Unka Cephus' Power Macintosh MP3 Sub-FAQ

updated 09/26/00
Special thanks to TLO and Reggie from Riverdale for their contributions

Webmaster note: Many links in this Sub-FAQ are out of date. No attempt was made to update them before archiving.

If you are familiar with digital audio on the Mac and want to jump right in to MP3 encoding, here's the best places to keep apprised of the latest and greatest mp3 software:

Pure Mac: http://www.pure-mac.com/mp3.html

Mac Digital Audio: http://www.macdigitalaudio.com/ (inactive)

MP3's and the MacOS

Who makes the best encoder?

That's purely subjective question that only you and your ears can answer, but perhaps we can guide you in the right direction.

Currently, my favorite encoders are N2MP3 by Proteron Software and a non-licensed, absolutely-no-frills Japanese encoder based on the LAME 3.61 engine called CokaCoda. Both pieces of software produce amazing encodes at 128kbps. As CokaCoda was compiled in Japan, everything is written in Japanese. If you cannot read Japanese, you may have to fumble about.  Dan Schmidt no longer posts his English patch. 

UPDATE:  One of the discussion group regulars has compiled LAME v3.86 for use with the MacOS. I don't have any place to put it up as a linked file, so just go to the discussion group and ask a MacHead to post it somewhere for you --- maybe alt.binaries.misc or alt.binaries.sounds.utilities.

Another good encoder is Audio Catalyst 2.0 from Xing. Many people will tell you that anything produced by Xing sucks hard cheese, but I've heard some really great AC2 encodes from the Windows and Mac versions. You might also want to look into SoundJam. Experiment!

What about MPecker? I thought it was the best?

MPecker has been purchased by the fine folks at Proteron and re-released as MPegger.

What about players?

There are many good players out there now, but some behave better than others depending on the version of MacOS you're using. MacAmp (now known as MACAST) is a good player as are SoundJam, SoundApp 2.6.1 and Audion. The latest QuickTime Player from Apple also sounds very good, but is a little kludgy when it comes to the interface. A little experimentation will tell you what works best for you and your version of MacOS.

A really good no-frills player is Vamp. It's a relatively old application but it has played most every file I've ever thrown at it, especially VBR's. The only exception is that it will not play mp3's with later versions of ID3 tags. If you get a message saying that the file is damaged, that is most likely the cause. Wanna fix it? You'll need to change the tags to an older version of ID3. See below.....

Can I change the ID3 tags in the mp3's I download or encode myself?

Yes. There are several ways depending on your needs. Here are a few suggestions:

ALWAYS WORK ON COPIES OF YOUR MP3's. Nothing sucks worse than to corrupt an mp3 you've waited forever to find.

• Look for a program called MusicVac. You can set it up to strip out the ID3 tags and then use mp3tool to re-enter them to your liking.

• MACAST allows editing of ID3 tags.

• MP3 Rage is a fantastic editor.

• MacP3 is an up and coming ID3 tag editor. Needs a little more GUI refinement, but is still pretty cool.

Awright, awright.... what about decoders? I wanna make audio CD's from my mp3's!

To write mp3's to a "regular" audio CD-R playable in any consumer model CD player, it is usually best to decode (or decompress) an mp3 to Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF). There's less chance of burning a coaster by spending a little extra time doing that first.

MPecker Drop Decoder 1.6.4 is the best all-around decoder. It handles VBR's better than any other I've used. Another favorite is SoundApp 2.6.1, although it still chokes on the occasional VBR. QuickTime Player 4.x is also a quality decoder.

The newer versions of Adaptec Toast (4.x) supports burning directly from mp3 to audio-only CDR, but it does not yet support VBR's. I generally prefer to decompress all my mp3 files to a partition for burning to CDR. Adaptec has also added support for "Disc at Once" recording so that you can control the amount of space between the tracks if your CD burner supports that feature. If you don't have the latest version of Toast and want that feature, Adaptec Jam is a more powerful audio-only version of Toast that will do the same thing on almost any CDR. It also allows custom crossfades and many other customizing features. Mmmmmmm.... Toast and Jam..... I'm getting hungry!

What the heck is an AIFF anyway?

Most newer software supports direct from CD encoding, so AIFF files aren't generally required for mp3 encoding any more. An AIFF is a digital audio file comparable to a MicroSoft WAV file and is currently the standard for digital audio on the MacOS. It can exist with many variables, but for the purpose of this sub-FAQ, we will assume 16 bit Stereo at 44.1khz, also known as "CD quality". An AIFF is roughly 10mb per minute at these settings. AIFF's are "ripped" (torn, pulled, recorded, yanked, stolen, transferred) from other sources. This is technically known as Digital Audio Extraction (DAE). Quality mp3 encoders support encoding from AIFF's.

When else will AIFF's be useful or necessary?

Well, here are a few examples:

• You've got this great live recording but it's all one long track. For the purposes of posting, you will win more friends and admiration if you'll first rip the file to AIFF and then chop it into individual tunes before encoding. SoundEdit16 is a good program for doing just that, but is no longer supported by MacroMedia. Who knows where it could be found these days......? QuickTime Player will also edit AIFFs.

• There's one track on a CD you MUST encode, but for some reason your mp3 encoding program won't rip it. Sometimes trying to rip it manually first will produce more favorable results. If you have more than one CD drive (such as a CDR), try the other drive as well. CDR lasers are generally higher quality and will rip better than a CD-ROM.

• You want to record from an external source such as a turntable, MiniDisc, or DAT.

• You want to edit a song before you encode it.

Great! How do I record an AIFF to my hard drive?

There are many applications that you can use to record AIFF's to your hard drive, but I can't cover them all. If you're simply ripping from your CD-ROM, then use what Apple gave you: SimpleText. "Huh? Wha...?" you say? To rip audio using SimpleText, just do this:

Launch ST, "open" the desired track on the CD and click on "convert". That will present a dialogue box with an "options" button. Click on "options" and set the prefs to 44.1khz/16bit/Stereo. You can even specify the start and stop times within the track (although that can be a little tedious). ST uses QuickTime's audio codecs to rip the desired track to your specified destination. What you'll end up with is a *huge* QuickTime AIFF file that you can play back, burn to an audio CD..... or encode to mp3.

Adaptec's Toast can rip tracks from CD. They also provide Toast Audio Extractor as a standalone program. Track Thief is an excellent freeware CD ripper.

How can I record AIFF's from my stereo or other external hardware?

To record from an external source, you will obviously need a port to hook it to on your Mac. Most late model PowerMacs and all G3 and up Macs feature a 16 bit sound card as part of its internal hardware. Some older models do not support 16 bit stereo, so check the technical specs for your particular model. Some Macs will have standard RCA (phono) jacks and some will have 1/8" stereo (mini plug) jacks.

Refer to your owner's manual before plugging anything into your sound card ports! If you hook them up incorrectly you can and will damage the sound card and possibly the motherboard. ALWAYS use line level outputs from an external source. "Line level" means that you can't adjust the volume from that source, such as the tape monitor out from your receiver/amplifier. In general, it is *not* recommended to use the Mac's microphone jack as an audio in port.

Do not scrimp on the quality of the cables. Buy heavy gauge cables with solid brass and/or gold plated connectors. Most home electronics stores sell a wide variety of home theater cables, so that is usually a good source for quality cabling. Even Radio Shack® sells a decent set of multimedia cables.

If you hook your computer up to an external source such as a stereo receiver, attach a ground wire between the two to squelch any interference. A single strip of copper speaker wire will suffice and must be attached to the metal frames of the receiver and computer. I've found that the FM antenna ground on the receiver and any exposed screw on the back of the Mac will work just fine.

For recording from external sources, UltraRecorder 2.4.1 is a great all-around shareware application. It will record from any audio source your box has to offer. Another shareware app that works very well is Coaster. Both of these are worth more than the $20 registration fee.

If your Macintosh does not have a port for capturing audio, there are several third party multimedia PCI cards available. Iomega also offers the Buz digital recording solution.

Cool! Now how do I get the rice krispies or tape hiss out of my AIFF rips?

Hey... now you're starting to sound like a real veteran! You said "AIFF" and "rips" in the same sentence! However, it was batted around in the discussion group for a while and the favorite terms for vinyl rips and cleanups are now "lamered" or "twiddled".

There aren't many inexpensive programs out there for MacOS to do that and I haven't tried them all. Here's a list of the ones I know, but you'll have to experiment on your own:

• Arboretum RayGun (also incorporated into Ionizer).

• Cubase VST supports Steinberg's "Dehiss" and "Declick" plug-ins.

• Adaptec Toast 4 includes "Spin Doctor" for lamering noisy recordings.

If you're brave, I have used Virtual PC on a PowerMac 8600/300 to run Cool Edit Pro and DartPro with some success. Those seem to be the favored twiddlers on the Windows platform. While the programs worked well, they were a bit slow on my 8600's 68040 CPU. A speedy G3 or G4 would be the only way I'd consider running VPC on a regular basis for audio editing.

Do I really have to type in all those track names?

Nope! There are several utilities that will access the online Compact Disc Database (CDDB) when you mount a CD. NetCD seems to be the most robust but there are others. Most will add the CD and track names to the CD Remote database in your system's preferences folder for future reference. Check out Pure Mac's site yet again. (Hint: N2MP3 names songs automatically if you enable that option. The track names even show up in the window when the CD is opened. Purty cool, eh?)

Macintosh Newsreaders

Where can I find dedicated newsreaders for the Macintosh?

There are quite a few newsreaders available. Two of the best software depots for them are:

Pure Mac: http://www.pure-mac.com/usenet.html

The Mac Orchard: http://www.macorchard.com/usenet.html

What's the best newsreader for uploading and downloading binary files?

Yoiks! That's a tough question to answer. It all depends on your OS version and your particular preferences and expectations. If you cruise the Mac-oriented newsgroups, you'll find that the majority of contributors are using the freeware Yet Another NewsWatcher. There are several permutations of the original NewsWatcher. Some are geared to newsreading only, others for binary transfer.

If you are serious about binary transfer, avoid using a web browser (i.e. NetScape or Outlook Express) because they are not as user friendly when it comes to high volume binary transfers. Yes, they will work, but dedicated newsreaders do one thing and one thing only: Cruise newsgroups.

Okay, I like [XXX] newsreader. How do I use it?

Read the manual and help files. Check the developer's website for a FAQ or help page. Look for a newsgroup about your newsreader. Yer mama ain't here to hold your hand this time!

If you've decided to take the most highly recommended route and use Yet Another NewsWatcher, visit the ABMA FAQ page and read their most excellent tutorial on setting up and using Yet Another NewsWatcher. (ABMA = alt.binaries.macintosh.applications)

!!NOTE!!--- One important thing to remember when reading the ABMA FAQ and Survival Guide is to ignore the instructions to use BinHex encoding. ALWAYS use UUEncode, NOT BinHex when posting to the MP3 hierarchy.

There are several Mac users in the discussion group besides myself that will be glad to answer a couple of general questions, but don't expect a full blown tutorial. We all had to learn the hard way… so will you! Just remember that the discussion group is for discussing mp3's and related topics, so try not to abuse the privilege.

I figured out how to use my newsreader and I'm ready to post! What now?

Remember that this is a multi-OS community and we must all work together to share what we have. There are some general guidelines to remember when posting from MacOS to the mp3 hierarchy.

[1] ALWAYS tag your mp3 file names with the ".mp3" extension at the end. Without them, some PC newsreaders cannot properly thread the parts together and can make your posts a huge pain in the rear to download. Also, Mac's and PC's both need that extension to associate downloaded files with an mp3 player.

[2] Set the preferences for message part size to 5000 lines (307k) to 7900 lines (492k) per segment. That will get your posts propagated to the largest amount of servers.

[3] ALWAYS use UUEncode, NOT BinHex unless you are in a Mac-only newsgroup. All newsreaders that support binary transfers, regardless of OS, will uuencode (and uudecode) the files for you as you up/download them, but not all of them can handle BinHex.

[4] ALWAYS send your very first binary posts to alt.binaries.test to check your settings.

[5] Read the main mp3 FAQ. It has a lot of non-platform related information.

[6] Refresh your memory from time to time here.

How do I cancel my messed up post?

In most variations of NewsWatcher, refresh the headers by selecting [one of] the group[s] they are in and mark it unread. Download the headers and expand the thread so that you can see all parts of your message. Select all of the parts and go to the Special menu and select Cancel Article. This will cancel the crosspost pointers too.

When I try to cancel, YA/NW tells me I didn't write the article, so I can't cancel it..... why?

You probably changed your email and/or reply-to information. All of the X-headers must be the same as the article(s) you want to cancel.

Windows users have that cool Power Post 2000 program to automatically post several files. Is there anything like that for my Macintosh?

Yes! There are two that I know of: YA-AutoPoster and the absolutely free Squid-O-Matic. I found YA-AP first and bought the license for $15 so I tend to use it. Squid-O-Matic gets good reviews in ABMA as well. One hint: DO NOT ask for the serial number to YA-AP in the Mac warez groups. The guy that wrote it is a regular participant and you will get flamed for asking!

The headers in some other Mac posts have a little bitmapped picture in them. How did they do that?

It's created by a little freeware app called Saving Face.

But I wanna use NetScape to download! How's that work?

After you've subscribed to a newsgroup and downloaded the headers, click on the Subject title bar in the message pane to sort by subject. Make the window and subject column large enough to see all of the subject header, especially the part numbers (i.e. 01/21). Make sure all of the parts to the file you want are there and in numerical order. Select all parts of the message and go to the FILEmenu and choose SAVE AS> "File". Name the file something recognizable and tag it with a ".uu" on the end, point it where you want it to be saved, and click SAVE.

You will now have a file saved with a NetScape icon. To decode the message, you will need a UUDecoder such as uuUndo or StuffIt Expander (check the compression utilities links at Pure Mac). Drop the file onto your decoder of choice and, Viola! You've got a decoded mp3 file.

Yikes! I got the file decoded, but it has a SimpleText icon! Whassup wit dat?

Read on.....

Cross-Platform Issues

UPDATE: I'm having trouble mounting some of the newer Windows ISO9660 (Romeo and Joliet) CD-R's. Is there anything that can fix that?

Yes. Download the latest version of the most excellent Joliet Volume Access extension.

Why are the files I downloaded showing up as SimpleText files?

The MacOS is limited to 31 characters, (Argh! That's the only feature of MacOS I despise!) where Windows 9x and NT machines are allowed 255 characters. If a posted file has a name of over 31 characters, the ".mp3" extension is truncated and MacOS doesn't know how to restore the resource fork that determines file type and creator.

What the flying fickle finger of fate is a resource fork? I'm not hungry!

Instead of the three letter extension (actually four, counting the period), MacOS incorporates file information into what is called a "resource fork". That is the place where the file type, associated program (creator), and icon is stored. When a file is uuencoded, the resource fork --- if there ever was one --- gets stripped from the file and only the data fork remains. When you download an mp3 and the name is truncated, the PC Exchange or File Exchange control panels (or Internet Config if you use that) can't identify the file type. That's why you have what looks like a SimpleText icon on your file.

Great..... How the Sam Hill am I supposed to fix that?

There are several ways to fix it quickly and easily. Here are a couple of them:

[1] Just add the ".mp3" to the file name and open (or drag/drop) the file in your favorite player. Most players use default preferences to restore the resource fork and set the file type. (You may have to select that option in the preferences.) You can also use this method to change the file type from one player to another.

[2] If you have a program called "FileTyper", you can make a droplet that will change the file type to your preferred player..... with or without the ".mp3" extension. Some pre-made droplets can be found at Mac MP3 sites and will work whether you have FileTyper or not.

Once you've restored the resource fork, you can delete the ".mp3" extension, but remember to put it back if you upload the file again.

Some PC/Windows people are yelling at me because my posts are showing up with one header per segment rather than as a single threaded file. Why?

Again, ALWAYS tag your mp3 file names with ".mp3" at the end. Without them, some PC newsreaders cannot properly thread the parts together and makes your posts a huge pain in the rear to download. Also, Macs and PC's both need that extension to associate downloaded files with an mp3 player.

I uploaded my files in BinHex format and people are yelling at me again. Can't they decode BinHex files?

ALWAYS use UUEncode, NOT BinHex unless you are in a Mac-only newsgroup. All newsreaders that support binary transfers, regardless of OS, will uuencode (and uudecode) the files for you as you up/download them, but not all of them can handle BinHex.

What about those dang RaR files I keep seeing? Can I do anything with those?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no...  One contributor recently quipped:

Q) What is RAR?
A) RAR is file format whose acronym means "Big Pain In The Ass."

Q) Who uses RAR?
A) RAR files are mostly found in warez newsgroups. This is done to split up full CD images into thousands of little parts so that the whole thing does not have to be reposted again and again. See ABSM for latter examples; also found in Asian porn newsgroups, though nobody knows why.

Q) What do I do with a RAR file?
A) Ignore it and ask someone else to repost in a better format.

Q) But I really really want it!
A) Tough.

Seriously though, here's the definitive answer according to Reggie from Riverdale™:

RAR is all-or-nothing, from what I can tell. You need *all* the segments/parts to do anything with the file.

You will need MacRAR from here: http://www.pure-mac.com/compen.html#unrar
and uucd 2.5 from here: http://www.pure-mac.com/compen.html#uucd

99% of the time, the filenames will be longer than 31 characters, and using any regular UUdecoder is not going to help. However, I've had decent success using the following method (but I can only vouch for using MT-Newswatcher or YA-Newswatcher). Try it on a file where there are NO missing pieces. Once you get into it, you can try getting reposts, etc.

1) Select all the RAR segments you wish to download, and "Save As" under the File menu and Save it. Name the archive whatever you want, it doesn't matter at this point. This will put all the parts into one big text file.

2) Like YA-Decoder or Stuffit Expander, uucd decodes UUencoded files; however, its one HUGE advantage is that it will truncate filenames down to the Mac's 31 character limit, while trying to preserve the ".rXX" extension of PC files. This is *insanely* important when dealing with RAR files.

3) Launch uucd and drag the text file from Step 1 into the uucd window. uucd will then go through the big text file and figure out where all the pieces are. It will make a "pop" sound when done. Click the "Save" button on the window, and uucd will then extract all the pieces of the RAR archive into their individual parts.

4) After uucd decodes the pieces, drop the resulting file on MacRAR's icon to begin the unRAR process. If it asks for segments, that means that you either didn't save them all in step 1 or something else happened. If the decoding is successful, MacRAR will try to open the file that was decoded with it's creator code that you have in your Internet Preferences. If it's an MP3, it will try to launch whatever MP3 player you associated with that file type.