What.CD - Interview Notes v0.2 ## Allowed Lossless - FLAC ## Allowed Lossy - MP3 (Minimum is MP3 192kbps CBR) - AAC (Can be trumped by any MP3 unless iTunes + extra purchased) - AC3 (DVDs) - DTS (DVDs) ## MP3 Constant Bitrate (CBR) - The same bitrate entire song, even silence given same bits/ps (no higher / no lower) Varaible Bitrate (VBR) - Bitrate varies entire song, depending on complexity of certain sound. Different presets. ->V0 = ~245kbps (Target) - (Can peak higher than 256 CBR) [Allowed] ->V1 = ~225kbps (Target) ->V2 = ~190kbps (Target) - (Can peak higher than 192 CBR) [Allowed] ->V3 = ~175kbps (Target) ->V4 = ~165kbps (Target) ->V5 = ~130kbps (Target) ->V6 = ~115kbps (Target) Average Bitrate (ABR) - The bitrate will vary, but is guaranteed to AVERAGE at the preset -> Not recommended on what.cd (not best at anything) ## Audio Formats Bitrates - Number of bits transferred in an amount of time. Higher bitrate equals higher quality. (Ex. MP3 CBR 320 transfers 320 bits/ps. Lossy - Cuts actual frequencies out of the file for compression (looses quality) Uncompressed Lossless vs. Compressed Lossless - Uncompressed lossless doesn't attempt any compression, silence is kept in tact. Compressed lossless gives silence almost no bits/ps and compresses the audio (with no loss of quality though.) ## Transcodes - Conversion from one format to another. Sometimes said in negative context, referencing bad transcodes. Bad Transcodes - NEVER convert LOSSY to LOSSLESS! - NEVER convert LOSSY to LOSSY! (Only looses more quality) - Don't convert same bitrate lossy to same bitrate lossy Good Transcodes - Compressed lossless --> Uncompressed lossless - Compressed lossless --> Compressed lossless - Compressed lossless --> Lossy - Uncompressed lossless --> Compressed lossless - Uncompressed lossless --> Lossy ## Torrenting - Leeching data from peers, then seeding back what you have - Partial seeders = didn't download entire torrent (not a good idea to get torrent with many partial seeders if you want to boost your ratio) - Ratio = {Shared}.{Downloaded} (If you download 100MB and up 200MB, ratio is 2.0) # General Knowledge / Facts - WAV (PCM) has a higher bitrate than FLAC - MP3 VO (VBR) can have a higher bitrate than MP3 256kbps (CBR) - MP3 V2 cannot be trumped when uploaded to What.CD - Again... LOSSY TO LOSSY? NEVER! LOSSY TO LOSSLESS? NEVER? - LAME = Used to encode MP3s - Use EAC to rip CDs - Cue files are tables / catlogs to burn identical CDs - Log files document rips for errors # Starting the Interview - The interview takes place in an IRC channel. -> IRC Server: irc.what-network.net -> Port: 6667 (+6697 for SSL) - https://www.whatinterviewprep.com/starting-the-interview/ - Waiting to get interviewed is the hardest part. Can take up to 5 hours just to start.