Audio question - wav, mp3

[cantthinkofanything]

So...I believe that a wav file has better audio quality than mp3 because it's less compressed.

But will a car sound system recognize this difference if the files are being played from a flash drive?
I would think it still plays them as wav files but wasn't sure.

Reason I'm asking is...

I'm putting a bunch of songs on a flash drive to play in the car.
Is there an advantage to keeping them as wav files as opposed to mp3?
Advantage to mp3 being that I can get a lot more songs on the stick.
Is the wav quality over mp3 significant enough to even worry about?

[ChumpDumper]

If your car can even play WAVs, compare them yourself and see what compression you can stand.

[cantthinkofanything]

If your car can even play WAVs, compare them yourself and see what compression you can stand.

I'm doing this at work today so was hoping to get a more direct and definitive answer before burning songs and playing them on the way home.
I've played wavs in the car via CD before but haven't used a flash drive. I assume the car doesn't know the difference but not 100% if there is some different read mechanism in the flash drive that might compress.

[DJR210]

Yeah, you can definitely notice a degradation in quality between .wav (1411 kbps) vs mp3 @ 192 kbps, and really anything less than 192 sounds terrible IMO. If you have good quality mp3 at 320 kbps, I can't really tell the difference.

And yeah, your car stereo is gonna play the file in its native format, whether it be mp3, wav, aiff, etc.

[DJR210]

I'm doing this at work today so was hoping to get a more direct and definitive answer before burning songs and playing them on the way home.
I've played wavs in the car via CD before but haven't used a flash drive. I assume the car doesn't know the difference but not 100% if there is some different read mechanism in the flash drive that might compress.

Record/burn your mp3 at 320 kpbs..it's a good balance between size and quality.

[cantthinkofanything]

Record/burn your mp3 at 320 kpbs..it's a good balance between size and quality.

Not sure if I have that option.

I'm downloading playlists from Rhapsody then stripping out the DRM and saving to wav with some software. I don't think I have an option as to mp3 compression.

Shit...so I guess there is another question though...

the files from Rhapsody are saved as wma files to my computer. Does this make the whole wav question moot?
IE, are the wma files already compressed down so that putting them in wav isn't going to matter?

[DJR210]

Not sure if I have that option.

I'm downloading playlists from Rhapsody then stripping out the DRM and saving to wav with some software. I don't think I have an option as to mp3 compression.

Shit...so I guess there is another question though...

the files from Rhapsody are saved as wma files to my computer. Does this make the whole wav question moot?
IE, are the wma files already compressed down so that putting them in wav isn't going to matter?

WMA is less space than WAV, and has about the same quality. Your car stereo probably plays WMA files too. Other than that, double check that software for the option to save in mp3.

[cantthinkofanything]

WMA is less space than WAV, and has about the same quality. Your car stereo probably plays WMA files too. Other than that, double check that software for the option to save in mp3.

I think I remembered reading that the CD player only recognized wav or aif. but the USB drive would play anything.

Thanks for the advice. :tu

[DJR210]

I think I remembered reading that the CD player only recognized wav or aif. but the USB drive would play anything.

Thanks for the advice. :tu

No problem