MP3 vs. WMA

what is better, wma or mp3, i understand that wma is smaller in file size but what about quality? is it worth ripping music to my harddrive as mp3 or shall i use wma instead? ive tried looking but it seems to me that their aint much difference.

anyone have any info ?

 

mp3 all the way...

 

It depends what you want to do with the files.

If its just for basic playing back on your pc/hi-fi via WMP then wma's are `ok`. Microsoft seems to think that at 128kbps you can get CD Quality but I dont agree. (If your playing them on a small system you probably couldn`t tell the difference) One other plus point is that the small wma's give a small audio file and they require less processing power to execute.

I personally have my collection of MP3's at 196kbps. I have dj'd on some very good systems with these and they sound fine (Dont Beat Vinyl Though! )
Again you could go down to 128kbps but if you have the space I would def recommend 196kbps. They are more universal with various software as well.

If your thinking of doing some music editing, go with WAV. I do all my editing recording everything to wav first, editing it, then buring the finished track onto CD. I then compress the wav file down to a 196 mp3 to ease storage.

Hope that helps your decision....

 

so basicly what your saying is that MP3 is the better quality format whereas WMA is the smaller file size. depending on what your doin with your music and how you play it(large/small system) depends on which format is better.

i have a lappy with a 40 gig hdd, 20 of which is MP3s and realy i need to save room, would converting all of my music to WMAs( as i only listen to music as something to et me through the day and dont play it loud or edit it) sound like a stupid thing to do?

also if i could do this what program would i use and would it be worth it, how much room would i save

 

Yea if your just using it on a laptop through basic speakers/headphones that would be no probs.

I would convert everything down do wma at 128kbps.
(I wouldn`t go any lower but you could try converting one file and see what you think)

There are loads of programs to use to convert from MP3 to WMA for free. Just do a Google Search

Its a bit difficult to say how much space you would save, because it all comes down to how long the songs are and how big the files are now, Its impossible to guess.

(Dont do all at once though, Convert a couple of tracks and try them out to make sure your happy with the quality and the space your saving.)