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AnchorDesk

AnchorDesk Staff
Windows Media 9: Better sound, smaller files

AnchorDesk Staff
ZDNet AnchorDesk
Thursday, September 12, 2002
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Covering last week's well-hyped launch of Windows Media 9, most of the press focused on how Microsoft is using the latest version of its media player to woo Hollywood. (Bill Gates, James Cameron, and LL Cool J together again!) But that coverage overlooked some of the product's technical enhancements--new features that should leave digital audio fans just as starry-eyed.

For starters, Media 9 improves on what, in my humble opinion, was already the best audio codec around. Before the latest enhancements, a 64-bit Windows Media Audio (WMA) file sounded just as good (to me, anyway) as a 128Kbps MP3 file. Now, sure, if you've got a 40GB hard disk to work with, you might not care much about saving space (though I still do). But if you're using a portable audio player (and presuming it, like my current favorite, Creative's Nomad MuVo, supports the format), WMA files let you double the amount of music you can carry around.

MICROSOFT SAYS Media 9 improves audio compression by up to 20 percent, video closer to 50 percent, compared to previous versions of the player. This means that, if you've been encoding songs at 128Kbps, you can probably drop down to 96Kbps; if you were using 64Kbps, you can likely switch to 48Kbps and possibly even 32Kbps, depending on how finely tuned your ears are. A new codec, WMA Variable Bit Rate (VBR), can also enhance sound quality by reallocating underutilized bits in "simpler" pieces of music and reallocating them to more complex ones. Obviously, the lower the bitrate, the smaller the file size, and the more music you can pack onto your portable player.

To test the audio quality, I conducted a little experiment: I recorded Simon and Garfunkel's America  in four different audio formats, then had my mother (a professional musician) listen to all four, plus the original CD. Not only would dear old Mom provide an expert opinion, but I was hoping her presence would cause those of you who disagree with me no matter what I say to be a bit nicer in your TalkBack posts. After all, you wouldn't want to insult my mommy, would you? (Yeah, I just asked for it, didn't I?)

Well, after listening to the song more times than there are ways to leave your lover, Mom ranked the new WMA 9 64Kbps VBR format just behind the original CD, followed by WMA 9 48Kbps standard, WMA 8 64Kbps, and, finally, MP3 128Kbps.

CLEARLY, judging audio quality is an extremely subjective business. Nevertheless, my very informal test proved to me that what I've been telling friends and family for more than a year now: People are nuts to encode their tracks in anything other than WMA. And, for the vast majority of people, especially those using portable players, 64Kbps is more than good enough.

Of course, if you're a heavy user of peer-to-peer file-swapping services, the vast majority of songs remain in MP3 format. But heck, if you made the switch to WMA, maybe other people would too--just think about all the time you'd save in downloads then. Of course, you can score some extra good karma points if you actually stick to swapping only non-copyrighted songs.

If your PC is hooked up to a 5.1-channel stereo system, the new Windows Media 9 Professional codec sounds pretty superb. It remains to be seen how many artists and music companies will release recordings taking advantage of it, though. Microsoft is hoping that folks will follow the lead of Peter Gabriel, whose next album, Up   (on sale on Sept. 25), will be offered in the new codec.

BEYOND THE IMPROVED file formats, the Media 9 player also sports a number of nice interface enhancements, many of which will be familiar to anyone who's used Apple iTunes or MusicMatch Jukebox; Microsoft has always been good at borrowing, and sometimes improving on, best-of-breed features.

My favorite additions include: auto playlists, which create lists based on any number of criteria including popularity, genre, and file size; the ability to fit the player into the Windows task bar; cross-fading, which mixes the end of one song into the beginning of another, eliminating blank space; and automatic volume leveling, which helps to standardize volume across different recordings in your music library.

None of this is to suggest that Microsoft's main competitor in the media player game--RealNetworks--will go away anytime soon. But Real's focus of late is expanding its already impressive roster of paid content (such as broadcasts of live sporting events). You can count on Real to continue improving its product, if only to make sure its paid offerings remain technologically competitive. But with the release of Windows Media Player 9, Microsoft is setting that bar pretty high.

What do you think? Does Media 9 sound enticing? Are you ready to switch from MP3 to WMA? TalkBack to me!

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