I've been buying sermons on the internet for years and I've found that very few are truly MP3s. Most are MP3, WMA and RealAudio format. While the seller may say these are the same, THEY ARE NOT! For technical explanations visit Wikipedia but let me explain the major differences in layman's terms:

MP3: An MP3 file is a compressed audio file. The size of the file will vary depending on the length of the audio and the bit rate used. The lower the bit rate, the smaller the file size. But with the lower bit rate also comes loss of audio quality. This loss is not very noticable in speech files such as sermons and audiobooks. MP3 is supported by all computer systems, all MP3 players, all DVD players and some car stereos.

WMA: WMA is short for Windows Media Audio and as the name suggests is made and used by Windows primarily. It is much like MP3 as far as the bit rate and quality is concerned. This is not compatible with all MP3 players, DVD players, etc.

RealAudio: RealAudio is a very popular format for streaming and downloading audio from the internet. It requires the free Real Player to listen to. The free version will let you play the songs but you can't put them on many MP3 players or burn audio discs. This requires the Upgraded version which costs 29.99.

Now that you know the difference let me tell you my story. I love preaching and was excited about the prospect of "thousands" of sermons on some discs to listen to, burn, put on my iPod, etc. I bought these discs left and right. When I got them I was surprised to find that my iPod, my main music player, Would not support WMA or RealAudio. iTunes fixed part of this problem and now converts WMA to MP3 but I was still stuck with HUNDREDS of RA sermons and no way to listen without sitting in front of the computer. I tried all the free converters I could find with Google but none would work right. I'm no technological whiz but I started playing around and found a time consuming but effective way to convert all of these files. I have put literally hundreds of hours of my time into converting sermons. When I was finished I started wondering how many other people there were who just wanted MP3 sermons but could only get these WMA/MP3/RA discs. So I began compiling discs of specific preachers and selling them as cheap as possible without losing money. 

The bottom line is the most widely supported format is MP3, followed by WMA, then RA.Feel free to contact me with any questions about audio formats, and thanks for taking time to read my guide.

Check out my listings, you'll see why I confidently say that my discs are the best on eBay today!