Site to download [legally] music?

[WNxScythe]

I found a site that has loads of MP3s to download of some albums I wanna buy (it's either to download cause of where I live)... anyways I wondering are the MP3s always gonna be the same quality as if they were on the actual CD?

Also, does anyone know what bitrate normal albums on CDs are?

 

[jazzdj]

CDs are about 1.4 Mbps. (44.1 Khz sampling frequency x 16 bits x 2 channels.) "CD quality" MP3 is usually 320 Kpbs but is still a lossy compression (some sound is thrown away that you probably can't hear, based on perceptual encoding). Other codecs such as AAC and I think Ogg offer true lossless compression. See this article for info on perceptual encoding and how it allows MP3, Dolby Digital etc. to function more efficiently.

Anyway, whether your MP3 site has near CD quality depends mainly on the bit rate (and codec, some are better (e.g. WMA is supposed to sound better than MP3 at lower bit rates) but presumably you're only talking MP3 format).

 

[WNxScythe]

What bitrate would I need (mp3wise since that's what's easy to find) to match CD quality?

 

[polarity]

he said 320kpbs is about CD quality, but there's no such thing as matching CD quality perfectly

jazzdj: ogg isn't lossless

ps: lol christian

 

[jazzdj]

Generally, MP3 vendors seem to refer to 320kpbs as "CD quality" though that's definitely more of a marketing term, not an exact equivalence.

Ogg Vorbis doesn't do lossless, but Ogg FLAC does, to clarify that bit.

 

[noisefan]

I LOVE Wikipedia!

Here's some info...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_compression

But what you're really after is here...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3