MP3 or WMA or something else

[Guest nato]

Hi.I have an M600 and have just got a 2Gb SD card. I'm wanting to turn my device into an MP3 player but need to know which is the best format ie MP3 or WMA or OGG etc etc. Obviously the files will be stored on SD card, which I could then transfer to 'other' devices if needed, so which format is more popular?

Also need to know the best software for playback.

Thanks in advance

[Guest Confucious]

It depends what you want to play them on. WMA are smaller and play in WMP but some people reckon don't sound as good as MP3 which play on more devices. OGG are, I believe smaller still but very few players play them.

I tend to use WMA but for best compatability probably MP3 - it does rather depend on what you want to play them on.

[Guest fraser]

I use mp3, mostly because I converted my whole library years ago, before AAC and WMA were really an option. mp3 is the best for compatability as Confucious says, and IMHO that is most important by far. What's the point in WMA if one day you might buy an iPod or vice-versa with m4a (aac)?

[Guest chucky.egg]

I use MP3 too

Did use WMA for a while, but my disk was filling up with 2 copies of each track.

MP3 is fairly easy to convert to other formats too, so stick with it and you can always convert them if you ever HAVE to.

[Guest fraser]

If you are ripping to mp3, I recommend the great, free CD ripper CDex. If you ever plan on playing the mp3's through a decent audio system, make sure you pick a good compression ratio. I use the "r3mix" preset, which is a VBR encoding that performed really well in double-blind audio tests done by a German HiFi magazine. Most couldn't tell the difference between the original and the encoding.

[Guest 25419]

aac is the best format. scientific fact ;)

mp3 is second best.

wma is pants.

[Guest chucky.egg]

'Best' depends on your requirements.

If small files is your priority WMA is probably 'Best' (of those three)

If sound quality is top priority... AAC

If compatibility ... MP3

Don't put too much store in what other people say is 'best'. Work out what you want and already have and the answer should be easy.

[Guest Tech]

depends on your liking however WMA is good. smaller and depending on the bitrate you use it will sound just like an MP3 but smaller!

remember not all codecs are supported on the mobile device except wma/mp3/wav

[Guest genaldar]

aac is the best format. scientific fact ;)

mp3 is second best.

wma is pants.

Sounds like somebody is an apple fanboy.

[Guest fraser]

AAC is the worse format, FACT. How many players can it be used used on? You still loving your 8-track, fanboi? ;)

In terms of compression, AAC and WMA are better a low bitrates than mp3, which is great for web streaming, but pointless for portable media unless you are really short on space.

For music, it's not really all that different. mp3 is maybe slightly larger, but in theory it should make the batteries last longer. AAC and WMA are a bit of a CPU hog.

By the way, mp3 around 200kbs will fool most hi-fi enthusiasts in a double-blind listening test, using high-quality equiptment. Especially the "r3mix" VBR preset. On your phone, the headphones are...well, lets just say "not very good". Ditto the amplifer driving them. In terms of quality, it really doesn't matter what you use because that's not where the weak links lie.