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How compact is MP3? We put 192 R.E.M. tracks on 1 CD in 6 hours Sunday, March 12, 2000 By Tracy Collins, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
How compact is MP3? We did a little experiment to illustrate.
As we're R.E.M. fanatics, our collection takes up a good part of a CD rack. Between studio versions, alternate takes and live tracks, our collection of 27 discs -- studio releases, compilations, soundtracks and maxi-singles -- contains 229 tracks (37 of which are repeats over the course of those discs). The 192 non-repeats represent a total of 12 hours and 23 minutes of Stipe, Mills, Buck and (mostly) Berry.
We wanted to translate all of that to an MP3 library -- one that was properly labeled and organized (yes, we're anal-retentive).
Using SoundJam MP software for the Macintosh ($29.99), we went to work. First, we didn't want to have to label those tracks by hand, so we went online and put each disc into the computer and clicked on the software's "get names online" button. In all but two cases, the names were recorded automatically and would be remembered by the computer and the software. In the two cases that were not automatic, the database came back with two choices, but in each case, one of the choices was correct, and we OK'd the right one. The entire process for 27 discs took just under 16 minutes.
Next came the process of getting the songs ready for conversion. Because SoundJam can convert straight from a compact disc, there were only seven tracks that we needed to prepare specially. These are songs from the great, unreleased R.E.M. live album --a collection of a dozen concert tracks originally intended for an album but that instead were released on maxi-singles to the "Automatic for the People," "Monster" and "New Adventures in Hi-Fi" albums.
We didn't need to treat them specially because they were live tracks, but because in five cases, there was a long period of banter at the end of one track to set up the next. Because this doesn't make a lot of sense if you're not playing the songs in sequence, we decided to edit it out. In another case, one song segues directly into the next, so we decided to treat them as one track rather than always trying to remember to keep the two together.
In each case, we used software called Toast Audio Extractor (more expensive music editing software will have this function; this was free with our CD burner). This software will give you a preview of each song that looks as if it was measured by a heart monitor. This allows you to see where the music and cheering end, as well as the pause before the banter. By selecting up to that point (or deleting from that point on), you can extract just the portion you want, to an AIFF file on the Macintosh (or a WAV file if you're using a PC). In the case of the two-song medley, we selected both tracks together and saved them as one AIFF. Total elapsed time for all of this editing work and the conversion to AIFF: Just under 14 minutes.
Finally, we used SoundJam to convert all of the tracks to MP3. This was the most time-consuming part of the exercise, though the only "baby-sitting" necessary is just changing one disc for another. This process was done at our leisure, but at a conversion speed ranging from 2.1 to 2.6 times the regular speed of the song, the total computer time was about 51/2 hours. The net result was a folder of MP3s that were automatically filed into subfolders labeled by the CD title, from "Murmurs" to the "Man on the Moon" soundtrack.
So, we have our comprehensive MP3 library of R.E.M., which totals just 584.8mb on our hard drive. We backed it up on a rewritable CD, which will allow us to add to all of the tracks from the band's next two albums as well. Yes, that's one CD.
These MP3s were made at medium-high quality, which is more than adequate for a portable player and our computer's stereo speakers. When we invest in expensive, high-end stereo speakers for the computer or a stereo system that plays MP3s, we might have to repeat the conversion at a quality level that will stand up to that output. That will double the computer size of the library (oh no, two discs!), but it will only cost me unattended conversion time because the edited AIFFs have been filed away for such an eventuality. And the computer will always remember the song names once they've been downloaded, unless we reformat our hard drive.
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