Microsoft limits MP3 quality in Windows XP ?
Reuters reports that Microsoft and competitor RealNetworks, are working hard to compete with MP3. There is a rumor that Microsoft will put a piece of code in Windows XP that will disable users to encode a MP3 file above a certain bitrate. This to try users to 'convince' that Windows Media is a much better alternative.
I almost can't believe this, Microsoft can't be that stupid ! Also a report at ZDnet.com
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Microsoft, for example, plans to severely limit the quality of music that can be recorded as an MP3 file using software built into the next version of its personal-computer operating system, Windows XP, according to the report. Music recorded in the software company's own format, called Windows Media Audio, will sound clearer and require far less storage space on a computer, the paper said. Other formats gaining popularity are based on the relatively new Advanced Audio Codec created by AT&T, Dolby Laboratories, Sony and the Fraunhofer Institut Integrierte Schaltungen in Germany, the paper said. |
I almost can't believe this, Microsoft can't be that stupid ! Also a report at ZDnet.com
Source: Reuters
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is it me or is this another lame piece of shit from M$ ?
"that will disable users to encode a MP3 file above a certain bitrate..." - "will sound
clearer and require far less storage space on a
computer..." Ummm!! lets say they restrict it to 96kbit/s .. and you have Wma at lets say 224kbit/s .. wouldnt the MP3 take up less space than WMA ?!? hmm! yes
So lets all salute the person from either M$ or Cdfreaks. this person have actually found a compression for his beloved WMA which makes WMA around 10x better than MP3. wonder why everyone isnt using WMA then
hehehe :7
"that will disable users to encode a MP3 file above a certain bitrate..." - "will sound
clearer and require far less storage space on a
computer..." Ummm!! lets say they restrict it to 96kbit/s .. and you have Wma at lets say 224kbit/s .. wouldnt the MP3 take up less space than WMA ?!? hmm! yes
So lets all salute the person from either M$ or Cdfreaks. this person have actually found a compression for his beloved WMA which makes WMA around 10x better than MP3. wonder why everyone isnt using WMA then
hehehe :7
Posted by Nila on Friday 13 April 2001 02:49
I personally reckon this is total BS. Microsoft aren't that stupid and I'm sure it wouldn't be legal for them to try and cripple a format like that. They might do it in some versions of XP but they definitely wont be doing it in all of them. They'd have too much to loose. Even if they do do it, someone will hack it.
Posted by ants on Friday 13 April 2001 08:04
probably it just means that the mp3 codec shipping *with* the OS will only have limited bitrates -- it would be impossible for them to prevent encoders like lame or acat from encoding at higher bitrates.
it's similar to saying windows 95 had no mp3 support...it didn't, so what? encoding utils will still run fine on it.
it's similar to saying windows 95 had no mp3 support...it didn't, so what? encoding utils will still run fine on it.
Posted by ren on Friday 13 April 2001 10:41
Maybe it's the usual "we broke something & cant fix it" bug M$ seem 2 have :4 and they decided to call it there "mp3 security"
Ripped from winsupersite.com:
The relationship between Windows Media Player 8 and the MP3 audio format is widely misunderstood. Basically, WMP8 will be able to playback MP3 files, but encoding (or "ripping" CD audio into MP3 format will require an MP3 plug-in. So during the Windows XP beta, Microsoft is supplying a sample MP3 plug-in for testing purposes, but it's limited to 56 Kbps rips, which is pretty useless. Fortunately, there's a way around this.
Fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft MediaPlayer Settings MP3Encoding
Here, you'll see sub-keys for LowRate and LowRateSample, which of course equates to the single 56 Kbps sample rate you see in WMP8. To get better sampling rates, try adding the following keys (Using New then DWORD value):
"LowRate" = DWORD value of 0000dac0
"MediumRate" = DWORD value of 0000fa00
"MediumHighRate" = DWORD value of 0001f400
"HighRate" = DWORD value of 0002ee00
Now, when you launch WMP8 and go into Tools, then Options, then Copy Music, you will have four encoding choices for MP3: 56 Kbps, 64 Kbps, 128 Kbps, and 192 Kbps. Because this sample encoder will not be available in the final release of Windows XP, this tip will probably be applicable only during the beta.
The relationship between Windows Media Player 8 and the MP3 audio format is widely misunderstood. Basically, WMP8 will be able to playback MP3 files, but encoding (or "ripping"
CD audio into MP3 format will require an MP3 plug-in. So during the Windows XP beta, Microsoft is supplying a sample MP3 plug-in for testing purposes, but it's limited to 56 Kbps rips, which is pretty useless. Fortunately, there's a way around this.
Fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft MediaPlayer Settings MP3Encoding
Here, you'll see sub-keys for LowRate and LowRateSample, which of course equates to the single 56 Kbps sample rate you see in WMP8. To get better sampling rates, try adding the following keys (Using New then DWORD value):
"LowRate" = DWORD value of 0000dac0
"MediumRate" = DWORD value of 0000fa00
"MediumHighRate" = DWORD value of 0001f400
"HighRate" = DWORD value of 0002ee00
Now, when you launch WMP8 and go into Tools, then Options, then Copy Music, you will have four encoding choices for MP3: 56 Kbps, 64 Kbps, 128 Kbps, and 192 Kbps. Because this sample encoder will not be available in the final release of Windows XP, this tip will probably be applicable only during the beta.
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