Frequently Asked Questions

1. I can't get my MP3 player to play files I encode with MPegger. What's wrong?
2. Why wouldn't MPegger recognize my AIFF file for encoding? and
3. Why is my mpeg output file garbled and distorted?
4. When I try to encode my audio file I get an alert about my sample not being 16 bit. Why do I get this, and how can I fix it?
5. I encoded a file using SoundEdit/SWA and one using your encoder, using a 44100 Hz sample file at 64 kbps. The SWA file sounds much better than yours does, which sounds like it was recorded under water. Why?
6. My encoded files sound horrible! Why?
7. When I transfer my MPegger encoded files to a PC, they no longer will play. Why not?
8. I can't seem to drag files onto the MPegger Encoder. Why not?
9. Windows Media Player will not recognize files made by your encoder. Why not?
10. I keep getting errors when trying to extract audio from my CD player. What's going on?
11. I'm having some trouble playing your encoded files with SoundApp. Why?
12. I can't seem to place mp3-encoded files on my web page for download/playing. Why not?
13. I can't seem to place mp3-encoded files on mp3.com. Why not?
14. I am entering information into the CD Remote Programs file, but MPegger does not get the info from the file. Why not?
15. I found a bug in MPegger. What should I do?

---

1. I can't get my MP3 player to play files I encode with MPegger. What's wrong?

Well, many "mpeg" players can't play all mpeg audio files. Please make sure your player supports the type of encoding you have made.

Proteron highly recommends Audion from Panic. It has excellent sound, is very stable and sports undoubtedly the best faceplates of any Macintosh player

2. Why wouldn't MPegger recognize my AIFF file for encoding? and
3. Why is my mpeg output file garbled and distorted?

There are many good reasons why this may happen. The header may not be a standard header or may be corrupt. The AIFF file may be sampled at an unsupported rate, or you may be trying to encode a file that is not an AIFF file.

If your output file is distorted, before you do anything, check and playback your input file. If your input file is garbled, MPegger will just encode the garbling. The encoding will only be as good as your input file! Also note that MPegger only supports MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 sampling frequencies, which are: 44100, 48000, 32000, 22050, 24000 and 16000 Hz.

If you are positive your input file is a good, valid frequency stereo AIFF and still you have no luck or the music is screwed, then drop our support staff a note we will look into the problem. DO NOT SEND US THE ENCODED FILE!

4. When I try to encode my audio file I get an alert about my sample not being 16 bit. Why do I get this, and how can I fix it?

If you are using Movie Player to extract your audio, be sure to select the options button and change the options to reflect 16 bit, mono or stereo, whatever you want, and a supported sampling frequency.

5. I encoded a file using SoundEdit/SWA and one using your encoder, using a 44100 Hz sample file at 64 kbps. The SWA file sounds much better than yours does, which sounds like it was recorded under water. Why?

If you check your SWA encoded file you will find that SWA has downsampled your original sample to 22050 Hz before it encoded it. This means that the SWA encoder has 50% less audio data to process and encode than the MPegger encoder, which is not downsampling your file, but using the original input file you fed it. If you want a 64 kbps bitrate MPegger encode to sound like a 64 kbps SWA encode, downsample the input audio file before you feed it to the MPegger encoder.

6. My encoded files sound horrible! Why?

If you have concerns about encoding quality, and you feel we should test your specific AIFF sample, DO NOT send us the file. Please first write our support staff and they will tell you where to send NO MORE THAN 5 seconds of the file. DO NOT SEND THE ENCODED FILE - we can encode it ourselves.

7. When I transfer my MPegger encoded files to a PC, they no longer will play. Why not?

Mac files have resource forks and data forks. MPegger Encoder places information in the data fork ONLY. If you have added and/or manipulated the resource fork (like, adding TAGS and other non-standard CRAP, or changed the owner or creator of the file, such as for Audion or MACAST), you'll have to strip the file down to a simple data-fork-only file before you send it. It's gonna be like any other MacOS file you've ever sent - screwed up, unless YOU take precautions and address the file differences yourself.

8. I can't seem to drag files onto the MPegger Encoder. Why not?

You need to rebuild your desktop. Restart your Mac while holding down the Option and Command keys.

9. Windows Media Player will not recognize files made by your encoder. Why not?

The Windows Media Player does not support ID3v2 Tags, so either strip them off, or don't use them to start with. WinAmp has no problem dealing with the ID3v2 headers, but seems to just ignore them. The use of ID3v1 tags should not affect these players.

10. I keep getting errors when trying to extract audio from my CD player. What's going on?

Hard to say because of the wide variety of CD players out there, but the easiest way to test if something is amiss is to try to extract an Audio file using QuickTime's MoviePlayer. Set the options ON THE SECOND WINDOW WHICH IS THE SAVE WINDOW to 44100 HZ Stereo 16 bit, then try and extract the audio. If it works, the encoder should work. If it doesn't, try the "Open CD" command. If that fails, give Track Thief a try.

11. I'm having some trouble playing your encoded files with SoundApp. Why?

SoundApp is a bit picky about the headers, the extensions, and the file format. If you use straight mp3 encoding, no TAGS, and leave the extension ".mp3", encoded files play very well with SoundApp. Tag support has been added as of version 2.6 but we have not verified the robustness of the Tag routines.

12. I can't seem to place mp3-encoded files on my web page for download/playing. Why not?

Check and see in your web browser what you have configured to support the ".mp3" extension. If it is not your mp3 player, then change it. Make sure the extension you configure is the same as the extension on your audio file. Please DO NOT write me asking how to do this - we did not write your web browser. Also, please note that QuickTime versions prior to 4 do NOT support the mp3 format yet, thus you cannot use it to play mp3s. If you are using Tags, better make SURE before you put it on your web page that all possible players that might ever hit your web page can support them (many do NOT).

The other problem commonly occuring is that web servers are not recognizing the file as an mpeg and are sending the file output as text. OTSessionWatcher 2.0 which WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND FOR DEBUGGING WEB SITE PROBLEMS ON THE MAC can provide you with the information your web site send when an mp3 link is clicked. It is available as shareware from Stairwaysat. Your server should send an mpeg/audio type and not a text type to your web browser before the actual stream of data.

13. I can't seem to place mp3-encoded files on mp3.com. Why not?

Files uploaded to mp3.com should have absolutely no tag information placed in them. This is because some Windows mpeg players do not support ID3v2 tags. To ensure functionality with all mpeg layer III players, files "for the masses" should be made with NO ID3 tags. Hopefully the culprit, most notably Windows Media (Mis-)Player, will correct this deficit shortly.

14. I am entering information into the CD Remote Programs file, but MPegger does not get the info from the file. Why not?

MPegger looks in your preferences folder for the first file that meets the criteria for a CD Database. If you have more than one, most often seen in foreign countries, such as Germany, you will have to delete the one that you are NOT using in order for the encoder to properly extract CD information. Also realize that there is a limit to the number of entries you can have in the database, and that some CD database applications corrupt the CD Database. If either of these occur, you will have to delete your database and start over. The most commonly reported application corrupting the CD database is NetCD.

15. I found a bug in MPegger. What should I do?

Nobody likes bugs, least of all us. But if you would like the bug fixed, we will need the following information to intelligently deal with your problem:

1. MacOS System Version
2. Your machine configuration
3. All your selected options, including bitrate, psy model, layer and stereo mode.
4. The location of the error, including all the information on the Encoder's window.
5. The error type.
6. The encoder version you are using.
7. The sampling rate and number of channels of your input file.

This will make it much easier for us to find the bug and correct it quickly. If you have a MacsBug standard log, this would help even more. MacsBug is available from Apple.