mp3 help

[robertbiferi]

I need help with audio editing.

I put some of my CDs onto the computer in mp3 format.

And I always have them at mp3 256 kbps this sould be CD qwality.

Now I always do editing or use the music and so on and this is what I need help with.

If I take say a song file I have as mp3 256 kbps and open it and edit it do things to it and then save it again as mp3 is the qwality going down?

What I meen is mp3 Format is compressing the audio to begain with. When I open it in Audacity I am uncompressing it to work on it.

But I know that mp3 compress by removie Data from the music to encode it.

So I thought when I open it up I am starting off with a File that is missing Data to start with?

 

[Nanobyte]

Yes you will lose quality. Audio editors convert to wav for editing and then re-encode. It's best to have masters as wav, flac or very high mp3 quality. You can store those wherever. Copy them for editing and then save the resulting file in the original format (if you want an edited master) and save an mp3 at you normal bit rate for daily use.

Edit: I came across a new mp3 editor mp3DirectCut that edits without going to wav so does not lose quality. It is not a full-featured audio editor and seems mainly intended for cutting edits. Handy nevertheless and installs without any registry entries, 122Kb installed.