 average kbps in result.

The free Media Player Classic shows both average and momentary bit rates in its Statistics pane, so you can see the bit rate varying in real time as the complexity of the music changes.

gm

[Nightfly]

Originally Posted by skyforger

Hi there,

let me comment bit rates issue, if y'all don't mind..
so, our files are encoded at constant bitrates as well as at variable ones. bitrate can be always found under the blue "download" icon.

if bitrate is "192 kbps" or "320 kbps" then you can obviously expect the file with the specifed bitrate.

When you see VBR under the icon - this means that track is encoded at variable bitrate. i must clarify that 90 per cent of our VBR tracks are pure and up to original sound. Why is it VBR? simply - this is best encoding method for quality/file_size relation. please read more at our help section, there's clarification what is VBR.

yes, we receive low-quality tracks time from time (regarding the total daily upload mass) but this happens very rarely. please report us about bad ones and we will refund balance and try our best to replace such tracks with proper ones.

enjoy us

P.S. ipodfan, when you see 160 or 170 kbps for VBR file, this is only average bitrate. it does not really mean that all the sound is low as 170 kbps during the whole playback. VBR will definitely drop bitrate when there's silence in the music but will increase it up to 256 kbps when rendering full orchestra and high noise percussions.
but your Winamp (or the like) will show you 170 average kbps in result.


regards,
skyforger

Skyforger,

Thank you for your excellent post and elaborating on my short response
in post#2. Giving us more detail about the VBR rate we all know and love.
And your clarifications.

When we see the VBR should we assume that it is either 192vbr - 256vbr
because it is not specified ? But I know from experience that these are quality
downloads.
And your catalogue is one of the best.

Thanks again for your response,

[Nightfly]

Originally Posted by ipodfan

OK, thanks for the quick response. Do you think the operatic soprano Natalie Dessay from them would be as high quality as in 192 or 320 from aom3?

Ipodfan,

Sorry I didn't really answer your question.
Don't forget 256bps which is what I use for Jazz and Classical for
Mp3player use..For Car and home use go with the 320..

Also sometimes on old classic recordings that weren't recorded very well
you're not going to get much more sonic quality that might not have been there from the beginning.

But test them both 256 and 320 and see if you can hear
a difference with those fancy earphones of yours...........