I have converted some m4a songs (got an iTunes gift card, did not want to waste it) using MediaMonkey to 128kbs mp3 files to load onto my Fuze. They sound fine when I play them back on the computer but sound quality is poor when I play them back on the Fuze. Anybody else run into this? Would a higher bit rate solve it? I hope by next Christmas to have everyone schooled on Please Make It An Amazon Gift Card but I intend to use up the iTunes card for now.
Converting from one lossy codec file to another is bound to sound bad, and 128K is not helping.
Try 256K to see if that helps.
I guess there must be some compatibility problem with MediaMonkey 128k on the Fuze, as I just tried a few others with better results. WMA at 128k was better than the mp3 but still did not sound right. MediaMonkey’s 160kbps mp3 conversion sounds very good and still keeps the file size small enough for me. I still don’t know why some of these conversions sound better on my PC than on the Fuze but I guess it does not really matter as I have found something that works. Thanks for your help.
@woody59 wrote:
I guess there must be some compatibility problem with MediaMonkey 128k on the Fuze, as I just tried a few others with better results. WMA at 128k was better than the mp3 but still did not sound right. MediaMonkey’s 160kbps mp3 conversion sounds very good and still keeps the file size small enough for me. I still don’t know why some of these conversions sound better on my PC than on the Fuze but I guess it does not really matter as I have found something that works. Thanks for your help.
If file size is really a concern, then make sure you are using VBR. You can get your best compromise between quality and size that way. 
Thanks MM I will be sure to try the variable bit rate too. The reason file size is a concern is that most of my music is ripped at 320kbps from back when I did not have a portable media player, just wanted the best sound for playback on my PC and burning CD’s for the car player. Got my Fuze now, loaded a bunch of music on it, and then discovered it did not hold any more songs than my old 1G iPod Shuffle. So now I am trying to find a better balance between sound quality and file size. I plan to replace the 320k stuff when I get time to convert more songs, this forum is very helpful.
It will likely cost you a lot less to just get an 8 GB card to expand your capacity.
My current plan is to load music albums onto 4G microSD cards, organized by music genre and the Sandisk cards are very affordable right now. As for saving money-I already own almost all of the music on Compact Disc so it will just take a bunch of my spare time to rip it at a lower bit rate. That microSD slot is a great feature and was one of the main reasons I bought my 4G Fuze! I am building playlists to load into the main memory right now and with MediaMonkey the 160kbs constant or variable mp3 sounds pretty good. Let the puttering begin!
