GoMojo Basement Downloads Guide

Downloads from GoMojo Basement are encoded at a much lower compression ratio than the downloads available from the major providers, such as iTunes, eMusic and Amazon. The trade-off is file size - our tracks take up 30-50% more space. This does not matter too much given the storage space of modern players. However all that extra space contains details in the recording that would otherwise be lost. The better your headphones/speakers are, the more this is evident. You can choose between two different formats - AAC and Ogg Vorbis. The choice is down to your preference and what your player supports. We do not offer the MP3 format because of the substantial license fees and because MP3 is an old format. It's time to move on!

Available formats

Download in AAC format AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is a lossy compression format for audio and was designed as the successor to MP3. It is part of both the MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 specifications. AAC tracks supplied by GoMojo Basement are contained in MP4 container files with the file extension .m4a. This is the standard format used on Apple iTunes (but encoded with lower audio quality on iTunes). Some older software may require the file extension to be changed to .mp4 to recognise the files, although this is unusual.

AAC/MP4 files are supported on most modern audio players and mobile phones, incl. most models of iPod, iPhone, Zune, Zen and Sony Walkman. Please check your manual for compatibility.

AAC/MP4 files from GoMojo Basement are encoded for superior audio quality using Variable Bit Rate (VBR) with a bit rate of up to 400 kbps and the Low Complexity (LC) profile for wider compatibility. Cover art is embedded in each track.

To test your player for compatibility, you can download a short file encoded in the same format used for our full album downloads. Click here to download AAC sample.

Download in Ogg Vorbis format Ogg Vorbis is an open, patent-free standard for audio files. Ogg is the container format and Vorbis is the audio format. Like AAC it uses lossy compression, however the model is different. At the high bitrates we use for encoding, it is unlikely that you will notice any difference between Ogg Vorbis and AAC, but some people have a preference.

Ogg Vorbis files are not as widely supported as AAC. However some players incl. Sansa Fuze support Ogg Vorbis and not AAC. Some players can be modified to support Ogg Vorbis. For more information please click here.

Ogg Vorbis files from GoMojo Basement are encoded for superior audio quality using Variable Bit Rate (VBR) with a bit rate of up to 425 kbps. There is no standard way of embedding cover art in Ogg Vorbis files, so cover art is included as a separate file (please see below).

To test your player for compatibility, you can download a short file encoded in the same format used for our full album downloads. Click here to download Ogg Vorbis sample.


 

How to download

When you buy an album download you will download it as a single zip file, which contains the following directories and files compressed: the top directory has the name of the artist. Inside that is a directory with the name of the album. Inside the album directory are the individual tracks in either AAC or Ogg Vorbis format.

Uncompress the zip archive after download and copy the contents (the artist folder and everything below) to your player. If you already have other albums by this artist then you may want to copy the album directory only.

Cover art

Ogg Vorbis downloads also contain a single jpg file with the cover art in the album directory. This file is called folder.jpg and should be recognised by your player as the cover art to be displayed for all tracks under that album. Some players may require this file to have a different name - please refer to the manual. AAC downloads have the cover art embedded in each track.

We regret that we are unable to offer technical support for individual players. Please refer to the manual and the manufacturer's Web site.