Digital Music Newbie

[admin_exported]

Hi Guys, after purchasing the Sennheiser IE8 headphones, which make the gym now even better - Thx WhtHiFi!! I have began trasnferring my large CD collection onto my iTunes Library for my iPod. The system has been setup to download information via the Apple Lossless format to my PC. Is that the same quality as the original CD or must I only use a WAV encoder for it to be the same as CD?

For the iPod it may not make much of a difference but I intend to now make my favorite compilations on CD for use in my main music system so Id rather get it right from the get go. Transferring takes ageeess lol

Any help is welcomed, thanks!

 

[nads]

how do you intend on playing the music on the main system?

you say make my favorite compilations on CD what format will the CDP read? or....what do you really intend on doing?

 

[John Duncan]

Yes, apple lossless gives you exactly the same quality as WAV, in about 50% of the space.

As for transfer speeds, sounds like you're using Windows, rather than Mac, and that you have error correction on? I hear that's painfully slow under Win....

 

[Anonymous]

Nads - Using CD - so A few tracks from one CD mixed with a few tracks from other CDs to make my own CD so to speak. Converting the Apple Lossless file to an Audio CD when exporting. (Hope this makes sense as Im not that great with computers)

John - Thx for that - and yes that is my exact setup. Windows with Correction enabled - time for a MAC next year I think

 

[nads]

Vinny you are going to have problems. I dont know of a CDP that will play apple lossless.

they play WAV and MP3 in most (not all) cases. But i still dont know what you want to make mix CDs when there are better ways to get the music to the amp.

 

[professorhat]

It's not a problem at all - just ensure you tell it you want an audio CD when you burn and it will make an audio CD that will play on any CD player (well, any CD player which plays CD-Rs anyway).

 

[nads]

so what format does"it" make the files?

 

[professorhat]

WAV at a guess but I've never investigated. Doesn't matter what format the files are in in your library (Lossless, MP3, AAC etc.), if you tell it you want an audio CD it burns it to work in a standard CD player.

 

[Anonymous]

Yea I think professorhat is correct. Every CD I have made from a selection of mp3s on my computer (when my iTunes is set to export via Audio CD and NOT Data CD) - Have worked on my CD player, as well as others.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Vinny7:Yea I think professorhat is correct. Every CD I have made from a selection of mp3s on my computer (when my iTunes is set to export via Audio CD and NOT Data CD) - Have worked on my CD player, as well as others.

The Prof IS right. I made a cd for my Dad the other day, straight from WMA Lossless files to cd using Nero and it worked in their car on the way home.

 

[John Duncan]

Well, it's not stored on a CD as WAV, it's PCM, but that's me being a pedant. Yes, a CD burned from apple lossless files will be full CD quality. As noted above, when you click on 'burn disc' in iTunes, you get a dialogue asking if you want to create an audio or data disc - select 'audio'.

Or at least that's what you do in version 8, it used to be in preferences.

 

[Alec]

And just because i likes the sound of me own voice - the proff is indeed correct. in nero, for example, you have the ability to make an mp3 disk, but you can also make an audio cd that is playable on anything that will play a cdr, which is lots of devices. It is important here to keep in mind that mp3 is not merely used as a by-word for audio file of unspecified kind, but rather to mean mp3, as it should be.

incidentally, a few years ago when making disks started to become popular, many stereo (im talking argos, now, such was my life back then) manufacturers used to advertise their gear as being able to play CDRs. But...well...many already could. I played my early ones on a player that was considered old at the time. Bit cheeky, i rekon.

Only make them for the car now, and even then prefer a bit o' 5 live.

 

[Anonymous]

Funny I asked this question - in This months What Hifi Magazine on Page 28 "THE BIG QUESTION - How Low Can Compression Go Test" - my original question is investigated in Test Four.

Again the 3 readers that sat in on the test and What Hifi mention that they really didnt see any difference between WAV and Apple Lossless files.

Nice test btw What Hifi 😛

 

[The_Lhc]

Vinny7: Again the 3 readers that sat in on the test and What Hifi mention that they really didnt see any difference between WAV and Apple Lossless files.

Well yes, once the lossless is decoded it'll be bit-identical to the WAV file, so what difference would you expect to hear?

 

[manicm]

I'm in a minority here, but I've just purchased an rDock and have been testing with legal ALACs and FLACs. I've been decoding the latter to WAV and re-encoding to AIFF for my iPod to retain album art and I can say ALAC consistently sounds duller than WAV/Aiff. And I've been testing with my own CDs as well.

For others it would be overkill I know, but I have a Classic so space is not really an issue.