New ipod owner - AAC or MP3?

[admin_exported]

I have just purchased a 30gb ipod and am about to start importing my cds to itunes. I also have an older mp3 player (BenQ joybee 120) which, due to its small size, great sound and fm radio, I do not necessarily want to condemn to the bottom drawer. However, my BenQ player will only play mp3 or wma files, not AAC.

This may demonstrate my complete lack of technical understanding, but should there be any discernible difference between using MP3 encoding or AAC encoding if they are both encoded using the kbps rate (seems to be possible with the 'custom' import setting)? Apple lossless is not a viable option due to the size of the files.

I do not intend to use itunes/ipod as my main source of music as I am happy to continue using my cyrus/b&w system for that purpose!

Thanks

 

[Clare Newsome]

We've done comparitve tests, and AAC does seem to be a more efficient encoder than MP3 - so with two files at the same bit-rate, the AAC will sound better. Having said that, a higher bitrate MP3 file will sound better than an ultracompressed AAC, so maybe bigger Mp3 files are the answer for you - not that you'll get many on that Joybee....

The other option within iTunes (and I do this myself to suit the different players I plug in) is to keep a playlist of lower bit-rate/different format files especially to port to your smaller-capacity, MP3 only player. I often rip the same CD at different bit-rates for this very reason. OK, so it takes up more hard-disk space on my computer, but it means i've got ideal content for both players. Worth considering for the lifetime of your BenQ, perhaps...

 

[Anonymous]

That sounds like a sensible option - thanks Clare

 

[Anonymous]

Hello. I found this thread searching "bit rates" in MP3/4 so apologies if it has been discussed more recently. I originally ripped my CD collection using the bog-standard itunes 128kbps AAC encoder. I now have an ipod classic 160gb so recently set the itunes importing bit rate to 256kbps AAC (EditPreferences), selected all files and then used the "Convert Selection to AAC" command (right-click on the selected files) which created a new set of supposedly higher quality files (WARNING: it took the best part of 2 solid days to convert nearly 6000 songs!). I then deleted all the original files to save space on my computer's hard drive though of course you could keep both sets as suggested above. Does this conversion increase the sound quality as much as if I re-ripped my whole collection from CD using this same higher bit rate or would the result be the same/negligible? If it does indeed work, this might be a good idea for others with the above dilemma.

 

[Anonymous]

That's what i was afraid of!

 

[Anonymous]

I thought WAV was superior to Lossless? If so, what settings do i use in itunes - automatic or custom? If custom, you can choose sample rate, sample size & channels.

 

[Anonymous]

The encoding software is all important as to quality. DBPoweramp is a good'un. Doubt an Ipod will play FLAC files. You might consider throwing the ipod in the bin

 

[Anonymous]

What would you buy instead?

 

[Clare Newsome]

In our opinion - and we've heard an awful lot of players - nothing sounds better than the current iPods, with the Classic offering the best performance-per-pound.

And believe me, I wish there were more superb-sounding options - we have to buy every iPod we test, and Apple's attitude is arrogant beyond belief.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="fr0g"]:/ Get yourself a couple (one for backup) of external USB 500GB HDD's. Rip in lossless. You can then always re-encode with no degredation of quality. For me... I do a FLAC, and a good MP3 For iTunes users then you're stuck with Apple Lossless and AAC/MP3/[/quote]

So if I rip in Lossless, can I downgrade files to 128 or 256kbps then upgrade them to Lossless again if I needed to? Also, I ripped a few tracks using the WAV encoder and they came out twice the size of Lossless - surely this indicates more detail was retrieved?

 

[Anonymous]

Stoopid questions from me:
1. How do you rip CDs ti iTunes in lossless format?
2. What would they be described as once they're in iTunes - format/bitrate?!
3. Can you buy lossless tracks from iTunes?
Sorry for being dim...
Shona