Creating better mp3 files....it is music to your ears

A small article in Wired magazine (November 2007) caught my eye. It was about ripping better mp3 files. Ever since the creation of Napster and portable music devices....the mp3 file format has become the choice for many around the world. The good thing is that mp3 compression allows for smaller music files - but the problem with this is that we have become used to listening to (as the music purists would put it) - "crap." We have sacrificed sound quality for small file sizes.

The Wired article states "the audio geeks behind LAME (the decoder) continually fine-tune their compression algorithms so cymbals don't crunch like garbage-can lids, and screaming guitars don't sound like squeaking Fisher-Prince toys."
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The article suggests 2 mp3 applications to try (they are free of course):

1. Mac users: iLas
2. PC users: Exact Audio Copy

If you are using Audacity (a free audio recording and editing application that most schools now use....for Mac, PC & Linux.) Be sure to download and install the lame.dll file. This will enable you to export your audio files as .mp3 files with a great compression. This is important if you are using Audacity to record Language or English assessments.

One of many possible links (if Googled) you can download the lame.dll file (download)