Why transcode ?

[kurenaishineek 646]

I searched the forums and i did not find any discussion bout this matter so im starting one , cause i am really interested it the fact "why?" . Why would someone do something so stupid , you dont really have to be a smartass to know that it will not improve the quality but it will take more space for nothing .

I would not waste my time to think about it , if not more and more transcodes would appear . I dont have any problems whit getting some albums in lower quality like 192 kbps cause im recoding everything using itunes to aac 192 . But the fact is that its still a lot better quality than transcodes are cause its only cutting off on 19 kHz .

I think what i want to know the most is why ppl upload them at all , and transcode it in the first place , why waste more space . A 16 kHz song is a standard 128 kbps quality song where each 1 minute is about 1 mb big , why triple the amount of space they use up when the quality does not improve .

[sai 868]

I'm not going to answer the question "are transcodes good or not", because usually those discussions end in everyone flaming eachother.

 

As to the question why people upload transcodes, I just don't know. Everyone has their own motive (or lack thereof). You'd think most people who have experience with ripping would know that transcoding a 128kbps YouTube rip to a 320 rip could not possibly improve the quality in any way, right? I think there could be three main reasons why so many transcodes pop up:

 

1. Most of the VK fanbase is of a general young age (13-16) and hardly buys CDs because they simply can't afford it (especially since most teenage jobs pay really badly and you'd have to work for at least 3 days to be able to afford a Japanese CD + shipping). When they do purchase a CD, they simply don't know HOW to rip it. They put it in iTunes or any other programme and have no idea what the bitrate settings mean or how they work.

 

2. People want to enlarge their e-penis. Some people just really want their name to be all over the internet. "Look, I'm an elite sharer of VK music, I always have the 320 rips first! Look how great I am!" is the general attitude and goal of these people and in order to fulfil it they upload transcodes so that they can be the "first" that brings the 320 rip and will be considered as the hero of the thread where first only a 128 rip was available. Most of these people are usually too stupid to realize that the people they share it with aren't retarded either and will find out anyway, yet people's ignorance will go so far that they still think they can trick the regular attentive listener. People who do not care whether they have a real rip or transcode are the ones that won't bother checking, yet the ones that do want legit rips will always find out anyway.

 

3. People just don't check what they upload/share. It often happens that people share stuff that isn't originally their own rip, but is a file they found on either a blogspot or another source like jpopsuki. They usually just repost the link or reupload to a seperate filehost, then post it here without checking whether the rip is actually legit or not. Even though we have a rule that says that you should always check what you upload, not everyone does this (either out of laziness or because they think it's not necessary) and that's how even more transcodes pop up.

 

I guess that's all I can think of at the moment, but that's my opinion.

[kurenaishineek 646]

The 2nd reason sounds like something that pseudo j-music fans from my country would do , and i think they probably do it , the 1st reason as well , but i think a little less .

On the other hand im not checking each and every file if its a transcode or not , you can say im a little lazy as well , and i laso believe in the ppl on this forum that they dont upload transcodes . But stuff like Ironhearted Flag Vol.2 from Galneryus , i did not have to check it at all , it just sounded awful and i could not believe its a 320 rip so i checked it and it turned to be a 16kHz Transcode .

[Zeus 7997]

So then report that and we'll deal with it. Posing hypothetical questions won't get the original uploader to stop.

[kurenaishineek 646]

Did not mean it that way , i was just curious what other ppl think about all this .

[evilcoconut 109]

Actually I've always wondered about this too. Like, why increase the space hit of some music with no upgrade in quality?  Does. Not. Compute.  Like, I have no problem with a 128 rip, I'd much rather have that than a 128 turned into the space-hogging file of a 320.

[Seimeisen 4406]

I've wondered if dumbass uploaders do this transcoding to create the illusion of quality. I think that's what meeyuxity did (who transcoded many VK releases to 320). Do these transcoders think that the downloaders are fucking stupid and won't notice or even check spectral views for the files? Sure seems that way!

Unrelated to why transcoders do what they do, but 320kbps Windows Media Player rips look a lot like they've been transcoded from 128kbps. So a lot of people report these rips as transcodes. What I do (for files with a 16khz cut-off) is take the file that looks transcoded and convert it to 128kbps AAC; if the spectral views match, then the file is a transcode.

[sebbivism 134]

My opinion and impression of this transcode issue is what sai is saying in her "2nd reason": There are those (sorry for bad language) idiots who always by all means want to be first with a brand new -highly requested- album/single and want to have all the credit for "finally" bringing high quality 320kbit-rip, often one-two days earlier than release date. 

But this only get people angry and unnecessary discussions and bad language will follow. Most of the people here (and on other sources) request high quality CD-rips (320 kbps) and of course these transcode users want to "become the hero" who fulfilling the request and having their username spread all over the web. Some forums have this "points" they get whenever they share stuff, similar to the "Like This"-button here on MH. They want to get credit. It's pathetic.

 

This will actually only put a spoke in wheel for those who STILL request a legit 320kbit CD-rip - why? Nobody wants to waste their personal time fulfilling a request to rip a CD in high quality that's already out as a transcode because most of the downloaders aren't aware it's a transcode - people don't really know (or care) what a transcode is. It's like "Eeh, this album is already out in 320, what's wrong with it?"

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

I think the biggest reason is definitely issue number 2.

 

Besides you're only cool when you post rarez owld skewl stuff like Kilah, Zodiack and Asylum harharhar!!

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

I've wondered if dumbass uploaders do this transcoding to create the illusion of quality. I think that's what meeyuxity did (who transcoded many VK releases to 320).

Oh shit, I think I downloaded most of my missing gazette stuff from there.

Transcoders should be forced to wear helmets and only be allowed to leave the house under supervision, seeing as they are a danger to themselves and everyone else. Fuck 'em.

[kurenaishineek 646]

i see that not only im a little confused by the fact that someone does a crime such as transcoding , its not only stupid but it shows that such uploaders think that we are stupid and we want see its a transcode , of course i cant say my music collection is transcode free , cause i dont check each and every album i download i only check the ones that sound fishy and low quality . But i think there may be some transcoded stuff in my collection , there maybe be older stuff from the time i was less aware of transcodes and also stuff that can only be found as a transcode . At least im 100% sure for stuff i get from this forum cause you all keep it clean and point out transcodes very fast . This cant be said from other sites that dont really give a damn about it .

[StriderSubzero 53]

Although sai mentioned why people transcode, it should be noted that there is never a good reason to transcode, and people should never do that. Mostly, you shouldn't do it because it's annoying to people that actually care about sound quality, and it's also deceitful if you know better.

 

For anyone that, for some reason, cannot tell whether their music has been transcoded, there are programs like Spek that will display the frequencies on a spectrum for you to analyze visually. Lower bitrates subtract higher and lower sound frequencies, so a 128kbps .mp3 file will display as a narrow band on the chart.