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Thread ID: 61983	2005-09-23 00:57:00	What's the quality of Web radio recordings?	Mike S (1766)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
390252	2005-09-23 00:57:00	Having switched to Broadband I have just rediscovered web radio broadcasts. I have the software to record the audio, but I'm wondering about the true meaning of the 'ratings'. Listed at various stations I see: 193Kbps G2 Stereo 20K Stereo 32K Mono 128K Stereo 96K22KHz Stereo 176K G2 Stereo etc. I'd like to understand what all these mean in practical terms. The difference between stereo and mono is obvious but: What does it all mean in terms of storage space on a hard drive per hour for each? Does 128K Stereo mean 128Kbps? Do they mean 128K bits or bytes per sec? If it means Kilo-bits, do I just divide by 8 to get Kilobytes, in order to work out disc space usage or Broadband usage (I'm on the basic 1Gigabyte/month)? As I see it, if that 128K stereo is 128Kbyte/second then one hour should occupy 460Megabytes, as compared to around 600Mbytes or so for a normal CD of HiFi stereo audio. At that rate one audio CD would roughly use up more than half my monthly Broadband ration. True or false? When played on a reasonable audio set-up at what byte rate will my ‘average ears’ discern a difference between recorded radio station audio and a normal audio CD? Am I headed for copyright trouble contemplating recording web radio broadcasts for my own entertainment?	Mike S (1766)
390253	2005-09-23 03:14:00	Does 128K Stereo mean 128Kbps? Do they mean 128K bits or bytes per sec? If it means Kilo-bits, do I just divide by 8 to get Kilobytes, in order to work out disc space usage or Broadband usage (I'm on the basic 1Gigabyte/month)? <snip> Am I headed for copyright trouble contemplating recording web radio broadcasts for my own entertainment? Yes 128k Stereo means 128kbps. This is BITS per second, and like the 128k mp3s it translates to about 1mb/min (very rough) I have no idea if there are restrictions for copying, but I would assume that as long as the usage is personal you should be in no more trouble than you would be for recording over the air radio. -Qyiet	qyiet (6730)
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