MP3 Playback is poor on a 520C

[Forrest]

I spent some time yesterday setting up streaming MP3 playback (M3U) on my PowerBook 520C - 25 MHz 68LC040 with 20 MB RAM and System 7.6 and http://www.jwgdesign.com/mpegdec/

It DID work, though the sound quality was poor trying to playback 192k MP3 files and MpegDec 3.1.1 probably used up about 95% CPU time - meaning the computer couldn't do anything else while music was playing.

I've come to appreciate how well MyTunesRSS 3 works at streaming my iTunes library from my G4 - easy setup, less than 1% CPU useage and the free version meets all my needs. http://www.codewave.de/products/mytunesrss/

Anyone have better success on similar hardware?

 

[MultiFinder]

Ooo, thanks for the link! I didn't know about that app. I'm gonna try it on my 540c...

 

[wgoodf]

i have done mp3 on my 540c -and yes it does work, but for the usual 128k mp3 files i had to switch the software to output only in mono.

if it was stereo the machine would lock up. with mono output it had some measure of usability when the mp3 was playing.

that said tho - the fact it plays at all in real time is pretty good.

 

[alk]

What did you expect? ;-)

You might try it on a Quadra. I think you'll find you get (barely) better performance out of a full '040, but even then, don't expect to do anything else while playing MP3s. Heck, even PowerPCs less than 100 MHz suck wind while doing it.

Peace,

Drew

 

[MultiFinder]

Don't forget, you're doing it on a 25MHz 68LC040, which is the second-lowest category listed on their page. Be happy that some sound comes out at all