A Certain Ratio - Early (320kbps Covers).rar
Joelle Ridgeway
MP3 compression works by reducing (or approximating) the accuracy of certain components of sound that are considered (by psychoacoustic analysis) to be beyond the hearing capabilities of most humans. This method is commonly referred to as perceptual coding or as psychoacoustic modeling.[13] The remaining audio information is then recorded in a space-efficient manner, using MDCT and FFT algorithms. Compared to CD-quality digital audio, MP3 compression can commonly achieve a 75 to 95% reduction in size. For example, an MP3 encoded at a constant bitrate of 128 kbit/s would result in a file approximately 9% of the size of the original CD audio.[14] In the early 2000s, compact disc players increasingly adopted support for playback of MP3 files on data CDs.
The basic MP3 decoding and encoding technology is patent-free in the European Union, all patents having expired there by 2012 at the latest. In the United States, the technology became substantially patent-free on 16 April 2017 (see below). MP3 patents expired in the US between 2007 and 2017. In the past, many organizations have claimed ownership of patents related to MP3 decoding or encoding. These claims led to several legal threats and actions from a variety of sources. As a result, in countries that allow software patents, uncertainty about which patents must have been licensed to create MP3 products without committing patent infringement was common in the early stages of the technology's adoption.
Battery Life
The Zen is rated at 12 Hours of use before you plug it in for a recharge, this appears to meet my initial request for a minimum of 8 hours of playback time. The actual playback time is closer to 7-8 hours, this is continuous playback using a mix of 128kbps to 192kbps Mp3's with the volume set at 23 (out of 25) I'll assume if you use a lower volume setting and a lower bit rate with your Mp3's you may achieve closer to the 12 Hours.
So is this considered a Pass or Fail?
It depends on how you look at it. I can get very close to 8 hours so It's a conditional pass only because it has a bonus feature, a user replaceable battery, when I purchased mine it actually came with an extra battery, this allows me to quickly swap the battery out for the fresh one when needed.
Portability
Obviously the smaller and lighter the player is the more desirable it becomes, hell if my cell phone could play Mp3's it would be ideal as I'm stuck bringing it everywhere anyway! The Zen weighs in at 3.8 oz (110g) and the actual size is WxHxD: 2" x 3.3" x 0.7" (51mm x 84mm x 19mm) Here the Zen gets high marks as its smaller than the iPod mini and Creative included a nifty plastic case holder that doubles as a stand or belt clip holder by simply exchanging a removable piece on the rear of the Plastic holder.
The ability to play any Mp3 format
The Zen actually plays .mp3 files and .wma (Windows Media Player audio files) and they threw in the ability to play .wav also. At first glance seems fine but with the amount of possible encoding bit-rates and options within that bit rate such as constant or variable encoding and the ability to use 32Khz or 44Khz stereo, mono or joint stereo creates a large amount of possible .mp3 formats not including the different encoders and the fact that MP3 Pro is also available (which is backwards compatible with Mp3).
I dug around the Creative web site and found nothing about supported bit-rates which is quite disappointing so I installed my usual set of MP3's files encoded at 128kbps, 192kbps and 320kbps and found that they all were supported and played fine. I did find one interesting problem that took me while track down, I initially transferred 564 songs but the player reported only 387 songs! So I verified the files were actually present and the right size, I re-transferred the songs after wiping the drive clean, I upgraded the firmware and tried again, still had the same problem. I began to suspect the drivers or cable. After some thought I decided to check the bit-rate of the missing songs to see if they offered any clues to what the issue was, no luck as they were all within the group that did play fine. I searched the Internet to see if anyone else had the same issue but no mention was made anywhere (it's a fairly new product on the market so that's normal).
I found the problem its the 'ID tags'
I had created many of my Mp3's back when the encoder was running on Pentium 233mhz the software of choice was Audio Grabber and I was busy converting my entire collection of CD's to High-Quality 128kbps Mp3's. I guess the software back then didn't put any information into the ID Tag (Hell I don't even know if the ID tag was used back then). I discovered this when I noticed the largest portion of Mp3's that were not showing up on the Zen all were from my early conversions. After some digging around I noticed the ID Tag was blank, my first thought was NO WAY, these files have played in every MP3 player I've used you've gotta be kidding!
So I edited one on the songs ID Tag and copied over it to the Zen and Wham it showed up! What a strange quirk I thought to myself, now I was not really excited about having to edit all my songs ID Tags but it turned out to be a snap after I downloaded a free utility called TagMaster from AnalogX. I fixed the tags and re-transferred my 564 songs and 564 songs showed up on my Zen!
I want at least 8 hours of music at 128kbps
The Zen contains a 5 gig Hard drive which can easily store over 1000 songs at 128kbps or approx 80 hours of music! This one is an easy pass and far exceeds my needs but those of you who want your entire collection at hand will need to pick and choose which files make it on the device.
Sound Quality
I was very surprised to learn that the Zen has a signal to noise ratio of 98db, to avoid confusing you with what that actually means I'll simply state that this is currently the best sounding portable player available on the market period! Just for comparison the iPod has a signal to noise ratio of up to 90db (98db is much better) for a better description of what signal to noise ratio means click Here.
Essentially a signal to noise ratio of 98db is as good as any High-End Amplifier or Receiver on the market, for example the Yamaha RX-Z9 has a Signal to Noise Ratio of 100dB. This means you can simply connect the Zen Micro directly to any Audio system and enjoy outstanding playback that is virtually noise free and will rival the original recording as long as the bit-rate is sufficient.
User replaceable Battery
This one is very Important to me as I've had various Palm devices and an iPod which did not have this feature. I learned the hard way when the batteries start to die you now have a disposable device because the cost and effort required to replace the battery renders the product useless. The Zen I purchased actually came with an extra Li-ion battery apparently a promotion that may or not exist when you head down to purchase one yourself.
The task of switching the battery is extremely easy you simply slide off the rear cover and remove the drained battery and insert the fully charged one. The replacement battery can be purchased from Creative for $40 U.S.
PN: 70PD000000039 Description: 3.7V Li-ion Polymer battery 680mAh
The difference between the 320kbps track and the 192kbps track is more rational to argue about. But it's still 1.6 times the size. Yes, we have tons more bandwidth and storage and power today, but storage space on your mobile device will never be free, nor will bandwidth or storage in the cloud, where I think most of this stuff should ultimately reside. And all other things being equal, wouldn't you rather be able to fit 200 songs on your device instead of 100? Wouldn't you rather be able to download 10 tracks in the same time instead of 5? Efficiency, that's where it's at. Particularly when people with dog's ears wouldn't even be able to hear the difference.
The MP3 format gained popularity due to its ability to provide near-CD quality audio in a much smaller file size. By removing certain audio frequencies and imperceptible sounds, MP3 files achieve a high compression ratio without compromising the overall listening experience. This made it possible to store numerous songs on portable devices with limited storage capacity, such as early MP3 players.
"On the second disc pride of place must go to Reilly's tribute to Tony Wilson, the three part Paean to Wilson. The first portion is a looped question that Tony posed 'Is this an art form or are you just a technician?', which segues into the next phase entitled Chant, really driving with some great guitar wizardry and lovely female vocals. Completing the trilogy is Darkness Here, a dramatic viola coda. Spellbinding stuff. Speaking of Wilson, he was apparently given to admonish Vini for his singing and lyrics, probably part of the reason why some much of DC's work is instrumental. For me though The Missing Boy (also on this disc), with Reilly's hesitant voice in full effect and mysterious words, works really well. The 3 live tracks from Leeds in 1980 may provide temptation to the collector and there's certainly a lot to love in this candid shot of the very early days of the Column as a live entity. There is some nice engaging patter with the audience ('Do you want some more? Nice audience... Ok, fucking awful audience!') and the quietly demonstrative way he set out his stall impresses here, the sheer nerve of allowing himself to be quiet in the din of Post Punk. Quite a feat, really."