A Few Questions For The Know Alls....

[ComfyGray]

Hi All,

Not posted in help as these are not earth shattered questions. Have had a good look through threads but cant find the answers and so hoped for a quick bit of assistance please.

1) Does the transcoding happen on my PC - I presume it does from another thread I read?

2) So if I have a 10mb 320kbps MP3 and transcode it down to 128kbps as per the settings on my android phone - the phone will be downloading the lesser data total and not the original 10mb?

3) Does my music collection get touched in any way shape or form or is it all simple 'read' as I am a bit dicey about getting my collection messed up?

4) Is this the best app I have ever seen for an android phone - I can answer that myself and say "yes".

Cheers all.

[nelgin]

From what I can tell

1) Yes. Transcoding is done on the host system

2) If you're streaming to an Android phone and have it set to 128k, then that's what it'll stream at. If you try to download the file rather than stream it, I believe you'll still download the original sized file. I think there's a request to be able to download a transcoded version.

3) Your physical collection is not touched. The only time that happens is if you update the tags or artwork or something like that.

4) I'm not sure about that. I'm disappointed in the audio quality compared to something like Pandora. I have 15mb/s so I should be getting an excellent stream.

[GJ51]

4) I use my EVO 4g for connecting to the SONY stereo in my car and the Bose Wave radio in my kitchen. Some of the best sounding music I get is with these two setups. Excellent sound quality as reported by my son. He's a concert violinist that has perfect pitch and plays internationally with two orchestras. If the quality is good enough for him, it's fine by me.

[ComfyGray]

Thank you both for the replies.

I think Subsonic delivers excellent quality sound too.

However, I am still confused about where the transcoding takes place. I think it may be on the phone as the transcoding bitrates are on the phone?

Can anyone give me a definate answer that my phone downloads the full track or the lower bitrate transcoded version as this is vitally important for someone on a limited data tariff.

Cheers.

[GJ51]

The bit rate will be downsampled by the server if the phone requests a lower bit rate. All processing is done on the server, the phone is merely a playback device. If your concerned about data usage, many users swear by the OGG 64kbps format to get reasonable quality at a low bitrate. I tested it briefly and thought it was good enough for everyday use on a mobile device if data constraints are important.

[ComfyGray]

Many thanks GJ51.

Just as you wrote that I was testing and comparing download sizes and can see that my 320 MP3s of around 12mb and being downsized to 128 MP3 of around 4.5mb downloaded to phone and so I am pleased with that.

Thanks for the OGG tip, it is a gem.

Kudos.