Not really... the only advice I can give is trust your ears and weigh the options. If you rely on portables, you're obviously not going to pick a format with low hardware support (such as MPC or Vorbis). On the other hand, if top quality is your main concern, you're goint to want to choose the highest quality format available (MPC). Here's a little table on the good points of some of the more popular codecs available:
MPC
- unbeatable quality
- the format isn't complex
- fast for decode (100x on my P3 900 MHz)
- fast for encode (7x on my P3 900 MHz)
- Why you'd use it: if you're anal retentive about quality and have no use for portables or file sharing.
Vorbis
- great quality
- open
- slowly, but surely gaining popularity
- Why you'd use it: if you want an open format with good quality.
AAC
- great quality
- open standard
- fairly popular among big businesses, portable players are available
- Why you'd use it: I don't know, I find it too slow to be used by end users. It's also covered by some heavy patents.
MP3
- for the most part, good quality.
- open
- popularity
- portable player support
- Why you'd use it: you feel more comfortable using tried and true methods/portable support is important.
WMA/VQF/MP3pro
- Why you'd use these: if you like laughing.
The best way to judge a format is to try it out and see what you think. I used MP3 for about 3 years. Unhappy with the sound quality, I tried AAC about a year and a half ago and finally settled on MPC in March of 2001. It is a decision I have yet to regret.
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Topic: MPEGPlus (Read 1561 times)