.mpc file?

[ryko]

I have a couple of random music files that are .mpc files. Anybody know what these are? I have tried playing them in everyhting from wmp to this thing called radon player. I can't get the files to play at all. Are they useless?

Is there any way to play these files? Maybe convert them to mp3? Cdex won't do it.

Any suggestions?

[profdlp]

This (http://rarewares.org/mpc.html) looks promising. :thumbup

7K download:

[ryko]

Ok, i got that little app, but it requires lame(which i have), and this decoder pack called Musepack or mppdec.exe.

Now i have been all over the web trying to find this thing, but i can't find it for windows. Everything i have found is for linux (i.e., file.tar.gzip)

Any ideas on where to find it?

[ryko]

btw, i found a bunch of sites with links for the windows version, but all of them on many different sites come up with a 404 error---like all the files were pulled or something.

[ginipig]

Mpc > mp3.

Foobar2000 is a modular, extensible audio player, designed to couple high quality playback and good usability with a very low disk and memory footprint. Some people would call it minimalistic, but this is not correct given the large amount of features and supported formats. I would rather call it...non-bloated.

Foobar2000's audio processing pipeline includes a very high quality noiseshaper and ditherer, that has been tested to give superior quality to the MAD MP3 decoder, and several expensive commercial offerings.

To Play, use foobar2k's (www.foobar2000.org/beta.html) special package (native mpc support, diskwriter, database, album list etc.) Here's a screenie (contains Musicmusics foo_ui_columns component, and Neksus column config) :

http://home.earthlink.net/~ginipig/foobar.JPG

To Convert, you can also use foobars conversion suite. Transcoding from mpc -> mp3 isn't advisable. Mpc is arguably the best (recently made an open-source project) lossy format available today.

idle @ # Hydrogen Audio for mpc (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?showforum=11&) + foobar2k (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?act=SF&s=&f=27) discussion.

[ryko]

Well, now i have to start using bittorrent......what client are you guys using?

[ginipig]

Theres a direct link available:

beta (preferable) (http://mysite.verizon.net/vze559m7/foobar2000_0.8.1b3_special.exe)
stable (http://koti.mbnet.fi/chastity/foobar2000_0.8.exe)

[ryko]

what's the difference between the beta and the stable.....or why is the beta preferred?

[ginipig]

0.8.1 Beta 3 contains optimized builds of the cli (command line interface) encoder - speeding up the transcoding process, among other things, as well as additional updates to bundled packages. Foobars beta is thoroughly tested by the HA.org community. I've never had a problem (in fact, I've seen decreased load times, as well faster response times) with betas.

[ginipig]

I forgot to mention in my first post that Foobar has a tag-database. Here, Foobar will remember tags (id3v1,id3v2,apev2) and store it in its database. While I don't especially encourage your decision to transcode mpc to mp3, you can rest assure that foobars database will automatically tag the new file with previous values.

[ryko]

Thanks for your help ginipig, so i guess i should go mpc------->wav?

[ginipig]

Thanks for your help ginipig, so i guess i should go mpc------->wav?

Hell No!

If you're going for lossy compression (mpc, mp3, ogg etc,) mpc is the best format.

Stick with mpcs.

[TheBaron]

so theres not just a codec like i got for .flac ? (by the way, free lossless audio codec = the own)

[ginipig]

so theres not just a codec like i got for .flac ?

For encoding or decoding? Winamp does support mpc playback (by means of plugin,) but shoddy coding negates any low.overhead advantages of the format.

(by the way, free lossless audio codec = the own)

My essential music backups are encoded by flac. If I'm going lossy, I choose mpc. If I'm going lossless, I choose flac. Many may argue that Monkey.Audio is the better format, but I'm particularly impressed by flacs active development.

[Enverex]

I'm guessing he is refering to a decoding codec, basically so it can be using in WMA6/9 and so other software that uses codecs will regonise it and be able to view/play/check it.

For Encoding, the best thing to use 99% of the time is the creators own CLI software, as that is normally made by them, using the latest version of their codec, etc etc. Second to that comes the ever useful dbPowerAMP which is what you want to use if you frequently have to encode/decode multiple different audio formats. It also uses a very easy to access GUI and integrates into the shell so you can just right click audio files and convert them.

No luck on the Windows Codec front.

[ryko]

Well, here's what i did.............winamp + mpc plugin. I can hear the difference between mp3 and mpc for sure.

But i don't think i am ready to re-rip my entire music collection to mpc. Just doesn't seem worth it to me. I like the quality, but i want something with a high degree of compatibility. My car and living room stereos play mp3's----not mpc's or anything else.

Just have to wait and see i guess. First it was ogg that was going to replace mp3's, now it mpc, flac, and monkey's..........who knows?

[Kwitko]

If I'm going lossless, I choose flac. Many may argue that Monkey.Audio is the better format, but I'm particularly impressed by flacs active development.

I like FLAC and SHN. My good stuff is encoded mostly as SHN, then FLAC. Both are great lossless formats.

[EMT]

Yes, a study found that mpc is the superior lossy compression format at high bitrates. I wouldn't dare convert them for listening on the computer unless I really didn't care about the quality.

I do have an MP3 player that only does MP3, Ogg, and WMA, so for the player's copy of my music I convert all the other formats to Ogg using Winamp.

[ginipig]

My good stuff is encoded mostly as SHN, then FLAC

A while ago, I was also going to give shorten a try. Once the RioKarma marketing group started to infiltrate the market, I abandoned that idea. Until more hardware support is available for other lossless codecs, I'll stick to flac.

[Abc7]

i searched for download mppdec.exe and i got this page: http://home.vxu.se/mdati00/frontah/manual-download.html
whit this link: http://www.saunalahti.fi/~cse/mppdec.zip (mppdec.exe)

[ginipig]

This (http://www.cd-rw.org/software/audio_software/audio_players/mp+_plugin_for_winamp.cfm) is the only google result I found worth looking into. I don't use Winamp, so I'm not sure if there have been any updates to it.

[ryko]

yeah, i have the plugin for winamp and it works fine, but i was looking for the musepack decoder........

[paccers]

how can i make these MPC files open in windows media player? im a real idiot when it comes to converting stuff, so could you please give a fool proof method, cheers

[ryko]

There is no way that i know of to get them to play directly in windows media player.

Download winamp, and the winamp .mpc plugin, and then you can at least listen to them. There is also a .mpc nero plugin that allows you to burn them to disc. I haven't tried it, but you might be able to burn them to a disc and then use windows media player to play your burned cd...

[MediaMan]

I believe a solution for WMP9 can be found with either of these files. .mpc>mp3

MPC -> MP3 direct transcoder (http://www.rarewares.org/files/mpc/mpc2mp3.zip)

MPC Direct Show Filter MPC decoder for DirectShow players (WMP9) (http://www.rarewares.org/files/mpc/RadLightMPC.exe)

[King Kolostomy]

Hi folks. I am an idiot when it comes to this stuff. I've tried the stuff in this thread and none of it has worked.

I would like to convert MPC to MP3 (as high bitrate as possible). Can you please explain in idiot terms for me how to do this?

Thanks in advance.

[bigmaestro]

Hey King KOLOSTOMY - I don't know if you are still looking for the way to convert .MPC to .mp3 - here's the sure way (worked for me) - MediaMonkey at

http://www.mediamonkey.com/download.htm

It is FREE and has many cool features.
Enjoy.

[Enverex]

Always remember though, you're converting from one lossy format to another, consequenty you're going to have further file quality loss...