Numark Industries HDCD1 - Manual (Page 7)

Numark HDCD1 - 7 – User’s Guide
Basics of MP3
MP3 stands for MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3. The MPEG “ripping” process compresses the
audio into a very small file, while retaining its most of it’s original quality. By
eliminating certain sound frequencies that can't be heard by the human ear, the audio is
compressed into a file much smaller than the original, allowing you to fit more music on
your hard drive. The size of the compressed file directly corresponds to the audio
quality of the compressed file. The less compression, and therefore the larger the file,
the better the audio quality. Using more compression will result in a smaller file but the
sound quality may be noticeably degraded. The key is to find a balance between
manageable file size and acceptable sound quality.
The HDCD1 can read any standard CBR (constant bit-rate) or VBR (variable bit-rate)
MP3 format up to 320kbps.
MP3 files also include data at the beginning or end of the saved file called an ID3 tag.
This information contains the artist, album, song, and genre data that the HDCD1 reads
to allow you to quickly search for songs. There are many free programs on the internet
that can be used to modify ID3 tag information. We recommend using one of these
programs to make artist and other ID3 tag information consistent to make your
searches more efficient.