How much audio can 1gb hold

The encoding method can also affect how many songs will fit on your portable device— variable bitrate files generate a smaller file compared to constant bitrate files. One reason the VBR vs. CBR question matters is that VBR files generally produce better sound and sometimes result in smaller files if the audio properties of the original sound support it, but they decode more slowly and thus some playback devices cannot handle them.

CBR is universally accepted despite known limitations in acoustic quality. Choosing an audio format for your particular portable is also an important factor to consider. The MP3 standard may be the most widely supported audio format, but your device may be able to use an alternative format that produces smaller files. AAC, for example, is regarded as being better than MP3.

It typically produces higher quality audio and is more efficient at compression. This format could give you more songs per gigabyte than if you use MP3 alone. Assuming you've opted for the more universal MP3 format for your music library, there's a really simple formula that you can use to estimate how many songs will fit in 1 gigabyte. This isn't an exact science, but it'll give you a good idea.

Take the length of the song in seconds. Then, multiply it by the bitrate of file. Now, take the result, and divide it by the result of 8 multiplied by That will convert from kilobits kb to megabytes MB. All together, it looks like this:. That will give you an approximate size for a single song, but what about a whole library. Well, you could sit and individually calculate all of your songs, but who'd actually want to do that?

Instead, take an estimate. Assume that the average length of your songs is 3. That's pretty standard. Now, apply the formula. Remember to multiply 3. The result is a rough estimate of 3. Does that seem about right for your library? To figure out how many 3. There you have it! You can fit roughly songs on 1GB of storage.

I would expect most people to regard these as having the same sound quality, when played on a portable device, and to be acceptably close to Apple Lossless. Different compression systems create different artefacts, so you can learn to tell them apart, but this doesn't necessarily mean one "sounds better". The only way to find out which sounds better to you is to run a double-blind test with different encodings of the same music, played in a random order. You can get better sound quality by buying better headphones or earbuds than the ones supplied.

You could also compare different MP3 players. Some Cowon iAudio models, the Kenwood HD30GB9 and a few others have a reputation for high sound quality, if that's your main objective, but most people prefer iPods even if they don't sound as good to some audiophiles. If you like fancy bundles and lots of games, buy a gb bundle and pick up a 4tb hard drive from best buy for usd or so. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel.

Research Paper. Ben Davis March 13, How much space does an MP3 take up? How much storage does a 4 minute MP3 song take up? How many minutes is a MP3 GB? How many songs can mb hold?