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Bit Rate for Pandora
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RippMaster2000 View Drop Down
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Posts: 5 		Post Options Post Options   Quote RippMaster2000 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Bit Rate for Pandora
    Posted: 01 August 2008 at 10:59pm
Is there a way to improve the bit rate of Pandora?  I ripped a handful of songs and on the playback I realized they were all 128 bit.  I prefer 192 or better for sound quality.

Edited by RippMaster2000
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gratajik View Drop Down
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Posts: 2390 		Post Options Post Options   Quote gratajik Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 August 2008 at 11:21pm
Ah.. no, there's no way to do that.  It's what it transmits in, there's no way to upshift.
-Greg
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RippMaster2000 View Drop Down
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Posts: 5 		Post Options Post Options   Quote RippMaster2000 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 August 2008 at 2:15pm

Ok, so here's an update.  Pandora sounds clear and clean on my laptop.  After I rip a song and put it into iTunes, it's labeled at 64 bit.  So, when I play it back on my iPod it sounds horrible. 

What bit rates is everyone else getting with Pandora?  Maybe I am missing a setting somewhere.
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Posts: 11 		Post Options Post Options   Quote klookabill Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 August 2008 at 10:18pm
That's the same thing I'm getting.
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Posts: 2390 		Post Options Post Options   Quote gratajik Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 August 2008 at 11:54pm
Are you getting MP3 files or M4U files?  I haven't noticed any difference between what it's playing and what's recording - it is actually the same thing in this case (what you hear is what's being saved).
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meteor View Drop Down
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Posts: 6 		Post Options Post Options   Quote meteor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 September 2008 at 12:21pm

I'm revisiting this thread because I installed StationRipper in two computers one is encoding  from Pandora AAC 64kbps and the other mp3 Lame 128kbps. How do I choose which encoder to use? I hear a difference in audio quality between both, I prefer mp3.

thank you

 
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gratajik View Drop Down
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Posts: 2390 		Post Options Post Options   Quote gratajik Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 September 2008 at 7:34pm
StationRipper isn't actually picking the encoding - it's
just taking whatever comes down and saving it. I THINK
Pandora looks to see if you have a AAC encoding that the
browser can deal with, and will do that, otherwise it
will do MP3.

I'm looking if there's some way I can trick it into
doing just MP3, but may not be able to.
-Greg
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RippMaster2000 View Drop Down
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Posts: 5 		Post Options Post Options   Quote RippMaster2000 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 September 2008 at 8:15pm

If AAC formatting gives a better bit rate, then I want to do that!  Is there a plugin I would need to make that happen?
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meteor View Drop Down
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Posts: 6 		Post Options Post Options   Quote meteor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 September 2008 at 12:28am
 This is extracted from Pandora website:
"Rest assured that you are listening to great quality music.  The songs are encoded with a LAME MP3 encoder at 128kB/s.  This setting has been proven to be indiscernible from CD quality music for the majority of people.  Plus, 128kB/s is a higher bitrate than most streaming radio stations."

 The original stream gets re-encoded to AAC 64kb/s, this account for the lost in quality I perceive.
The computer that captures LAME encoded mp3's has no programs installed just Itunes, in the other computer there are more programs installed. I hope you find out how to record the original stream.





Edited by meteor
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meteor View Drop Down
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Posts: 6 		Post Options Post Options   Quote meteor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 September 2008 at 1:08pm
Here I'm posting screenshots from Itunes in separate computers, as you see one captures AAC 64kb/s and the other MP3 128kb/s this last one seems to be the original streamed by Pandora because I don't have LAME encoder installed.
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Posts: 1 		Post Options Post Options   Quote JakeNYC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 December 2008 at 10:17pm
I'm experiencing the same issue as Meteor, has anyone figured out how to default encoding to MP3 128kb/s?
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Posts: 2390 		Post Options Post Options   Quote gratajik Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 December 2008 at 12:04am

Still looking - we're just taking whatever Pandora is handing down to the browser, so what you hear is what SHOULD be recording (and I'm not suer how it would be otherwise). It's a bit-by-bit copy.  It appears, depending on what decoder you have available to the browser, it's picking one (pandora, that is).

Umm.. just to try, you could try disabling the plugin/addons that are doing encoding,as one of them is likely making Pandora do something different.

-Greg
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Posts: 5 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Obopper Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 December 2008 at 4:23pm
I have the same problem. Before the latest version of SR, i would get 64kbs when ripping from Firefox and 128kbs when ripper from IExplorer. I downloaded the new version of SR and now both record at 64kbs. I tried deleting and disabling add-ons. I even reinstalled Winamp to have their mp3 encoder overwrite things...didn't work.

Any help would be appreciated.
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Posts: 2 		Post Options Post Options   Quote bnhapi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 December 2008 at 11:30pm
I have the same problem as well. When ripping from Pandora, StationRipper says it's ripping at 128 bitrate. When I play the completed song in Winamp, it says that the song is 64 bitrate. My computer runs XP Pro and I am using IE 7.
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Posts: 5 		Post Options Post Options   Quote hapyman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 January 2009 at 10:02am
Think I figured part of this out. I was using Orbit Downloader for pandora earlier this year and it worked like a charm 128 bitrate stereo etc. However a couple of months ago I started getting 64 bit AAC MONO!!! I was curious as to why and I couldn't find answers.

So I posted to Pandora's blog and emailed tech support. Answer... update Flash.

Updated flash... but this broke the Orbit downloaders ability, hence why I am now here :D

So I got station ripper working at 128 bitrate right now with newer flash but it is encoding to m4a files.

Anyone find any more info on this? I would love to be able to get these to mp3 without converting them myself.

Thanks. Hope this helps.
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Posts: 5 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Obopper Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 January 2009 at 12:22am
Hi, I installed the latest flash player and tried messing with some of its settings. I installed SR on a new computer and both IE and FireFox are ripping it at 64kbs. Could I be missing something? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

TO
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Posts: 5 		Post Options Post Options   Quote hapyman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 January 2009 at 11:39pm
Here is the response from Pandora Support that I received:

"That's not supposed to happen. Sounds like you may need to reinstall the flash player. You can get it here:"

After I did that I started getting 128 bit m4a files. I wonder if that has to do with the codecs installed on the machine.

You can follow this link to check the version of flash your browser is running (It should be 10.xx):

http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/about/

The reason I say this is because I had to install it twice before my browser would recognize it.
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Posts: 5 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Obopper Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 January 2009 at 9:47pm
Happyman,

Thanks for the reply. I've installed Flash multiple times. The odd thing is, I've recorded in 128 bit before, but in IE, never in Fire Fox. Now I can't get either to do anything higher than 64.

Any other thoughts as to what I can try? Could I have IE configured wrong?

Thanks!

TO
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Posts: 2390 		Post Options Post Options   Quote gratajik Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 January 2009 at 9:24pm
Thats in line with what I've seen. StationRipper is taking exactly what the Pandora flash player is playing, and saving it to a file.

Pandora is making a decision on the file type - it APPEARS that it's the flash version and/or codec verion on the machine.
-Greg
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Posts: 16 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Mr Dude Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 January 2009 at 3:42pm
Good evening, Pandora now only streams HE-AAC 64kb files.
Whatever you do you won't rip 128kb MP3 like some months
ago.
If you do a blind test and listen to a same song encoded
at MP3 128kb and AAC+ 64kb you won't notice any difference
in sound quality.
You'll just have to download the ACC+ plugin for Windows Media Player or listen to your ripped songs with Winamp or VLC which natively support that codec.
Bye.
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About StationRipper:

StationRipper will allow you to "record" various internet radio stations. It will allow you to get a list of available Shoutcast stations and start recording them, creating a single MP3 file for each song the station plays.

It will also:

* Allow you to record up to 300 streams at one time.
* Buy the music and albums you are ripping.
* "Memory Recording" - It will keep track of all the songs you download, copying the final song file to your music library. If that song gets re-recorded in the future, it will skip it (so, if you end up deleting it, it won't record, bloating your collection with music you don't want).
* Get a list of Stations to record quickly and easily, via Shoutcast.
* Track the music and stations you've ripped.
* Listen to any station being recorded with a single mouse click
* Schedule when you want to allow and disallow recordings, so your bandwidth will only be hit with ripping on off hours.
* Re-launch ripping of up to 100 of the last Stations you've recorded with a single mouse click.