2. pc-audio
  3. 1105557793

iTunes idiot needs some help


Hi,

Although I've owned an iPod for quite a while now I'm in need of some help. Up until now I've stored approximately 400 WAV files on my iPod. I recently bought two Western Digital 160gb external hard drives and I'm copying 400 CD's on to the hard drives using iTunes, importing the songs as WAV files (I bought all these CD's BTW).

I'd like to rip all of my music on to my iPod. To fit all this music onto a 20gb iPod will require compression, any recommendations as to which compression format to use would be appreciated. Priority is sound quality (I really hate the sound of MP3's) but by the same token I'll need to fit a lot of music on it. I'm very interested in your opinion and will certainly appreciate any advice.

I want to keep the WAV files on the hard drive(s) as is, allowing me to make compilations or copies of my CD's as required. The thing I can't figure out for the life of me: I have the WAV files on my hard drive and want to use some sort of compression to load them on the iPod while I maintain the original WAV files on the hard drive. There must be a way to grab the WAV files off my hard drive and using iTunes compress the files, store the compressed music in a directory on the drive, and then load my iPod with the compressed files. All the while keeping the original WAV files in WAV format on the drive. I'm running XP with the latest iTunes software. Thanks in advance to any iTunes aficionados who can lend a helping hand. Best Regards, Jeff
jeffloistarca

Showing 3 responses by pabelson

pabelson
344 posts
 
Ah, well, cheesy old pop records from the short-playing-time LP era, sure...
;-)
pabelson
344 posts
 
First, you need to get realistic. You can't compress 400 CDs to fit on a 20GB iPod with acceptable sound quality. Period. So you either have to get a bigger iPod or leave some of your music off it. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

How much music you have to leave off depends on what sound quality you're willing to live with. When you say you "hate the sound of MP3s," I suspect you mean 128kbps MP3s. My suggestion is that you try ripping MP3s at various bitrates, copying them to the iPod and deciding what you can live with. You might find that 160 or 192kbps gives you a pretty good compromise between compression and sound quality. At 192kbps, you can store almost 250 CDs on a 20GB iPod.

iTunes is not a full-service audio program, so you may have to try other software (like LAME, as Ed suggested) to convert your WAV files to MP3s. iTunes should give you the ability to maintain more than one music library (I know it does on Macs). I'd keep my WAVs and MP3s in separate libraries.
pabelson
344 posts
 
I think Ed's numbers are a bit off. Figuring 600MB per CD, a 20GB iPod will hold about 30 CDs in WAV format, and maybe 50 or so in Apple Lossless.
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