mp3 details

[professor andy]

Hello folks..

I will admit that I am not a podcaster although I wish I was! I'm a bit of a musician and I'm having mp3 woes.

If someone could give me a good detailed list of all the specifications mp3 files have, I'd be forever greatfull!

I've spent the last two weeks trying to get my head around them, as they are being rejected from a website I'm trying to upload them to. It keeps saying that they are not mp3s.

I have others that upload fine, hence my asking for an spec list so I can compair.

All I know about really is bit rates and sample rates.

The website in question has told me they need to be 128kbps @ 44100Hz, which they are.. Yet are still rejected..

It's kinda put a spanner in the works for me..

[MPIH]

Look at the actual file name of your file.

Does it end in ".mp3" ?

Perhaps there was a typo somewhere along the line when saving the file?

Is there more than one suffix on the file?

What is the website you are trying to load them onto?

[professor andy]

The file names are simply "level.mp3" and "psalm.mp3" - nothing fantastic.

I'm trying to load them onto bebo.com.

[professor andy]

..any vague ideas at all?

[Yotto]

..any vague ideas at all?

Vague ideas I got. Nothing specific though.

1) Try to open the files in something that reads MP3 files. Like, say, Winamp. Even if they open, check the properties and see if Winamp says that they are mp3 files, and what their bitrate/sample rate is. You said you knew what the bit/sample rates were, so I suspect that this will just be to confirm.

2) Start over with your source material, and use a program called LAME to encode the raw audio (WAV files work great as raw audio). LAME does a great job and you'll be sure to be getting mp3 files with it. WinLAME even has a nice graphical interface.

3) Have you asked someone from Bebo to look into it for you? They'd know more than we would.

[professor andy]

I asked the bebo people for info but all they could tell me was to make it 128kbps and 44100Hz. No other information seemed to be available to them.

I shall try LAME!

I got a reply to an email I sent to a chap a while ago. He stated when configuring an mp3 "if stereo, which mid/side algorithm?"

Anyone have a clue what this is?

[Yotto]

I wonder if he means is it joint stereo, but don't know. I can't imagine they'd reject it for being (or for not being) joint stereo, but there's a setting in LAME for it so in theory you could make two files, one with and one without and see what happens.

I think it's more likely, though, that if you make the mp3 with LAME to their specifications, it'll work fine. If not, I'd seriously consider finding myself a new service to do whatever it is Bebo does for you.

[professor andy]

Ok, I discovered my VirtualDJ software I got off my DJ chum in work has LAME on it. I converted the files through it to 128kbps @44100Hz, but still no luck at all.

I have a few other ideas which might work, but probably not..

Thank you for your help anyway, you've been more helpfull than people on other forums I've tried!

[danhughes]

Have you uploaded previous mp3 files to bebo?

Some servers are set to refuse all mp3 files to stop people from illegally posting licensed music. I tried to upload an mp3 file to my own site and it was refused.

I changed the suffix on the file from mp3 to something else - mpa maybe; I can't remember for sure - and then it uploaded and played fine.