.mp3 Playback on an A1200

[Dr_Nineman]

I am considering options for upgrading my stock Amiga 1200 such that it can play .mp3 files.  My processor upgrade path is yet to be determined.  I am either planning on:

1)  Blizzard 060/50Mhz
2)  Blizzard 060/PPC (heat issues, I know)
3)  ACK Software Controls PPC (currently Vaporware)

My questions are as follows:

1)  Can I use any of the above processors to emulate .mp3 playback without the use of a third-party sound card?

2)  If not, which sound card is best for a A1200 Desktop (i.e., Delfina Flipper, etc.)?

Thanks for your help here!

Nineman

[bloodline]

Dr_Nineman wrote:
I am considering options for upgrading my stock Amiga 1200 such that it can play .mp3 files.  My processor upgrade path is yet to be determined.  I am either planning on:

1)  Blizzard 060/50Mhz
2)  Blizzard 060/PPC (heat issues, I know)
3)  ACK Software Controls PPC (currently Vaporware)

My questions are as follows:

1)  Can I use any of the above processors to emulate .mp3 playback without the use of a third-party sound card?

2)  If not, which sound card is best for a A1200 Desktop (i.e., Delfina Flipper, etc.)?

Thanks for your help here!

Nineman

I used to use some software that turned an mp3 into an 8svx file.

[Effy]

Bloodline : in other words, decrunch the mp3 into your Ram which is minimum 96 Mb, and then play the 8svx file from there without the need of your harddrive ... sounds easy  :-) That way you really don´t need a fast processor. I remember having tried that years ago with my A1230 with 96 Mb Ram. But it took a while before the mp3 was decrunched ..  :-o

[itix]

Both Blizzard 060 and PPC are fast enough to play MP3s. Without soundcard you are limited to 8bit (or 14bit) output, but works and sounds good.

[Dr_Nineman]

I think I'll try the 060 option before throwing money into a Delfina.  If the sound quality is decent then I am happy.  I'm not much of an audiophile other than my habit of digitizing everything.

What software would you recommend for a Blizzard 060/50Mhz A1200?  You guys are saving me a lot of time (and money).  Thanks again.

Nineman

[X-ray]

I used Delitracker and 14bit AHI output, and it sounded great. Haven't used my Miggy to play MP3s for a while, but back in the day I tried early versions of AmigaAMP but didn't like it.
You'll be fine with 060, Delitracker and AHI.

There are also CD audio rippers (although I used MakeCD to rip audio) and there are MP3 encoders too. But even on 060 you'll be waiting quite long to encode that CD audio into MP3. I used to rip the tracks to HD and then make a script that copied each track to RAM, encoded it, copied the MP3 back to HD and then deleted the track in RAM. This was so I could leave the thing running overnight without the HD tick-ticking continuously.

[adonay]

Hope you dont intend to uppgrade your 1200 just for the mp3 part abit exspensive mp3player :-D
Well my brother used Amplifier(name of program) software witch i think is quite cool still updates too i think, this was on a 68040  :-o went fine trough standard onboard sound, whith AHI

adonay

[samanosuke]

There was an earlier topic on this board titled "MP3 using Paula" which I suggest you look at. A few guys had managed CD quality using a software hack. Instead of having four channels of 8-bit sound it allows you to have two channels of 16-bit sound. I'm going to try it out when I get back to cold England.