"you can convert AAC into Apple Lossless... I just did it."
Just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD. Sfar is spot on; the original compression of the CD track to mp3 discards a heap of data to end up with a file about 1/10 of the original, data you simply can't get back. Converting from mp3 to Lossless (or burning an audio CD from mp3's) simply expands the file with lots of interpolation. All iTunes is doing is changing the file type to AAC; it can't recover the lost data, but just tries to fill in the gaps with some high tech guesswork.
It will never sound the same as an original lossless rip.
Again I have to agree with sfar; judge whether your end use of the ipod warrants such high quality files before you re-rip all those tracks!
Just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD. Sfar is spot on; the original compression of the CD track to mp3 discards a heap of data to end up with a file about 1/10 of the original, data you simply can't get back. Converting from mp3 to Lossless (or burning an audio CD from mp3's) simply expands the file with lots of interpolation. All iTunes is doing is changing the file type to AAC; it can't recover the lost data, but just tries to fill in the gaps with some high tech guesswork.
It will never sound the same as an original lossless rip.
Again I have to agree with sfar; judge whether your end use of the ipod warrants such high quality files before you re-rip all those tracks!