What format on your Mini? [Archive]

PhoenixAG

07-13-2005, 12:36 PM

Hi :)

Just got a new Mini 2G and I simply love it! I've been playing around with iTunes and smart playlists and been lurking here reading the advice on the new 1.4 firmware etc :)

Must say, all of you guys are a real helpful lot. I would have been quite lost if it wasn't for this forum.

Anyway, right now I have iTunes 4.9 loaded up with firmware 1.3. Btw, I've noticed that Podcasts work great with 1.3 too. It just puts them as a separate playlist. So thats the answer for people who do not want to upgrade to 1.4 because of the potential problems, etc.

Ok, to my question now :) (sorry it took so long)

What formats do you use on your Mini? I mean, file formats. Like a lot of people, I imagine, I am terribly happy with my Mini and love its size. But, I would like to be able to put in just a few more songs ;) if you know what I mean :)

Right now, I have my collection setup as mostly 128k MP3 files. I chose MP3 as its the most popular format and allows me to port it over to any device easily.
Now, I've been pondering over the question of going AAC or not. And if so, then what bitrate? I would imagine as AAC sounds better than MP3, I can lower the bitrate a bit to save space and put more on my iPod.

So if I do decide to go AAC, what bitrate do you recommend? And are most people using AAC files on their ipods? If so, then if you maybe need to play your files on another device (or another software), how do you do it? Or are AAC files so popular now that quite a lot of things support them? I am sorry, but I just have no clue.

Anyone with an answer or even an insight into their own collection and its setup would be wonderful!

I really am very grateful. Thanks.

CarcerCityHood

07-13-2005, 01:19 PM

What potential problems are you insisting on? I've had my iPod Mini for a week so far, with Version 1.4, with no serious problems that I can tell. But hell, what do I know, lol. Sorry, I can't help with your question, but I'm sure someone will soon. :)

PhoenixAG

07-13-2005, 01:51 PM

LOL Sorry for confusing you. If you read the Sticky about the new firmware update, it seems some people have had problems with it. Others say it works absolutely great for them. As I don't really need an extra menu in my iPod, I decided not to update and wait for 1.5.

Btw, before anyone tells me to look at the Digital formats forum and other things....
I have already done so. :)

The reason I posted this here is because I want to ask Mini users about their formats, not sound elitists who say that 320 kbps AAC is the "sweet spot" for music! heh...

I love music, but to tell you the truth, I can't tell the difference between a 128k mp3 file or a 192k mp3 file.

I am tempted to start ripping cds and switch over all my collection from 128k mp3 to 96k AAC. What I want to know is whether anyone has tried this and what sort of result they had.

wildfyre093

07-13-2005, 02:51 PM

i use AAC 128kbps. i downloaded a bunch of songs off iTunes, and its AAC so i wanted all my songs to be the same kind. i have no worrys about filling my mini because ive only filled it halfway already, so if i ever run out of space i might switch formats.

CarcerCityHood

07-13-2005, 03:10 PM

Can someone describe the formats and how to change them? Like, what's the difference between AAC and the others? I didn't even know you could choose formats. If I switched formats, would I have to rip and buy all my songs again, or would they all just change? Please help! And yes, I did look at that topic, but it was confusing as hell and it didn't mention how to change formats...

wildfyre093

07-13-2005, 03:28 PM

the differences are quality and size mainly. if you are just an everyday iPod owner, you can choose mp3 of AAC, its really your choice. some want better quality and such (ex. DJ's) so they choose different formats.

to convert -
in iTunes, go Edit>Preferences. go to importing, select which file type you prefer, click ok. now select the songs you want to convert, and go to advanced>convert selection to --------.

it will convert the selected songs. now you cant convert songs bought in iTunes Music Store or any other protected music like that.

i hope this made sense, and good luck!:D

wildfyre093

07-13-2005, 03:28 PM

wildfyre093

07-13-2005, 03:29 PM

CarcerCityHood

07-13-2005, 03:46 PM

Thanks! :D

I pretty much understand everything except the differences. What's the difference between AAC and MP3? Which is bigger? Do the bigger fomrats sound better? What other formats are there? You've helped greatly so far, if you don't want to answer then it's cool, I'm sure it'll take a lot of typing to do so. Thanks for your help!

wildfyre093

07-13-2005, 04:17 PM

try importing a song into iTunes in different formats. then you can check the sizes of each version. that will tell you which is smallest, because im not so sure.

mp3s can be an advantage because most devices can recognize them and they can be burned to CD and played in almost any player. but with an iPod, why would you need that? lol

again, AAC's are what the iTunes Music Store uses, so if u want to be consistent, that might work.

so try importing each at the same bit rate and see which is smallest/sounds best etc. you may want to listen to each on your stereo or car because you wont really be able to notice a differencein quality using computer speakers

always glad to help! :)
wildfyre093

CarcerCityHood

07-13-2005, 04:23 PM

You sure did! Thanks! :D

wildfyre093

07-13-2005, 04:27 PM

alright! holler if u need nething else:D

CarcerCityHood

07-13-2005, 04:35 PM

O_o

I was checking out the AAC formats, and it can go as high as 320 kbps, do I even want to know how much space that takes up? Lol.

Photonicspartan

07-13-2005, 04:58 PM

Is there anyway to change the settings so it doesnt make a copy of the song that you convert so you just keep the original? I dont have room for copys of both on my hard drive so looks like I might have to do one album at a time.

the_commanche

07-13-2005, 05:53 PM

I always convert to AAC. I forget what the bitrate is, but it's the same as the original MP3/WMA.

PhoenixAG

07-13-2005, 06:26 PM

Hi, thanks for the replies :)

I tried 96kbps AAC and it sounds good to me. So thats what its gonna be.

Another thing. Do your Mini's have low volume? I can play songs at full volume and not feel like I want to put the volume down. In fact, I prefer playing at full volume because lower than that, they really sound low.

When I was first importing songs into iTunes, I had SoundCheck enabled (in iTunes) and it checked the volume of each of my songs. Did that do it? Anyway to increase the volume on my songs?

I tried MP3Gain on my MP3s, but it told me that most of them were already above the normal level of 89db (were around 93-97db) and most had a Y in front of the Clipping column. So that means that they are already quite high in volume.

Suggestions, please?

CarcerCityHood

07-13-2005, 07:37 PM

Hi, thanks for the replies

I tried 96kbps AAC and it sounds good to me. So thats what its gonna be.

Another thing. Do your Mini's have low volume? I can play songs at full volume and not feel like I want to put the volume down. In fact, I prefer playing at full volume because lower than that, they really sound low.

When I was first importing songs into iTunes, I had SoundCheck enabled (in iTunes) and it checked the volume of each of my songs. Did that do it? Anyway to increase the volume on my songs?

I tried MP3Gain on my MP3s, but it told me that most of them were already above the normal level of 89db (were around 93-97db) and most had a Y in front of the Clipping column. So that means that they are already quite high in volume.

Suggestions, please?

I'd say try the Equilizer. You use that to adjust volumes for individual songs, but I'm sure it could be used for all of them at once, and then just raise the volume. :)

I have more questions if you don't mind answering...

1. I tried getting multiple songs with different formats, such as what you suggested, but I honestly couldn't tell the difference. I only played them on my laptop and iPod Mini, as I don't have acess to a vehicle to tets them on, and there was no difference to me. Is this normal? I'll probably just leave it on default beause it doesn't take up much room but it still sounds like the others...

2. On each of my songs, it has a profile label, and each one says "Low Complexity" as its title. What is this? How do I change it?

3. What exactly does Sound Check do? Do most people use it?

4. What is the "Compilation" checkbox forunder each song? Is it just to let you know that certain songs are from a compilation album or does it actually do something?
Thanks! ;)

wildfyre093

07-13-2005, 09:14 PM

you might have the right iTunes to do this - edit>show duplicate songs. just delete any of the duplicates that are the format you dont want

ex:
you convert mp3s to AACs so delete all the mp3s on the duplicate list. you can sort them at the top to sort by kind

FuglyMe

07-14-2005, 01:05 AM

I use AAC,it is 128 kbps

jsupetran

07-14-2005, 03:00 AM

sound check limits the highest your valume will go. So if you want to have the highest volume, you have to turn it off.

PhoenixAG

07-14-2005, 03:14 AM

CarcerCityHood:

1. Playing different song formats on normal speakers, specially laptop speakers won't let you know the difference at all. I have high quality headphones for my computer and thats what I checked the sound on. I think its normal because frankly, I can't tell the difference between a 128k mp3 and 192k mp3 either, as said earlier. Formats at 128k are even harder to distinguish.

2. I say let the Low Complexity be. Everyone has this and I am not sure about it, plus its not harming anything so let it be.

3. SoundCheck analyzes all your songs' volumes and then plays them back at the same volume, so you don't get one song of too high a volume and one of really low volume.

4. If I rip a CD and its a classical or soundtrack, I usually select all songs and check Part of a Compilation. This tells iTunes to group these songs together and I think it also keeps the files physically together.

jsupetran:

Yeah, that is true and I now regret doing that. I already have it off in both iTunes and the iPod, but the guys at the Digital Formats forum believe that it adds something to your files to let the software know how to play them. So basically, my files will always be soundchecked now :( I am looking for ways to remove this.

Anyway, the sound is really acceptable to me. I just wish it could have been louder but for normal use, it is ok.

CarcerCityHood

07-14-2005, 10:31 AM

I think you can turn Sound Check off by going to Edit, Select All, and then Preferences. This way all your songs are seleted, then you click on the Audio tab, and just uncheck Sound Check. If you do this while a song is playing then you'll hear the difference in volume about four seconds after I unchecked the box. Is this your problem? Oh and thanks for the answers! :D

sadievan

07-14-2005, 12:29 PM

Originally posted by PhoenixAG
CarcerCityHood:

4. If I rip a CD and its a classical or soundtrack, I usually select all songs and check Part of a Compilation. This tells iTunes to group these songs together and I think it also keeps the files physically together.

Anyway, the sound is really acceptable to me. I just wish it could have been louder but for normal use, it is ok.

Leave part of a Compilation unchecked when ripping CD's. iTunes will then create a folder for this artist and subfolder for the album. Compilation is when you have different artists on the CD/Folder.

To set the volume louder for all your music, select all your songs, go to File\get info. In the options tab you can select a higher voume for your songs. Try just one notch - it works pretty good. I am hearing impaired and sometimes for audiobooks I set it up. One notch usually does it.

Carol Van

PhoenixAG

07-14-2005, 01:14 PM

Thanks for all the answers :)

I selected all of my music, went into File Info and turned the volume slider about 1.5 notches up :)

Man! What a difference! This is what I was looking for! Thanks so much guys. Sounds so much better now.

I have just 1 question. Do I have to do this for the new music I add? Or will it automatically be done? Just curious because I don't want my new music sounding really low while all this other music sounds really nice :)

Oh and sadievan, you are absolutely right about the Compilation thing. :)

I was actually using it in the correct way (like I made all the songs of my Best of Kuschel Rock CD part of a compilation) but I was also using it unnecessarily for CDs like soundtracks, etc. Glad I don't have to do that.

I must say, this is my first experience with iTunes and it is so amazing :)

CarcerCityHood

07-14-2005, 04:27 PM

Well, to make sure all your music stays that way, load up iTunes. Now, click on the Library tab if your not already there, this is to display your music. Now, don't click on any music, instead just go to the Info page.

You see, because no music is selected or even playing, iTunes displays all of the default settings that you have chosen for your music. If your volumn notch is where you want it to be, then it'll stay like that for all your music, until changed. If not, just move it, and then click Done. That should do it! :D

PhoenixAG

07-14-2005, 05:27 PM

Um, I may sound dumb here...

But when I click on the Library tab and all my music comes up and no song is selected, the Get Info dialog doesn't seem to be activated. Like, I can't click it in the File>Get Info menu. The default shortcut for it is Ctrl+I, and I can't press that to activate it too.

I am really sorry, but can you outline the steps required to get to the default settings? Thanks :)

CarcerCityHood

07-14-2005, 05:50 PM

I didn't think of that...

Ok, instead, choose the Equilizer. By this I mean, in your Library where your topics are, right click on one you don't want and change it to the Equilizer. Topics like Genre, Play Count, etc. Just right click on one of them and change it. The Equilizer is volume control, so see if that'll let you choose the volume for all of youtr songs, instead of individual songs. Let me know if this still doesn't work...

CarcerCityHood

07-14-2005, 05:56 PM

Ok, forget what I just said, though you could try it if you want...

1. Open iTunes, click the Library tab, and don't click on anything!

2. Go up to the top of the page, and click on the Edit menu, followed by the Preferences option at the bottom of the drop down list.

3. Now, click on the Audio tab, and this is where you should be able to adjust the default volume. Mess around with the volume bars and check boxes to see if this is what your looking for. :)

Let me know if this doesn't help.

PhoenixAG

07-15-2005, 05:37 AM

Hi, the Audio tab has no volume setting. The 4 settings it has are:

Crossfade Playback
Sound Enhancer
SoundCheck
Look For Remote Speakers connected with AirTunes

Are you talking about the Sound Enhancer thing? I am not sure whether this will help.

What version of iTunes are you using? I am using 4.9.

Thanks :)

CarcerCityHood

07-15-2005, 11:05 AM

I'm using Version 4.9 as well...

Ok, what I would do is select all of your songs, and adjust the volume to where you want it. Now, rip any song you want, and start playing it on your computer. Select the song, and check the volume, if its where you adusted all of your previous songs then it worked. If not, adjust it again, and wait and listen for a change in music. You'll hear a difference about four seconds after you adjusted the volume. That is if the song is still playing...

PhoenixAG

07-15-2005, 02:20 PM

Yeah basically I selected all my songs and adjusted the volume on them, which worked out great. I was wondering if Apple had an automatic adjuster so that my new music wouldn't sound low compared to the music in my library currently.

I'll rip a cd and see whether it automatically adjusts it. If it doesn't, then I guess I'll need to do it manually for all the new stuff.
In fact, I think I'll rip a cd right now and check..

Wait.... :)

Well it doesn't adjust their volume. Right now, the volume slider on all those songs is at the default middle level. However, they sound quite ok, but then, I am listening to them on my PC and everything sounds good there :)

I'll check them out on the iPod but I think I will have to manually adjust the volume.

PhoenixAG

07-16-2005, 06:44 PM

Ok, I checked it on the iPod and it sounded low there (the newly ripped cd). So I adjusted the volume on those tracks and now they sound fine.

Guess I'll have to do that for everything I import into my library :(

CarcerCityHood

07-16-2005, 07:39 PM

That sucks. Sorry I couldn't help...

tarheelsXL

07-16-2005, 11:06 PM

I use 128kpbs mp3 or aac... and I can cram in about.. 1000 songs (includes a few audiobooks)

the_commanche

07-17-2005, 02:00 AM

4 or 6 gb mini?

Code Monkey

07-17-2005, 08:32 AM

I'll be of no use to this thread but I'll post anyhow: 4 GB mini, all CD rips are mp3 LAME preset extreme, everything else is mp3 at whatever bitrate I get it.

The only exception to this are audiobooks which are converted to AAC to take advantage of bookmarking.

I am not concerned about fitting more music on the mini as it's simply not possible - the music collection nearly fills up a 200GB hard drive :eek: Instead of sacrificing future mobility I use smartlists to auto-update the songs on my mini.

PhoenixAG

07-17-2005, 10:18 AM

Well, I had about 5600 songs. After checking them, I found that I only listen to about 1300 of them. The rest were full albums, artists, etc which I had never heard, nor did I like or was ever going to hear.

So I deleted all the crap and came up with my current music collection, all of it which I can listen to and don't feel the need to press the Next button.

I have my collection currently at 96kbps AAC, which gives me about 1300-1400 songs on the 4GB mini.

Whenever I want to use an other device, perhaps in the future, I can easily rip the cds again to any format if I don't like AAC. As of now, AAC sounds great.

I still have about 40 cds which I have to rip, all good music which I listen to. But really, I find that huge mp3 collections usually consist of a few 1000 songs that the person listens to. Not that I am saying you probably don't like each one of your 50,000 songs. Just that most of my friends who have collections that huge (500GB above) have mostly very precise listening tastes and listen to a fraction of it.

Code Monkey

07-17-2005, 11:00 AM

Originally posted by PhoenixAG
Well, I had about 5600 songs. After checking them, I found that I only listen to about 1300 of them. The rest were full albums, artists, etc which I had never heard, nor did I like or was ever going to hear.That's a product of 1) imprecise music collecting and 2) not using a automatic rotating list of music to expose yourself to stuff. Your rationale for paring down your collection is wonky: because you didn't bother to listen to this music you're not going to listen to this music. You concluded you wouldn't like something without ever gathering the data in the first place. If something looks interesting or a friend recommends it, I'll give it at least two listens before trashing the files.

Not that I am saying you probably don't like each one of your 50,000 songs. Just that most of my friends who have collections that huge (500GB above) have mostly very precise listening tastes and listen to a fraction of it. It's only about 20,000 music tracks not 50,000. And even though I haven't gotten around to rating about 25% of the tracks, already more than 20% of those 20,000 are 4 stars or higher. Now, granted I'm in my 30s and listen to music dating from the 1940s through last week (and I guess even before that since a fair amount of the collection is from classical composers), but there is no reason why any sized collection should be composed mostly of stuff you don't actually like unless you download stuff just because you can.

At any rate, I just wanted to offer the counter viewpoint that there's no inherent reason you should be concerned about cramming the most music on a mini, particularly if it's at the cost of listening to it at 96kbps :eek:

PhoenixAG

07-17-2005, 01:15 PM

Actually, I did give the music I deleted a listen and it was bad :) I like mostly soft music, ranging from electronic to classical, to soft vocal numbers. Most of it was rap artists or other metal bands. I gave it a once listen and almost died from too much noise. Not that I am saying its bad music, just not for me.

I don't need stars to tell me something is bad. If I am going to rate something 1 star, I might as well delete it.

20,000 tracks is still a hell of a lot of music. See, as I said, its good if you can listen to all of that stuff. But really, something like that is not for me. I listen to music dating from the 60's, although not much of the classical stuff. Most of the classical I listen to is that neo-classical, piano/ambient stuff.
But I am only in my 20's right now, maybe when I reach my 30's, I'll discover the 1940's music :P I am just kidding :)

I see your viewpoint. It is a very valid one.
However, to tell you the truth, as written in this thread, I can't tell the difference between 128kbps mp3 and 96kbps aac. So there is no logical reason I should go for 128kbps mp3 when I can save some space and cram a bit more.
When I am finally able to discern the difference between these bitrates, I will rip my music again, at 320kbps too if I have to.

That's one of the advantages of having a small music collection :)

But I thank you for your viewpoint. That's what I wanted in this thread, some varying viewpoint so discussion could take place.

A question? Why did you decide to buy the mini? Most of my friends with big collections (in fact, all of them) have the big iPods. Some of them are even converting to the new 60gb ones and still using smart playlists.
Of course, you can do whatever you want as there is no rule you have to buy a big ipod for a big collection, but thats usually the flow of logic I see people following.

smartalic34

07-17-2005, 08:30 PM

I have just about 200 songs, and I have a 4GB mini, so I decided since my small music collection fits so easily on the mini, I ripped em all at 224 kb/s AAC... it seems for most people that their music collection size when compared to their ipod's hard drive size determines what format to encode their music

Code Monkey

07-17-2005, 10:37 PM

Originally posted by PhoenixAG
A question? Why did you decide to buy the mini? Most of my friends with big collections (in fact, all of them) have the big iPods. Some of them are even converting to the new 60gb ones and still using smart playlists.
Of course, you can do whatever you want as there is no rule you have to buy a big ipod for a big collection, but thats usually the flow of logic I see people following. It's was a combination of two things: at the time I got my mini, the only full sized iPod was the 3G. I preferred the clickwheel, finding it to be a much better design than the touch buttons, and the lack of USB charging was a deal breaker.

The second part is that you've only got one set of ears. Even if it were possible to get a DAP that held the whole collection, I had no interest in picking and choosing music on the fly. Being able to have some 60-70 hours worth of music was more than enough to go 4-5 days between updates. I started off using the shuffle feature and a combo of some simple playlists and smartlists to rotate music. I fine tuned the system (it's linked in my sig) and now I've got it down to having my own personal automated DJ. Functionally, it didn't make any difference with my listening needs whether my iPod could hold 4 gigabytes or 4 terrabytes.

I will most likely be upgrading this fall to the 5G but I still obviously won't be putting everything on it. I don't even really know what I'll do with the space since I have to update my iPod daily because of podcasts. However, if they upgrade the main iPod to use the same chip that's in the current minis they'll have upwards of 30 or more hours of battery life and *that* is a feature I want. That's been the only thing I can't take with the mini, the lowly 8 hour battery life. If Apple had bothered to put a color screen on the 2G minis I'd have just upgraded this past spring.

PhoenixAG

07-18-2005, 03:40 AM

Thanks for the reply smartalic :) It makes sense to encode them at a higher bitrate because of such a small music collection.

Code Monkey: Yes, I see your point. The click wheel is really something that sets the iPod apart from the rest of the stuff. In fact, some of the people here who haven't heard of the iPod or haven't seen one in actual use are terribly impressed the first time I show them the clickwheel.

I jumped on the iPod bandwagon pretty late, just about 15 days back I think. Earlier I had an MD player, then I used to listen to music on my PDA and finally I started using my Smartphone. But then, 512MB is just not enough :) So I got the 2G Mini and I find the improved battery life is very good. I probably will wait and see a long time before upgrading, specially as 18 hours (its more like 20) lasts me the whole day, if I want to listen to the music non stop, which I won't. And I can always charge it back at night.

Actually, the reason I like to have a large part of my collection always with me is that I listen to music according to my moods. And I have various music associated with various parts of my life (like a trip, when I was in school, in college, etc).
So whenever a particular mood hits me, I can always have that music with me :)

I haven't seen the link in your sig as yet, but I definitely will for some tips. I think right now I have a pretty smart system of smart playlists figured out, but a few pointers might help.

As for better battery life in the 5Gs, have you looked at the iAudio X5 from Cowon? The long play version has 40 hours of battery life. Thats something you could look at for better battery life, but then again, I am not sure how keen you would be on shifting to a non-iTunes device now that you have iTunes setup the way you want (like me).

Code Monkey

07-18-2005, 10:10 AM

Originally posted by PhoenixAG
I haven't seen the link in your sig as yet, but I definitely will for some tips. I think right now I have a pretty smart system of smart playlists figured out, but a few pointers might help.You may have the display signatures option off in your board preferences. At any rate: http://filebox.vt.edu/users/channum/files/smarlist_management.doc

or as a web page: http://filebox.vt.edu/users/channum/ipod/smartlists.htm

As for better battery life in the 5Gs, have you looked at the iAudio X5 from Cowon? The long play version has 40 hours of battery life. Thats something you could look at for better battery life, but then again, I am not sure how keen you would be on shifting to a non-iTunes device now that you have iTunes setup the way you want (like me). The only reason I bought an iPod was iTunes, so until somebody matches or beats the power of smartlists, I'll be sticking with iPods. If the announced partnership between Microsoft and Creative gets going, we may start to see some real competition, but that is a possible future and the iPod/iTunes combo is now.

PhoenixAG

07-18-2005, 01:30 PM

Actually, I meant I hadn't opened the link in your sig as yet :) I can see it, though. I saw the iTunes registry link though...quite a wide variety of music you have there. Actually, although my computers are on 24/7, I am spending only about half an hour on the net these days because I am in the middle of my graduation exams. Gave one today, have one tomorrow, etc.

I'll check out the link in due time, of course.

That's what I thought, regarding iTunes. I have yet to see something from MS that matches iTunes and I used to use only Windows Media Player before this. iTunes is simply great.

If Apple are following any kind of strategy, I think they will make all the bigger iPods into Photo iPods from now on. This can be seen with the current devices also. All non-color ones have been upgraded to color.
I think they will couple this with better battery life and more storage, while keeping the Mini line alive. The Mini line will most probably still have b/w displays with an upgraded storage capacity (like 10gb or something) and probably better battery life.

So then they have 3 very distinct product lines. The bigger, color ipods with huge capacity. The smaller minis with small sizes and stylish looks. And the shuffle, the non-skip simple player that it is.

Hopefully, better things are ahead :)

P.S. What podcasts do you have on your mini? I know there are ample threads about this but I wanted to ask you what you had. I currently have:

Engadget
The Chris Pirillo Show
The Unemployment Line
VideoGameNews Radio
WhackMyBush
Z100 Phone Taps

While I love all of these, I am always on the lookout for more. :)

danielomg

07-18-2005, 11:22 PM

Just an opinion from some of you fellas...my collection is sitting at 601 songs and I can't see it getting any higher than 700 songs for a few years. would it be a good idea to convert my entire collection to AAC 192? I'll be able to sleep at night if it's 160 or lower, but any lower than 112 will bother me, and I'd like having my entire collection (besides a few songs from itms) at a good SQ. Will it work? would you approve of it?

psycho2048

07-19-2005, 01:05 AM

as far as i know, aac files encoded at 128 kbps sound just the same as 192 kbps mp3s, but they take up less space. so you can probably convert your music collection to 128 kbps aac and save file space without losing quality :)

PhoenixAG

07-19-2005, 02:52 AM

psycho2048

07-19-2005, 10:11 AM

Also, just converting the mp3 files into AAC will not make much of a difference. In fact, it will degrade the sound quality even more because you will be converting from 1 lossy format to the other.

i'm not an expert on all this quality-loss things... but from my own experience with format conversion, i've converted about 1/4 of my music library to 160 kbps AAC (from 192 MP3) and i see no noticeable difference in the music quality... although the file size is decreased

PhoenixAG

07-19-2005, 01:07 PM

Well, frankly, I can't make out the difference as well. Some of my downloaded songs, which were 192k mp3, I converted to 128k AAC and even to 96k AAC and I can't tell any difference.

But the experts swear that quality-loss does take place. There are dozens of horror stories about this happening in the digital formats forum, right here on iLounge :)

Actually, both lines of thought are partially correct. They are correct in the fact that loss does occur, that is why these formats are called lossy formats. Like, a 192k file will have more instruments or something than the 128k file.

But we are also correct, because frankly, the loss is so minimal that you can barely notice the difference, specially with the stock headphones.

It all comes down to personal choice in the end, which is the end result of this long thread. I've seen that there is no "ideal" bitrate. Everything comes down to the person.

EDIT: I love your sig :) Can I borrow the format for my sig?