AAC vs. OGG vs. MP3

asv108 writes "Yesterday, Apple unveiled their new music service claiming that the AAC format "combines sound quality that rivals CD." Here is a little comparison of lossy music codecs, comparing an Apple ripped AAC file with the commonly used MP3 codec and the increasingly popular OGG codec. Spectrum analysis was used to see which format did the best job of maintaining the shape of the original waveform." Wish they had WMAs in there too. And for the spoilage, it looks like OGG comes out on top.

PhatAudio is on Ogg's dick

[ObviousGuy]

Nothing will every beat Ogg in PhatAudio's eyes. They seem to find evidence of Ogg's superiority where there is none. It's like the lovers of vacuum tubes rather than transistors.

"It sounds warmer!"

Sure. And the incandescent lights in my house have a better smell than the fluorescent ones at work.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

/. effect strikes again

[Equuleus42]

Spectrum analysis was used to see which format did the best job of maintaining the shape of the original waveform.

Furthermore, "ping analysis" was used to see if the webserver survived the /. effect, and tests conclusively show that this is not the case. :^)

Poem.

[Anonymous Coward]

There once was a codec named Ogg,
It's name was peculiar and odd,
It replaced MP3,
Because it was free,
Hey, what the fuck is an Ogg?

Re:Maybe in the future...

[FearUncertaintyDoubt]

"sadly, I don't think OGG is *currently* known to anybody except nerds or IT pros"

Entering geek-fantasy bizarro world, please wait...

Marketing department hottie: Oh you sexy IT guy! Tell me more how I can get higher quality and higher compression rates on my music files! I want to know ev-ery-thiiinnggg!

Meanwhile, back in reality...

Marketing department hottie: [silence as she passes by, avoiding piercing leer of geek]

Geek: Hmm, I wonder if she noticed me. Doesn't she know the powers of music compression that I possess? (note to reader: she didn't, and she doesn't care)

Next up...

[cygnus]

let's compare video codec image quality by streaming the data thru a hex editor in realtime. :)

I'm The Archangel Gabriel

[RobotRunAmok]

...and I gotta tell you, having played that trumpet and serving as Music Director for the Celestial Choir since the Dawn of Time, I know Audio, and MP3 is the way to go. I've analyzed OGG, WMV, AAC, and this cute l'il analog thing which that wack job Orpheus put together Back in the Day, and I must say, nothing beats MP3, in your or anyone else's universe.

Of course, I'm logging in here under a pseudonym, so you'll just have to trust me. But hey, would a member of the Heavenly Host lie to you?

Re:Maybe in the future...

[CraigoFL]

When you start at zero, anything more than that is "increasingly" :-P

Re:I'm an audio analyst...

[Anonymous Coward]

son, if you were an audio expert, you wouldn't be working for Real.

I have a better plan

[JudgeFurious]

Last night I downloaded a bunch of tracks off of Apple's Music Store Service. I then played them (along with several tracks I already had in OGG and mp3) through my computers $9.95 speakers while holding my portable cassette recorder very, very close to the speaker (For the technical out there I was holding it close to the LEFT speaker and even turned the TV down some to get the best possible sound) and then replayed them all back on the same portable cassette recorder.

My conclusion is that all three sound like complete shit.

Re:Arggghh!

[SophtwareSlump]

I think the Ogg people should change the file extenstion of Vorbis files to .VBS! Oh wait....

all 15 ogg listeners...

[Anonymous Coward]

all 15 ogg listeners are getting together to 'rally' at apple trying to get them to support ogg. they have each committed to buy at least 5 ipods each if ogg is implemented, so then apple would sell at least 15*5 ipods, and it will definately be worth the effort to port ogg to ipod.

fools. its a 'mass-market' device. no one in the mass market even knows what ogg is. (do you use ogg? yeah i like em over-easy.)

Under-reported but VERY important distinction:

[mxcantor]

from macslash:

AAC comes with a significantly lower number of b*tching [\.] users than ogg

Re:The proof is in the listening

[Anonymous Coward]

btw, the apostrophe police have a warrant out for your arrest ... you're a doctoral candidate? Wow...

Well, a joint task force of the Capitalization Enforcement Agency and the Sloppy Ellipsis Eradication Department want you detained as a "material witness" and busted back to the third grade.

Re:Useless Comparison

[The Mainframe]

You're going to need a good sound tech, too. If you'd like to rent my golden ears, I'm available.

Re:Hard To Tell Difference

[Anonymous Coward]

"I've got a nice pair of Bose headphones....I don't consider myself a real audiophile."

No two phrases have ever been more appropriate together.

and similarly:

[mblase]

The sound engineers gave a high rank to equipment that produced the sound accurately. The musicians gave a high rank to equipment that made the music clear.

In the same vein, young new-car-owning males gave the highest rank to equipment with the most excessive bass; yuppie parents gave highest rank to equipment that played everything at half speed; and pre-teenagers gave the highest rank to equipment that looped the same four measures over and over again.

Re:pretty lame!

[glwtta]

It's covered by the use of imaginary-numbers.

Yeah, I noticed that a lot of reviews of this type use imaginary numbers.

Re:It's Vorbis, not Ogg.

[Anonymous Coward]

I learned during my brief foray into business that you should never give your company a name that has to be spelled aloud.

"Ziff dot org."

"Huh. That's not your site. That's some magazine site."

"No, it's Ziff. Ecks-eye-pee-aitch. Ziff."

"...What?"

Re:Unfortunately I'm sticking with MP3

[jolyonr]

Now, of course, if I lost my wife down the back of the sofa then I'd be able to go out and get a new Ogg-playing device without being shouted at!

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:That's all very well but

[fataugie]

musicians are legendary for listening on poor equipment and filling in the rest of the music mentally.

THank you, you just explained Bob Dylan to me. I knew there had to be something I was missing....