Vorbis - Jan 2005 - Changing the bitrate (down) of an ogg file

Hi.

Sorry if this is the wrong list - a pointer to the right would be 
appreciated.

I have a number of Ogg files, that have a VBR bitrate of approx. 256 kbps. 
I have bought a portabel Ogg player (iRiver iFP 795) that unfortunately 
only support bitrates up to approx. 225 kbps.

So my question is, if there is a tool to change the bitrate down to e.g. 
220 kbps. I know I can do this with sox, or by decoding to wav, then 
recoding, but I was looking for a tool that "knew" ogg, and perhaps
could
change the bitrate in an "optimal" way, that is, throwing away the
least
significant components of the encoded file, or whatever.

Running Linux only, btw.

Thanks in advance,

Mads

-- 
Mads Bondo Dydensborg.                               madsdyd@challenge.dk
Oh well, all operating systems crash constantly right? This is normal, right? 
It has to be, Microsoft couldn't be so popular if their OS was so bad, could
they?	   
  Yes they could, and they are. And if you fail to realize it, it's your own
damn fault.
                               - Ron Coscorrosa, in response to MS France FUD

On Sam, 2005-01-08 at 08:14 +0100, madsdyd@challenge.dk wrote:
[...]
> So my question is, if there is a tool to change the bitrate down to e.g. 
> 220 kbps. I know I can do this with sox, or by decoding to wav, then 
> recoding, but I was looking for a tool that "knew" ogg, and
perhaps could
> change the bitrate in an "optimal" way, that is, throwing away
the least
> significant components of the encoded file, or whatever.
You are searching for a peeler. That is theoretical possible with Ogg
(unlike mp3 and other formats) but I think still none exists.
Unfortunately.

There was an effort of getting money to build one some time ago. What
has happened there? I somehow lost track of it.

-- Daniel


--
Homepage: http://www.npfdd.ch/
--
If it happens once, it's a bug. If it happens twice, it's a feature. If
it happens more than twice, it's a design philosophy.

On Sat, 8 Jan 2005, Daniel Schregenberger wrote:
> On Sam, 2005-01-08 at 08:14 +0100, madsdyd@challenge.dk wrote:
> [...]
> > So my question is, if there is a tool to change the bitrate down to
e.g.
> > 220 kbps. I know I can do this with sox, or by decoding to wav, then 
> > recoding, but I was looking for a tool that "knew" ogg, and
perhaps could
> > change the bitrate in an "optimal" way, that is, throwing
away the least
> > significant components of the encoded file, or whatever.
> 
> You are searching for a peeler. 
Ah, I have been searching for hours for "recoding". Good to know the
names
;-)
> That is theoretical possible with Ogg
> (unlike mp3 and other formats) but I think still none exists.
> Unfortunately.
> 
> There was an effort of getting money to build one some time ago. What
> has happened there? I somehow lost track of it.
I found this:
http://wiki.xiph.org/Bounties

I reckon it is not possible then (yet). Or at least that no open 
source/Linux tool exist.

Could you perhaps recommend a "best" strategy for changing my
ogg/vorbis
256 kbps files into (say) 128 kbps files? I am capable of hacking scripts, 
and such, I am more looking for recommendation of the best tool: does sox 
produce good results, would you rather recommend ogg123 to wav, then 
oggenc, perhaps something entirely different?

Thanks in advance,

Mads

-- 
Mads Bondo Dydensborg.                               madsdyd@challenge.dk
The low quality of [MP3] files should prevent this format from threatening
control of our intellectual property. Why would anyone listen to a sub-CD
quality song when they can easily buy the CD at the local Tower Records?
                               - RIAA head, Hillary Rosen, March 1997