Yoesie - Music, Simply

AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) Is the next generation audio codec from the folks who developed the MP3 format and was designed as an improved-performance codec relative to MP3. Unfortunately high licensing costs have kept this format from widespread use and is largely only supported by Apple…this is the format your songs are in when you purchase a song from iTunes. While it has slightly better sound quality and file size relationship when compared with MP3 files it is only recommended if you solely use a Mac and/or iPod as it is not supported on a many players.up

Album Art A digital image of the actual cover shipped with the album. Album art is part of the Meta data Tagged information provided by Yoesie.up

ALE (Apple Lossless Encoder) A LOSSLESS codec developed by Apple Computer and provides full, uncompressed CD quality audio in about half the space of the original file. It only works in iTunes and on iPod players. Its equivalent open source codec is FLAC. up

Bit Rate Defines how much information is stored for every second of music. This value generally takes the form of kilobits per second (kbps). The higher the bit rate, the closer the encoding is to the original music source.up

Codec Is shorthand for COder/DECode. Audio compression algorithms are typically referred to as audio codecs and as with other specific forms of data compression, different codecs will supply different LOSSLESS and LOSSY file types (MP3, AAC, FLAC ECT.). It is the codec software that defines how the music is encoded between its uncompressed form and its compressed form (from a ripped CD to a digital file type). up

CD Spindle A CD spindle is part of the Yoesie Ship Kit sent to you when you place your order online. They are designed to transport large quantities of CD’s safely and efficiently.up

Constant Bit Rate (CBR) CBR is an encoding method that samples music at a constant rate which allows it to maintain that same bit rate across the entire audio file. CBR uses the same amount of information to describe music…weather it is audible or not. It doesn’t allow for more or less information as the music changes (the silence at the beginning of a song is recorded at the same bit rate as the meat of the song). It results in larger file sizes with no gain in audio quality. SEE Variable Bit Rate (VBR) for alternative. up

Compression Is the process of reducing the range of an audio signal and decreasing its size by removing some of the songs information. The codec used, sets a limit for the compression so that the highs and lows that are audible to the human ear are kept and those that are deemed inaudible or unimportant to the file are deleted. Compression is based on kbps and generally the higher the compression rate the better audio will sound…it looses less information…320kbps sounds better than 128kbps. up

Digital Audio File This is a file containing music information, encoded from your CD’s, which can be read by a computer or specialized music player. up

DRM (Digital Rights Management) Is a technology used to protect digital products from copyright infringement.up

Encoding The process of changing audio from one format to another…from your CD’s to a digital audio file (or from your FLAC archived copy to a usable MP3 format). In this process, the music is compressed to produce a smaller file.up

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) FLAC is a popular, open source, and free audio compression codec that is LOSSLESS…unlike LOSSY codecs such as MP3 and AAC…it does not remove any information from the audio stream and produces an exact copy of the original. Key benefits of the FLAC format are the faster transcoding speeds when transcoding your lossless archive to a lossy format and the ability to stream CD quality music with this lossless format.up

ID3 ID3 is a form of tagging technology and it is how information is stored in an MP3 file. The tags are separated from the music in the file so they never impact the quality of the music and contain information like title, artist, album, track number, album art or pictures, and other various types of information on or about the artist or album. up

KiloBytes Per Second (kbps) Is a digital data rate measurement system for how fast information will get from one point to another in a given time. It is often used with digital music formats and generally the higher the kbps, the better the audio quality and the more storage needed. up

Lossless A method of file compression, like FLAC or APE, that does not remove any information from the audio stream which produces an exact copy of the original…it preserves the full audio fidelity of your music. It takes much more space than a LOSSY format and should be used to archive a digital music library. up

Lossy Is a method of digital audio compression that removes frequencies judged by the codec to be essentially inaudible. Formats like MP3, ACC, or Org Vorbis are LOSSY formats and are encoded losing some of their original information. It is the format to use when using portable players like an ipod.up

Media Server This is a general term for digital audio file players that are part of a home hi-fi or software based player. These generally play a lossless format to produce the very best sound and allow some form of music streaming capability. Some media servers now, and most will in the near future, be able to control all things audio and visual in your home.up

Meta Data Is data about data…It is the fact and information about a CD that we process including Artist Name, Album, Track Title and Number, Genre, Album Cover Art, Credits, Composer (classical genre), Conductor (classical genre) and Compilation Information (individual track artists for compilation/soundtrack albums).up

MP3 (MPEG Layer 3) This is by far the most popular digital audio format. It is a LOSSY format that can be played on almost all MP3 players and CD players (if you copied MP3 to a CD…your player would most likely play that CD). MP3 is so commonly used; it has become the "branded" name for any type of digital music file…like "Kleenex" for facial tissue or "Coke" for cola.up

MP3 Player A general term for any hardware or software digital audio file players including iPod, iTunes, Zune, Window Media Player, and Winamp. It is so called because the MP3 format is the most popular format.up

MP3 Jukebox see Media Serverup

Ogg Vorbis Free Software Foundation developed this LOSSY, open source codec…meaning (among other things) that no one has to pay for licensing fees when it is used, unlike codecs like MP3, AAC, or WMA. Ogg Vorbis has a very good sound quality and touted to have smaller file sizes for the audio output. It is becoming more popular and accessible but it is currently supported by very few players.up

Ripping The process of extracting audio from a CD into its raw form, which can then be encoded to a digital format like MP3.up

Synching The process of putting your new digital formats on a devices like DVD's, iPod / MP3 players or Hardrives.up

Tags/ID3 Tags are how information is stored in an MP3 file. The tags are separated from the music in the file so they never impact the quality of the music. It includes the Meta data within the file.up

Transcode As defined by Wikipedia, "the direct digital-to-digital conversion from one codec to another. It involves the decoding/decompressing of the original data to a raw intermediate format and then recoding it into a supported format." Basically, it’s the conversion of one digital format to another without changing the original digital file. Transcoding lossy file formats creates generational loss in the digital file. up

Variable Bit Rate (VBR) A type of LOSSY compression that selects portions of an audio file that are indistinguishable to the human ear, then lowers their bit rate to save on the size of the file. The more complex the audio in the file the higher the bit rate within that file…the lower the complexity the lower the bit rate. For example the silence at the beginning of a track doesn’t need to be compressed using the same bit rate as the meat of the song with the whole band playing. It sounds great and uses less space than CBR.up