MP3 File Size, Bit Size Limits??

Bob Snelgrove · Post by **Bob Snelgrove** » 31 Oct 2005 4:44 pm

Guys,

I'm trying to convert an audiobook that I own to MP3's so that I can fit many hours on a CD. I've tried saving with soundforge at 64 and 128kb but the 250 meg file won't play on a regular CD player.

Jon Moen · Post by **Jon Moen** » 31 Oct 2005 6:39 pm

A regular cd player won't play mp3s. You have to burn them to an Audio disk in some program like MS Media player.

Are you saying the MP3 ended up at 250+ megs? I am not sure what the file size limit is for a single "song" on a cd.

Jon<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Jon Moen on 31 October 2005 at 06:41 PM.]</p></FONT>

Bob Snelgrove · Post by **Bob Snelgrove** » 31 Oct 2005 7:15 pm

Jon

I think most newer CD players play regular mp3 music files these days. All mine do, but won't play this huge 250 meg file ( 4.5 hours)

bob

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 1 Nov 2005 3:53 am

The audio CD player must be MP3 compatible. Not all audio CD players and even new CD players are MP3 compatible.

I did a search on the web and didn't find anything on maximum file size for an MP3, but I did find a lot of programs that will split a large MP3 file into smaller segments, which may be what you have to do. One 250 Meg MP3 file is extremely big, considering a MP3 music file is only 2 -3 Megs (1 minute of music is approximately 1 meg with 128 bit compression).

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 2 Nov 2005 2:37 am

like Jack says..
unless the CD player cleary states MP3 as well..NADA...

128 bit is sort of the standard MP3 compression. Using a package that converts MP3s to CD Audio format, 128 would be the proper selection. Most stock CD burn software will convert WAVES and such but NOT MP3's.

A common package is MusicMatch..but I believe there are some Freeware packages out there as well..

Keep in mind also that if your intent down the line is to perhaps Post or EMAIL MP3 tunes , 128 is too big..you will need to compress it down to get the file size in the area of 750 k so everyone can download or stream the audio.

Bob Snelgrove · Post by **Bob Snelgrove** » 2 Nov 2005 8:55 am

The CD players I have play mp3's just fine. They just choke on this huge file. Tried 64 and 128 bit, no luck.

Using Soundforge to record and save as mp3

thx

bob

Kiyoshi Osawa · Post by **Kiyoshi Osawa** » 2 Nov 2005 1:53 pm

Your best bet is to subdivide the file into chapters. If this is inpractical, you can lower the sample rate as well as the bit size, which will give you an even smaller file size.

I'm not in front of sound forge, but I know you can change the sample rate for the encoded mp3. 22khz at 64 kbps will still sound very reasonable for a voice only recording.

Consider converting the file to mono as well. This by itself will bring the file size down to half of what you had originally.

Avoid using Variable bit rate encoding, since this option is not as universally supported as constant bit rate.

hope this helps

------------------
<img src="http://static.flickr.com/33/47545505_ac71b7ed26_s.jpg" />
The Steel guitar Podcast

Gary Shepherd · Post by **Gary Shepherd** » 9 Nov 2005 3:28 pm

The files size is most likely the problem. Break the book up into smaller sections. Maybe save each chapter as a separate file and name them 01.mp3, 02.mp3, etc. so they will play sequentially.

------------------
Gary Shepherd

Carter D-10

www.16tracks.com

Howard Tate · Post by **Howard Tate** » 9 Nov 2005 3:39 pm

You might have better luck at 44 and 128. For an audio book you can probably compress it even more. Goldwave is a free program iI use that does painless conversions and covers a lot of formats.

------------------
Howard, 'Les Paul Recording, Zum SD12U, Carter D10 8/8, Vegas 400, Boss ME-5, Boss DM-3, DD-3, Fender Steel King, Understanding wife. http://www.Charmedmusic.com