What's that, you say?

This is the third post in a series. Please read these posts first:

- A-Number-1?
- Shhh... I thought I heard something.

Someone posted an anonymous comment asking "Are these MP3's from VOG also?". Maybe restated, "Are VOG's MP3's also missing words?"

Now that's a good queshun! And the answer is, as far as I can tell, VOG's MP3s are not missing words. And here's why:

The more you compress an MP3 file, the more data you will lose. Usually this is just background noise, like maybe some applause, or chairs rustling, but sometimes, as in the samples I posted, you can lose things you don't wantto lose, like Bro. Branham's voice.

Shown here are the compression settings used to compress one of the mp3's that is missing words:


And here are the compression settings used by VOG:


You can see that VOG uses much lower compression settings (higher numbers = lower compression) in an effort to ensure that none of the spoken words are lost.

Unfortunately, this means that VOG MP3 files are sometimes three times as large as alternative MP3 files. What a quandary! Compress too much, and you lose the prophet's words! Compress too little, and the files are extremely large!

But actually, on second thought, large files are not that big a deal after all when you consider that you can buy hard drive space at less than a buck a Meg. Why, you can even get a 10GB portable MP3 audio device for around $150.

Voice of God Recordings obviously thinks the level of compression is a big deal, as you must agree to not modify the original compression settings if you want to distribute their recordings.

I think it's a big deal too. Because I hang on every word.