mp3 to wave 1.16 mp3 to wave 1.16| Decoder Source: | Acoustica http://www.mp3towave.com/ |
| Version: | v1.16 © 2000 Acoustica |
| Price: | $14.95 registration (unregistered version gives 33 free conversions, then adds a reminder to each converted .wav file) |
| Settings: | none |
| Similar products: | uses Xaudio MPEG Audio Engine © 1996-2000 by MpegTV, LLC See also older version 1.02 below. |
| Verdict: | Very Good |
| VBR: | All |
| Full file: | some |
| Major Flaws: | none |
| Minor Flaws: | clips end off many files, small problem with lame encoded files |
| Output level: | correct |
| 1-bit relative accuracy: | Excellent |
| 1-bit absolute accuracy: | Excellent |
mp3 to wave is an excellent idea - it adds an option to the menu that pops up when you right click on a file, so with one click you can turn any mp3 file into a wave file. You can select multiple mp3 files at once, and set the destination directory as required.
In this new version, there are two problems. Firstly, mp3towav clips the end off many mp3 files (about 1000 samples, or 1/50th of a second is typical). Secondly, there is an obscure bug with the Xaudio decoder when decoding certain lame encoded files. This is described fully in the review of MusicMatch Jukebox, which also uses the Xaudio decoding engine.
In conclusion, this software is improving rapidly (see the previous review) but still isn't perfect. If the concept appeals to you, and you don't mind loosing a fraction of a second from the end of each mp3 file, then it's worth a look.
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mp3 to wave 1.02| Decoder Source: | Acoustica http://www.mp3towave.com/ |
| Version: | v1.02 + v1.06 © 2000 Acoustica |
| Price: | $14.95 registration (unregistered version gives 33 free conversions, then adds a reminder to each converted .wav file) |
| Settings: | Use all available computing power, Always decode MP3s to CD-Quality |
| Similar products: | uses Xaudio MPEG Audio Engine © 1996-2000 by MpegTV, LLC See newer version 1.16 above. |
| Verdict: | Fair |
| VBR: | some |
| Full file: | few |
| Major Flaws: | Skips 1 sample every two seconds, giving a click |
| Minor Flaws: | VBR problems, clips end off many files, small problem with lame encoded files |
| Output level: | correct |
| 1-bit relative accuracy: | Excellent |
| 1-bit absolute accuracy: | Excellent |
mp3 to wave is an excellent idea - it adds an option to the menu that pops up when you right click on a file, so with one click you can turn any mp3 file into a wave file. You can select multiple mp3 files at once, and set the destination directory as required.
Unfortunately, when decoding, every two seconds it skips one sample. In some pieces of music, some of these missing samples will be audible as a click, as the waveform will jump slightly at this point. The following image shows a spectrogram (frequency against time) of a tone sweep (encoded using mp3 Producer pro, decoded using mp3 to wave), rudely interrupted by a click at 8 seconds (the bright vertical bar). It's very audible!
mp3 to wave also has problems with some VBR files, and often chops the last few samples off files. It uses the same decoding engine as Music Match Jukebox and hence also exhibits the bug mentioned there. This utility is a good idea which I hope will be perfected soon, but for the moment, you should avoid it.
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Copyright 2000 David J M Robinson. All Rights reserved. You may not re-publish any information or content from this site without the authors' express permission.