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Audio Formats and Quality

A variety of factors affect the quality of a digital audio file; most notably:

• The sampling bitrateA measure of how many bits (units of information) describe each sound in an audio file. A low bit rate means lower sound quality and a smaller file size, while a high bit rate means better sound quality and larger files.(how often the audio signal is sampled, expressed here as Kbps(abbreviation for "kilobits per second"; used to indicate a data transfer rate))
• How, or whether, the file is compressed.

Higher sample ratesHow often a sample (measurement) of an audio signal is taken over a specific period of time. Higher sample rates equal better audio quality. Lower sample rates equal smaller files. result in better sound quality, but are usually larger files than those using lower sample rates. Compressed files are smaller but have slightly lower quality than uncompressed files. Different compression formats can also affect the quality. By default, Rhapsody imports CDs as 192Kbps MP3(MPEG Layer 3 Audio; a popular open-standard compression and file format for digital audio) files.

The following formats(encoding and compression formats for files; for example, MP3, RA, AAC) are available in Rhapsody for playback and importing CDs to My Library, as noted below:

Note: The above information refers only to CD importing and playback. CDs can only be burned in CD Digital Audio format (.cda) at 128 Kbps. This is the format of a music CD purchased at your local retailer.