I'm still looking for the iPods properties, but I'll keep looking.
Also, is it possible to convert from Apple Lossless to MP3 using the existing files and not having to mess with the CDs again? |
Yes, I'm talking about a lossy format not WAV or Apple Lossless. I would assume that they both take up nearly the same amount of space?
Is there a lossy file type that is an Apple format? I'm assuming that the reason that the Apple Lossless is better than WAV is because the iPod DAC is better at the D/A on it. |
I was just doing a little more research on the Apple Lossless format since I didn't realize that it reduced the file size so much compared to WAV.
Is this calculation correct?
30 GB = 30,000 MB / 652 MB (max per CD) = 45 CD (approx.)
If I assume that Apple Lossless is about 2/3 then the total goes up to 45 x 3/2 = 67 and the majority of CDs do not contain a full 652 MB so I should expect greater than 70 CDs to fit? |
I think what I'm going to do is rip all of my audiophile CDs in Apple Lossless and the in the same MP3 format that I've previously ripped the rest of my CDs. I may need to upgrade the quality of a few CDs. |
It appears that the option to down convert isn't on my version of iTunes that was downloaded just a few days ago. |
I managed to still have iTunes version 7 so now it's updated and I have identified the button. Thanks! |
The iPod spent the night updating. Just under 26 GB to just over 4 GB. I'll check the sound quality and see how it compares and play around with creating parallel mp3 files as well. |
Mezmo,
If I were planning to rip everything again from scratch I'd probably take your advice. I don't do anything, at this point, on my main system outside of my CD player so having the lossless files isn't an issue right now. I'm just planning to rip my new CDs in Apple lossless and will go back to "upgrade" only a select few of the ones that are already ripped.
I didn't realize that I could down covert to the iPod, that's a great feature. Thanks!
I'm planning to rip a couple of songs in multiple formats and do some comparison listening on my headphones. We'll see how strong the placebo forces are soon enough. |
"I always set the synching preferences to automatically convert to AAC (the compression/trimming ratio from AIFF to AAC is about 10:1)." - Mezmo
How do I do this? I can't seem to figure out where or how to adjust the settings. I'm ripping everying thing in Apple Lossless and already have more than my iPod can handle. |
I just did a one song comparison of Apple Lossless, 128 AAC, and 192 MP3 and can't say that with my headphones that there is a significant enough difference to not just go with the AAC format that iTunes will do automatically. There is a small difference, but it's difficult to even describe so for non-critical listening on my iPod I don't think it matters. |
Realremo - If I were planning to use my iPod for anything beyond listening at work on occasion I would probably be more concerned about the quality. I have an iPod dock at home that uses the iPods DAC and it sounds like junk no matter what format is used so on my good system it'll always be CDs for listening. I have all of the files in Apple Lossless so I'll be ready in case I ever get an external DAC and setup a music server.
Once I finish putting all of my CDs on my iPod I'll reevaluate how much space I have remaining and may manually load the Apple Lossless files for my best/favorite CDs if there is room. I think I'm about half way through the stack and have only used 5 GB in the AAC format so I should be able to load quite a bit in lossless.
I want to toy around with creating parallel MP3 versions, but with a new baby in the house it'll be a long process finding the time to do it. |
Once advantage to ripping in Apple Lossless and using the auto downsampling to 128 AAC is that if iTunes is updated in the future to allow other downsampling options I'll be set and ready to go at the click of a button and a few hours of waiting. |
Here's an interesting happening. I have my 30GB iPod at work loaded with the down converted 128 AAC format and last night I loaded my old 8 GB iPod with the Apple Lossless that is actually on my computer. I brought both iPods to work today and handed them to a coworker that's in to music (about the only guy I know that's into vinyl) and asked him what he thought. Ironically, he strongly preferred the sound of the iPod with 128 AAC and described the sound a being more full. I had to laugh. I can't say that I can really tell a difference.
Are all iPods created equal? I believe they are of similar vintage, but one is a standard one and the other is a nano (I believe). The standard iPod was the preferred sound.
I put the iPod with Apple Lossless on my Onkyo dock last night and it was the first time that an iPod was an acceptable source for at least background listening. It wasn't nearly as good as the CD or SACD players, but but improved over the MP3s on my wife's iPod. |
My coworker listens to headphones at work often and isn't an iPod owner. I set him up to listen to the same song that came from the same CD and iTunes computer. I didn't tell him anything beyond giving them both a listen and report if he heard any difference.
The funny thing was that he wanted to know what was different in the two iPods that could make them sound so different (this is my reading between the lines paraphrase). It was clear that he heard a difference and said the 128 AAC sounded fuller.
A test doesn't get any more blind than this, but this isn't a perfect test. Maybe I'll revese the files and let him try it again and see if the iPod rules or if the format rules. |
Well, the downside of having iTunes convert to AAC when syncing to the iPod is when you mess up it takes a long time to redo it. I was trying to replace my best CDs with the Apple Lossless files and didn't set things right. Now I have about a 24 hour delay allow it to sync everything in AAC again. I think I've got it figured out for next time. |
