MP3 Shootout

subtitle/short description/introduction

By Steve Duff, Contributing Editor, See staff list for e-mail address

MPEG audio is a growing phenomenon, with MPEG Layer3 as the current hot format, thanks to its good compression and CD-quality sound. There are plenty of MP3 players on other platforms, though the 'AMP' series (WinAMP, MacAMP and X11AMP) appears to be the most prominent. I use MacAMP and find it to be an excellent application.

Luckily, the Amiga is not being left behind. I've tried a pair of Amiga MP3 players, AmigaAMP and SongPlayer, staging a shootout between them.

AmigaAMP, by Thomas Wenzel, is an Amiga version of the AMP engine created by Tomislav Uzelac. The docs state that Uzelac was involved with designing the MPEG hardware standard, so the app comes with good credentials. Unfortunately, unless you have a PowerPC, you will not hear AMP-engine decoding. On 68k machines, AmigaAMP uses the mpega.library, and this is not surprisingly one of the requirements for installation. Also required is asyncio.library and the AHI audio system, none of which are included in the archive.

SongPlayer, by Stephane Tavenard, requires OS 3.0+, MUI v3.3 or above, and at least a 68EC020 processor. This app is giftware, while AmigaAMP is freeware.

Installation

Both apps install easily. AmigaAMP only needs to be unpacked to the directory of your choice. After that, =read= the docs. Unless you follow the directions you will end up with a mute AmigaAMP. The setup is pretty easy; launch your AHI Prefs, click the button under Mode settings that says 'Music Unit' and select '0' from the menu (unless you have unit '0' assigned to something else), then choose a 'Paula Fast 14-bit' mode. Launch AmigaAMP and open the Config menu to determine your MPEGA settings. Owners of fast Amigas should simply select High Quality, a Frequency Division of 1:1, and a Max Frequency of 44100, then Save your settings.

SongPlayer comes with an installer that takes care of the dirty work. Configuration is done through a supplied Settings menu that includes options for Audio, Karaoke, Scopes and MPEG.

It should be noted that both apps can play MPEG Layer 1, 2 and 3 files. In addition, SongPlayer can handle IFF (8SVX, PCM and Fibonacci delta), AIFF (ADP4), WAVE, and AU formats. I only tested MPEG3 on both apps.

The differences between these apps manifest themselves right at launch. AmigaAMP comes with an 'everything is grey' GadTools GUI. Though primitive, it includes the necessary functions and gets the job done. This early release so far lacks a PlayList function, and is basically a far cry from the MacAMP/WinAMP duo (see [MacAMP screenshot], [AmigaAMP screenshot]). SongPlayer has a basic but attractive MUI interface, an included PlayList editor, and decent scopes (see [SongPlayer screenshot]). This latter is notable, since a weak point of many Amiga music apps is their ugly scopes. In terms of usability, SongPlayer is a bit better than AmigaAMP, though I found the PlayList editor to be extremely awkward compared to MacAMP. In fact, I accidentally overwrote some files in an attempt to create a PlayList. This aspect of the program needs some work.

The really important thing is how they sound, and here the differences are even more pronounced. Quite simply, SongPlayer blows away AmigaAMP, at least on 68k machines. The AmigaAMP audio was slightly muddy and featured both crackle and hiss, even at the highest settings. By contrast, SongPlayer played strong and clear apart from a slight weakness at treble response. In 14-bit, it actually sounded better than MacAMP on 16-bit, possibly because of the Amiga's superior speakers (Yamaha 3-piece set vs. Juster SP-980s on the Mac). SongPlayer also proved superior to CD audio played through AsimTunes on the same 14-bit setting.

Allow me to say that having MP3 songs blasting away is really cool. The dark side of MP3 is that the files are huge. I play mostly punk rock MP3, where the songs are short and musically simple, but even these files average 2+ MB. That's a serious download, and of course, they'll start crowding your HD if you accumulate too many.

Summary

AmigaAMP: An early release with an ugly GUI and limited features, plus inferior audio output -- 75%

SongPlayer: An outstanding application with a decent GUI and scopes, multiple format capability, and great sound, marred only by a clumsy PlayList editor -- 95%

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