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IPOD CLASSIC 7th Gen, Apple or WAV?

Alright so I might get a new IPOD Classic. I have never owned one, but due to a new car having the USB port capable of controlling it right on the new radio decided it would be nice to have vs. carrying around CD's.

Anyway for the most part I have heard MP3 files in cars, and its not bad, not much different than CD directly. For Car I normally could care less.

Home is a different story, if I decide in the future to hook this up thru a Dock or not I would like to just be prepared and do the best lossless format possible, I don't care about space, the 160 gig on the new one should be fine even with un-compressed files for the amount of stuff I will ever put on it.

So where is the Audio-phile hi end at on the format wars these days? Use apples format, or go to the WAV, FLAC What?

I want it as simple as possible, I will not be using Itunes service for downloading any music, strictly copying the CD's. Which is the final question, not sure if you can do any of this without using ITUNES, but what program and setup do you guys suggest downloading to the Laptop for best CD transfer to an IPOD with best format and of course best user interface? I have plenty of hard drive backup space etc... Once I get the whole CD collection transfered.
Thanks
undertow

Showing 6 responses by undertow

undertow OP
1,033 posts
 
Thedautch
Oh yeah I will not use the headphone out, the other key aspect to the USB to Apple connection vs. minijack is that it will also keep the unit Charged so thats a nice advantage as well.

I guess just use the Itune and load it up via Apple Lossless?

Thanks
undertow OP
1,033 posts
 
Just reporting back, AIFF is perfect… Yeah it takes up space, but with the new 160 gig model I cant even fill it half with nearly 200 albums.

Also just for those taking notes you can with a current model computer with good CD drive get about 10 to 12 full length albums per hour loaded to Itunes in AIFF. Also in the car the CD is identical to the Ipod sound, but then again in a car the room acoustics are far easier to control vs. your house.
Thanks
undertow OP
1,033 posts
 
Well, actually the way my Ipod will be used is via the USB line, so actually my understanding is that the car stereo will be getting the raw digital signal, not an analog already D/A conversion from the Ipod. The car stereo does have DSP and Dac's built in from what I am reading anyway. That being said only thing nobody has answered is how to do it!?

Okay so AIFF as stated is probably the best overall route, I am fine with that, however where is this done? Do you just download your latest version of ITUNEs and as you transfer a CD into the "Itune Library" or whatever you will actually have options of what format to convert this into while saving the file? Or is this gonna take some more work and third party program etc… Besides an easy Itune interface? Again I have not even used it yet, I am very Savvy with all this stuff once I do it, just don't even own the device yet and have no reason to even really get started until I know how basic or complex this will get.

Thanks     
undertow OP
1,033 posts
 
Okay sounds good, Thanks
undertow OP
1,033 posts
 
One quick question (estimate) I know its not perfect, how many albums can you expect to get onto a 160 gig Ipod in general? In AIFF that is? Most standard CD's are 650 to 750 mb, so not sure where we end up via AIFF on an ipod.
I assume essentially they could even be larger in AIFF due to all the graphics and tags that come along with this format on the device.
Thanks again
undertow OP
1,033 posts
 
Albertporter
I understand and actually my wifes car has the "Apple Branded" cable, which in fact is not a standard USB on the Car end of it and I would assume is an analog signal being passed to a basic auxilary input on the Factory radio, it is some type of proprietary serial connection the car manufactures have installed... However I am using a Sony aftermarket stereo with true USB and DACS, I believe this does bypass the Apple Dacs in this case. Thanks
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