Bite rate

[Logan Five]

Please choose the appropriate forum for this topic. Thank you. Hi,

New to the iPod and iTunes. My question is I am importing my cd's at a bit rate of 192 (which from reading on this site seems to be a good rate to go with). I have bought 4 songs from iTunes so far and they sound great. But I noticed were downloaded and imported to my iPod at a bit rate of 128. Is there anyway to change this to 192?

Also if anyone knows, if I decided to change the bit rate for all the songs in my Library, would that be an easy fix or a very long process?

Thanks
Logan

[aquatika]

192kbps is a good choice of bitrate to use. It's not a bad trade-off between quality and filesize.

iTunes Music store only uses 128kbps, you could burn the files to CD and then re-import them to iTunes as 192 but it would be pointless as the quality would not get any better than the original 128.

Changing your bitrate would take a while as the changing process would take a while to go through all your music and it is also recommended (quality wise) that you re-import from the original CD rather than change from one bitrate to another (unless the starting bitrate is high eg 320kbps).

There's tons of info on these subjects around in the 'lounge, try doing some research.

[stevesurf]

Hello there - do't forget the type of encoding as well. Most members seem to use use AAC (medium sized files), when compared with MP3 (smaller) and Apple Lossless (much larger).

A typical 128kBps AAC file has been said to be approx. equivalent to its 192kBps MP3 counterpart. Some members stop hearing differences at 256kBPS AAC, and some others at 192kBps AAC. I personally use 192kBPS as my normal encoding session, increasing to 256kBps with classical or complex instrumentals.

[Logan Five]

aquatika / stevesurf

Thanks to you both for the help. That answers my questions.

aquatika - Thanks for the tip but I have been researching here quite a bit and already found out a lot of info I was curious on, I just did not come across anything on the fact that the bit rate was set at 128 on downloads from iTunes. As a member of various security forums I understand the need to research before posting, helps eliminate the same questions over and over again.

Thanks again,
Logan

[enjoilax]

I would leave the songs at the Bitrate they are unless all of a sudden you develop the ears of a labrador retriever, and can't listen to any music lower than 192 kbps MP3.

I can listen from 128 kbps mp3 and higher, but when i buy a CD i like to have that high-quality sound equal to the CD so i used this guide to help me out.

[Logan Five]

enjoilax,

Thanks for the help and the link. I will check it out.

Logan

[aquatika]

Thanks for the tip but I have been researching here quite a bit and already found out a lot of info I was curious on

Cool, welcome to the fold BTW.

[Galley]

FWIW, the RealPlayer Music Store sells 192Kbpc AAC files that will play on the iPod without any audio quality loss from the conversion.