Convert MP3 file to WAV in Mac Mini


can some one show me how to convert mp3 file to wav or other format in Mac Mini?

Thanks
houstonreef

Showing 4 responses by jpod

In a previous thread, "Lossy to Lossless" I reported that when I converted some old MP3s to Apples Lossless, they sounded better. I have not done any blind tests, but have converted about 50 of them and listened to most several times. I stand by my original claim. The MP3s I have converted to Apple Lossless have better definition and sound punchier.

They do not sound as good as CDs ripped directly to Apple Lossless. And I know nothing is being added, or necesarily taken away, they are still lossy files.

In the previous thread referred to above, Mlsstl suggested it might be that, in my system, the codec that converts Apple Lossless to audio is different, and maybe better, than the codec that converts MP3 to audio. I tend to think this may be the case. But am wondering what others think.

Also, is it true that converting an MP3 to Apple Lossless would always make it sound worse than the original MP3?
Been away. Thought I would post again to this very interesting thread.

First to Jax2. I appreciate your feedback. Honestly, in regards to this matter, I don’t care what others think. If MP3s converted to Apple Lossless sound good to me I’ll probably continue to convert them. I’m not seeking the blessings of others, I’m seeking their knowledge. In this particular case I’m trying, in my own way to learn more about PC Audio by exploring this mundane, but to me, perplexing part of it.

To Mlsstl and Etep29: Yeah, what you guys said. Maybe playback of an Apple Lossless file that was previously an MP3 file might sound better (for reasons unknown to me) than playback of the original MP3 file. But I’m starting to doubt whether any improvement, or degradation, can occur.

The more I learn (if learning is mostly failure) the more I realize the converter (even while using sophisticated techniques) doesn’t do much. It merely encodes a PCM byte to a shorter code, stores the shorter code, and decodes the shorter code to a PCM byte before playback. So, almost 100% of the time, the decoded PCM byte is identical to the encoded PCM byte.

As I understand it, there is a very small possibility of error, a very small possibility that the decoded byte is not identical to the encoded byte, but such errors would occur rarely and randomly and would not effect sound quality in any systematic way.

If this is all correct ( and considering the source it may not be) there is no improvement or degradation involved in conversion. So if there is any change in sound quality it would be following conversion. And this is where I stop (if indeed I’ve covered any ground at all). Is it possible that PCM bytes in an MP3 file are played back in a substantially different way than PCM bytes decoded from an Apple Lossless file?

JPO
Musicman07, I appreciate your feedback. And I don’t dispute what you say. Indeed the more I learn the more I realize any improvements I am hearing is due to my imagination. And as I said earlier, my imagination has certainly led me astray in other matters.

But there is one thing I don’t understand. You said, others have said, that the software “fills in the blanks” When does this occur? Does the Apple Lossless converter expand the MP3 file as it encodes or decodes? Or is the expansion done later by different software?

And is the software that expands a lossy file that has not been encoded into lossless, the same software that expands a lossy file that has been encoded into lossless?

Let me say I’m not trying to advocate converting MP3s to “lossless”. I’m just asking others to help me along in my understanding. For me PC audio seems like black boxes nested inside black boxes. I open one black box just to find another. And I’m not certain I’ve gotten the first box open. Anyway, any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks,
JPO
After reviewing my post and doing some more googleing and reading, I think I can refine my my questions.

Is the codec that decodes an MP3 file that has not been converted to Apple Lossless the same codec that decodes an MP3 file that has been converted to Apple Lossless?

JPO