mp3 or wma

[druiaghtagh]

Which of these will allow the most tracks to be recorded to a cd please?

[Buenchico]

wma files are about half the size of equivalent mp3 files so you'll get twice as many wma files onto a CD.

Chris

[Space]

completely wrong, Buenchico.

You can choose the size of a mp3 file when you creat it ( the bitrate ). I don't know if you can choose the bitrate of a wma, I never tried, but I suppose you can.
The quality of the sound file depends on its bitrate (and other parameters)
I read that mp3 offers a slightly better quality for a similar bitrate, but I haven't tested it myself.

[Postdog]

Mp3 pro's offer CD quality at 96kb, less than WMA, and less (but better quality (providing you have ripped them yourself)) than standard mp3

[Buenchico]

Just to clear things up:

My previous answer referred to 'equivalent' mp3 files. Most sources state that a bitrate of around 128Kbps is needed to produce the same quality as a wma file. If this bit rate is assumed, then my original statement that, for equivalent files, those encoded as mp3 have file sizes twice those encoded as wma, remains true.

Chris

[fo3nix]

Space: he's not really wrong.

druiaghtagh: for about the same sound quality, wma files are smaller than mp3 files, and hence you can fit more onto a CD like buenchico says.

for the same bitrate, wma files are better. however, more devices support mp3 files, so in my view you'd be better off going for mp3 anyway (and to avoid microsoft's proprietary file formats).

an even better format than the two you ask about is aac (used by default by iPods). The only problem is that far less devices support playing aac than mp3.

[fo3nix]

That'll teach me for leaving questions in tabs for a few minutes.

[Kerplunk]

Fight !

[PatTheRat]

I have burnt hundreds of cd over the years, and whether I am burning wma's or mp3's never make a difference. The key factor here is the time limit on the cd, not the storage capacity. Therefore, a cd will hold the same amount of mp3s as it would wma's. However, an mp3 player would hold more wma's than mp3's (depending on the bitrate).

A cd does have a capacity of 700mb, but this capacity doesn't apply to files that have a time attached to them. A cd also has a limit of 80 minutes regarding time, and as the mp3/wma running time will be the same, it doesn't matter which you put onto the cd.

[Ralph]

Sorry Pat, you must be burning audio CD's in which case the software you use will convert the MP3's or WMA's back into normal CD Audio files. You will only get 80 odd minutes of these on a CD, mainly because the file size of 80 minutes of CD Audio is 700MB.

If you burn the MP3's as a data disc, the files stay as MP3's and you can get significantly more on, 800MBs worth!

I agree with fo3nix, I'd use MP3's since these are more widespread and not suspect to copy protection measures etc.

[Ralph]

That 800MB should have been 700MB again, sorry!

[PatTheRat]

Yeah Ralph, I was assuming that the cd being burnt was for the purpose of listening instead of transferring data.

[Ralph]

So did I! More and more CD players are compatible with MP3's and WMA's, but you'd need to burn these as data discs even though you'll be playing them in a cd player. That way you can get hours and hours on one CD.