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Topic: No More MPC? (Read 92741 times) previous topic - next topic
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No More MPC?

I've been using MPC for some time now and today I realized that Musepack is pretty dead, the forums at musepack.net just seems to be filled with bitter previous MPC-users.

So my questions is:
Is it still viable to use MPC?
Would the quality loss be great if going from Insane MPC to mp3?

No More MPC?

Reply #1
I'm certainly not going to reencode my ~2,000 MPCs anytime soon.  Maybe if I had the money to get enough storage for lossless...
"Have you ever been with a woman? It's like death. You moan, you scream and then you start to beg for mercy, for salvation"

No More MPC?

Reply #2
I only have 750 =P

But to touch question #1
Are you still encoding in MPC?

No More MPC?

Reply #3
If you are happy having with your collection in MPC and you don't see any disadvantages in the way you use your music, then there is no problem in using MPC.

I used to use MPC, then I got an mp3 player and a car stereo that only plays mp3 so I had to switch, but prior to that I was very happy with Musepack.
we was young an' full of beans


No More MPC?

Reply #5
Сonclusion: it's dead.


No More MPC?

Reply #6
mpc does support ultra slow seeking, this is why I just used it a couple of times. Now I prefer vorbis/nero aac. I think mpc is more than dead.

No More MPC?

Reply #7
i guess i'm one of those bitter "previous" mpc users...

i still use the format

if i didn't i would use lame

but i've never had to switch

musepack is well supported on *NIX, so my collection (100GB+) is safe


later

No More MPC?

Reply #8
Dead, cos of hardly any hardware support, very quick encoding though and results are very good
:Foobar 2000:
:MPC --standard:
:iRiver H320 Rockboxed:

No More MPC?

Reply #9
I have my whole collection encoded in MPC, and it will stay this way. As for new encodes, currently I rip everything to lossless until I run out of space.
I am not really happy with other formats, sometimes I encode stuff to Ogg, then AAC, then I think of just using MP3 for compatiblity and stuff, then I end up deleting the lossy ones and think about getting a bigger harddrive for storing everything lossless.
Other formats just lack the farm fuzzy feeling ™ I had with MPC.
I took part in Sebastian Mares 128kbps listening test and found it very hard to spot artifacts, so from a quality point of view I could use whatever format I like, because they all sound transparent to my ears, so in the end, it's just features and speed that make the difference.
Blubb

No More MPC?

Reply #10
I won't encode in Musepack anymore, because as Squeller already mentioned seeking in long tracks is very slow. But I still have many MPC files in my collection, but I'm not going to replace them in another codec, only if I have to (DAP playback).

When I now want to listen to new CDs I rip them to lossless and listen to that rip. Whenever I need the music on a portable or on another computer I encode from the lossless rip to either mp3 or ogg vorbis. HDs are so big/cheap nowadays that I don't have to bother about the size anymore.

No More MPC?

Reply #11
How can we the end-users call it a dead format? Such claims need to come directly from the Musepack development team for me to even consider such comments as being true, remember CDex had no version released for years - and yet it's alive again. I have over 20 CD-R's full of mpc's, and I'm surely not anytime soon going to re-rip and encode those audio CDs to a different format which in my case would only consist of Ogg Vorbis (aoTuV builds, -q 6), or LAME 3.97b2 (-V2 --vbr-new).

I do realize that there hasn't been a new release for the encoder, decoder, and Winamp plugin in a long time however the format still has advantages and merits:
  • Gapless. Which has to be one of the most important features without having to result to using high bitrate CBR to preserve quality with a --nogap switch.
  • Natively supported via foobar2000 out-of-the-box so to say.
  • Easily supported via Winamp 2x-5x via the easily downloadable plugin from www.musepack.net.
  • I can't (and I reckon others can't either) tell the difference from an mpc encoded at --quality 5 ("--standard") when compared to Musepack's contenders which are still regularly updated; Ogg Vorbis (-q 6), LAME (-V2 --vbr-new).
This isn't a ploy on my part to say keep using Musepack, although I don't think someone can go wrong in using it.

No More MPC?

Reply #12
How can we the end-users call it a dead format? Such claims need to come directly from the Musepack development team for me to even consider such comments as being true, remember CDex had no version released for years - and yet it's alive again.
The big advantage of software (compared to human beings): it can temporarily be dead.
Musepack, especially in terms of vital use by the audio community, is dead.

BTW, most of us know the advantages of musepack. To me the slow seeking is a problem and thats why I can't use mpc (I could have mpc on my notebook which serves the amplifier in the living room, but I need quick seeking there, it's not fun to fast forward via remote control and nothing happens...)

No More MPC?

Reply #13
not that i had a lot of mpc encodes but they have since been reripped to flac or mp3
Chaintech AV-710

No More MPC?

Reply #14
Ok, just wondering as I just loaned some CD's from the local library and wondered if I should rip them to musepack or mp3, ATM I don't know which to do ^^'
Not ogg though, I don't want yet another format, but maybe...

No More MPC?

Reply #15
I only use MP3 or AAC since they seem to be the only formats that (still) have a future.


So you think Vorbis has no future? It has highest quality out of all lossy formats at any bitrate above 96 kbps, as many tests (including your's) showed. And also it has another big advantage - no licensing fees, unlike MP3 and AAC. Did you know that LAME is in fact illegal in many countries including USA? If EU will accept SW patents, it will be illegal here too.

We have 2 scenarios that can happen. The first one is, that RIAA will win and we'll have DRM everywhere. This would mean no MP3 no Ogg Vorbis. Only WMA and MP4 AAC would survive.

It can also happen, that DRM will be banned. This would most likely push Vorbis forward because it is simply the best format from every point of view except of DRM.

I'm hoping in the second scenario and I encode all songs in Vorbis ~200 kbps. But I'm affraid, the first one will happen. DRM will be implemented in our brains.

No More MPC?

Reply #16
When it comes to portability, MP3 is the first choice. When space is rare, I recommend Vorbis or AAC - I personally stick to the first as it is OSS. Aoyumi has tuned the encoder so well that it is even usable on very low bitrates, while the free Nero encoder also produces very good results. Lossless is only good for transcoding and archiving, as I claim that only very few on this board can even ABX LAME -V 2 (only one example, I could have said Vorbis -q 6 as well). What made Musepack so special when it was new is something that all modern codecs achieve - decent quality at not-so-high bitrates (You see, I'm getting very technical here ), without the drawbacks like slow seeking.


No More MPC?

Reply #18
I only have one word for for why Vorbis will remain relegated as an alternative codec behind MP3 and AAC: iPod.



everything has it's time. that is the only thing that I have to say about ipod-thing.

No More MPC?

Reply #19
Dead, cos of hardly any hardware support, very quick encoding though and results are very good


Just because of the possibility to use MPC on IPod, I can't say there's hardly any support!?! There are several ways to play MPC on portable devices, so check it out.
Sorry, this is a lame thread

No More MPC?

Reply #20
A format that is no more being developed, performs worse than other competitors and has only few hardwaresupport, none of it from the original manufacturers can safely be considered dead imho.

No More MPC?

Reply #21
I only have one word for for why Vorbis will remain relegated as an alternative codec behind MP3 and AAC: iPod.

everything has it's time. that is the only thing that I have to say about ipod-thing.

Couldn't agree with you more.

This leads me to wonder if the iPod will continue to dominate the marketplace after Vorbis is superceded.

I suppose it's possible that Apple will support it in future generations.

...just having fun.

I couldn't let, "...Vorbis ... is simply the best format from every point of view..." go without saying something.

No More MPC?

Reply #22
I use vorbis for my lossy needs but I acknowledge that it is a geek's codec.
I don't think it will be mainstream anytime soon. MP3 and AAC are the future.

edit: typo - lossy instead of lossless

No More MPC?

Reply #23
Quote
I use vorbis for my lossless needs

Do you mean transparent? If yes, I can only agree.

No More MPC?

Reply #24
It was my and John33's combined opinion that the format is dead that warranted removing its section from RareWares altogether (and moving the encoders to ReallyRareWares)


For my part, I have a handful of MPCs on my hard drive, all of them encoded by friends or downloaded from P2P. These days, for my own use, I encode to MP3 exclusively. I only encode to Vorbis, MPC or AAC if I'm sending the files to someone that specifically asked for that format.

Edit: Read here for more of my opinions on why MPC died:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....ndpost&p=308437
(I couldn't resist, could I?)