Audacity Forum

Ok a few questions, after looking at the tutorials and all that info at wiki.
Below is all the Specs I can find for my LG CU515 Cell Phone.
So my questions are.
(1) Can it play stereo ? (even though it's a bigger file size than Mono)
(2) What is the best all around format I should use ?, thinking about Quality, File Size, Length, bitrate etc. ?, (it looks like everyone it came with is mp3)
(3) I know it says "Polyphonic" but it also says, Wav, Mp3, AAC, So can it play
(Music ring tones - actual digitally sampled music files) ?
(4) it says, (Tone quality 72 Polyphonic) What settings does this translate to ? or affect this ?
bitrate ?
(5)Can one of my playable formats be "looped", (unlike mp3 I read here in these forums).


This is what ATT/Cingular says about it.

Ringtone specifications

Ringtone formats SP Midi, Standard Midi, iMelody, WAV, AAC, AAC+, MP3
Maximum tone size 300kB
Maximum tone length unlimited
Tone storage capacity unlimited
Tone quality 72 Polyphonic

You would be much better looking for these answers on a web site for your cell phone rather than Audacity.
Generally uncompressed WAV format will give the highest quality, but also the largest file, hence the shortest duration. With compressed formats (MP3 etc.) there is a trade off between quality and size - the smaller the file, the lower the quality.

Hi there Steve, thanks for the basic reply.
Yep I did that 2 times and both times they pointed me to the Specifications for my phone.
Which I posted above, ofcourse I already looked for that info before hand,
Hoping I wouldn't have to search then post.
And pointed me towards ringtone programs.

Unfortunately none of which answer the questions I have here.

As I don't work for the manufacturer, I have no access to any details about your phone than are in the specifications, but I appreciate the frustration of being faced with incomplete specifications and not being able to get an answer from anyone, so I'll try to interpret some of the information that you have given:

(1) Can it play stereo ?
Well Audacity can, but do you need stereo on a phone? How often do you hold it up to both of your ears at the same time? Or do you have the optional stereo headset?

(2) What is the best all around format I should use ?
As in the previous reply, it is a trade-off between sound quality and size. If you are editing your sound in Audacity you should Export as a WAV file so that you have a good quality backup, but for putting into your phone, mp3 at the lowest quality (smallest file size) should still sound acceptable.

(3) I know it says "Polyphonic" but it also says, Wav, Mp3, AAC, So can it play
(Music ring tones - actual digitally sampled music files) ?

The specifications are rather vague here. Polyphonic ring tones usually means synthesized sounds (like midi files - in fact they sometimes are midi files). This is not the same as actual audio recordings. However, your phone can work as a voice recorder and a digital audio player, so it is capable of playing audio recordings, but probably not as ring tones. The ability to play real audio recordings as the ring tone is usually called "Truetone" rather than "Polyphonic".

(4) it says, (Tone quality 72 Polyphonic)
That means that playing synthesized sounds (midi files) it can play up to 72 sounds simultaneously. For example, a pianist may play 5 or 6 notes at the same time on a piano, but because the notes ring out for longer than they are pressed, a piano may be sounding 20 notes simultaneously - that would count as 20 tone polyphonic. Synthesizers sometimes "layer" sounds, using multiple tones to create a single instrument, but 72 tones is still quite a lot.

(5)Can one of my playable formats be "looped", (unlike mp3 I read here in these forums).
Your phone can probably do "loop play" - that is, when it gets to the end, it can probably start playing it again.
This is not the same as when you read that mp3's can not be looped - in the context of that question it was talking about seamless looping in samplers to create a continuous sound. If your phone can loop a recording, there will be a small gap in the sound when it gets to the end and returns to the beginning.

From the LG CU515 Quick Start Guide it looks like you can load music into it as mp3's or various other formats, but that Ring Tones need to be downloaded from their on-line shop.

If you want to listen to music on your phone, then it may be worth using standard or high quality mp3's if you have the optional headphones, but for just listening from the phone, mono recordings at a lower quality will allow a lot more songs.

For all available specifications, see here: http://us.lge.com/support/download/sear ... U515.jhtml
For general information about ring tones see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringtone

Hi yah Steve. Thanks once again.
I did check out those a long time ago, when I buy anything I always go to the websites
and download everything I can for them.

I got a wild hair because I remembered You can view information about the files on the
phone.
In the "Audio and Ringtones" Section I notice the songs all have different settings, but the
worst and best (Pre-Loaded) are below.
I didn't see any Mono.

Sample Rate, 22050Hz
Bit Rate, 56kbps
Audio Channel, Stereo

Sample Rate, 44100Hz
Bit Rate, 192kbps
Audio Channel, Stereo

(Looks like most are)

Sample Rate, 22050Hz
Bit Rate, 56kbps
Audio Channel, Stereo

Sample Rate, 44100Hz
Bit Rate, 96kbps
Audio Channel, Stereo