Sound Recording Solutions
Sound Card Recorder
Powerful voice activated microphone recorder for Windows. Click here to learn more.Windows Media Audio
Windows Media Audio (WMA) is a proprietary compressed audio file format developed by Microsoft. It was initially a competitor to the MP3 format, but with the introduction of Apple's iTunes Music Store, it has positioned itself as a competitor to the Advanced Audio Coding format used by Apple and is part of the Windows Media framework. A large number of consumer devices, ranging from portable hand-held music players and handphones to set-top DVD players, support the playback of WMA files. WMA is second only to MP3 in popularity in terms of number of devices supported. Files in this format can be played using Windows Media Player, Winamp, Real Player, (with certain limitations, DSP plugin support and DirectSound output is disabled using the default WMA plugin) and many other alternative media players. The FFmpeg project has reverse-engineered and reimplemented the WMA format to allow its use on POSIX compliant operating systems such as Linux. In November 2005, a new update was available for the PlayStation Portable (version 2.60) which allowed WMA files to be played on the console for the first time. WMA began being widely distributed starting with the WMA 7 codec. The version 9 WMA bundle includes three more codecs, including a voice codec, lossless codec and WMA 9 Pro codec. The last one is based on a completely different technology (highly superior to "ordinary" WMA in terms of quality and features) and thus WMA 9 Pro files are incompatible with older players. The most current version of the format is Windows Media Audio 9.1 which includes specific codecs for lossless, multi-channel surround sound and voice encoding in addition to the main lossy codec. Both constant and variable bit rate encoding are supported. Microsoft claims that files in WMA format sound better than MP3 files at the same bitrate; however, a 2004 independent test[1] conducted at a common bit rate showed it (at 128kbps) as inferior to AAC and OGG Vorbis, roughly equivalent to LAME MP3, and superior to ATRAC3. Microsoft also claims that WMA files sound better than MP3 files at higher bitrates. Although claims about audio quality should be taken with caution, double blind tests have consistently failed to support Microsoft's claims about its superior quality. Tests of the newer WMA Pro show that it is at least equivalent[2] to Ogg Vorbis, AAC and Musepack at comparable bitrates. However, device and player support for WMA Pro is not as prevalent as WMA Standard. Generally speaking, WMA (without any other indicators) refers to WMA Standard.
Phone Call Recorder
Must have software for voice modem. Record all phone calls automatically, watch Caller ID information, create you own powerful answering machine. Perfect sound quality. Click here to learn more.3d audio effect - 3gp - a-law - aac - acm - adc - aiff - aliasing - amplifier - amr-wb - amr-wb plus - amr - apev2 tag - asf - atrac - audio codec - audio compression - avi - bitrate - bitrate peeling - chord - codec - comfort noise - compact audio cassette - compact disc - compression - compression artifact - compression ratio - contact microphone - container format - dab - data compression - digital audio - digital camera - divx - dolby digital - dolby digital plus - dsp - dvd-audio - dvd - effects unit - equalization - ffmpeg - flanging - fourcc - frequency spectrum - hi-fi - high-end audio - hiln - id3 - joint stereo - laser microphone - line level - lossy - loudspeaker - matroska - mcf - microphone - midi - mixing console - mp2 - mp3 - mp3 surround - mp3 sx - mp3pro - mp4 - mpeg-1 - mpeg-21 - mpeg-3 - mpeg-4 - mpeg-7 - mpeg - mu-law - musepack - music - mxf - nut - osm - parabolic microphone - pcm - perception - phonograph - pink noise - pqf - psychoacoustics - qdesign - quadraphonic - radio receiver - ratdvd - realaudio - red noise - reverberation - rhythm - ribbon microphone - riff - rmvb - sbr - signal processing - sound - sound card - sound effects - sound recording - spdif - speech encoding - speech recognition - speex - stereo - subwoofer - surround sound - synthesizer - tape recorder - tdm - tweeter - video - video compression - vob - voice analysis - vorbis - wav - white noise - wma - woofer