So, are you're saying that her Nano needs replacing? The Nano is a flash storage right?
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iPod Attn Audiophiles... I could use your expert advice.
- Thread starter MacLadybug
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So, are you're saying that her Nano needs replacing? The Nano is a flash storage right?
I have a question about this too.
What would be the next best source if coding Apple Lossless from CD's isn't an option (I threw mine out after a 'poor' (poor compared to your audiophile standards) import to iTunes :x)?
I don't suppose coding iTunes Plus quality (btw it's 256kbps; I heard someone say 192kbps in this thread) to Apple Lossless would do any good, right?
What would be the next best source if coding Apple Lossless from CD's isn't an option (I threw mine out after a 'poor' (poor compared to your audiophile standards) import to iTunes :x)?
I don't suppose coding iTunes Plus quality (btw it's 256kbps; I heard someone say 192kbps in this thread) to Apple Lossless would do any good, right?
Nope. The thing with lossy formats (MP2, MP3, MP4/AAC) is that it truly is lossy. If ripping a cd to 128kbps, you have just tossed 10/11ths (≈91 percent) of the information away to never be introduced again. At double the kb, 256kbps, you have tossed away more than 80 percent of the information. You cannot reintroduce that lost information in any way, form or fashion. It's gone forever.
What do you mean you threw out your lossless rips after a poor encoding? Where you transcoding from MP3/4 to lossless, or was it a direct rip from CD?
Yeah.. basically the bolded above was what I did before tossing out my CDs. This was like 3-4 years ago when I didn't know any better. :x
So any better alternative or only CDs can be turned into Apple Lossless?
Well, even 128kbps mp3s can be turned into lossless. However, it wont be better than the "original" 128kbps file. So, no, you will never get any better sound than what you already ripped to. That's the problem with lossy formats. They're absolutely not future proof. If you want something that will last you, you will either have to use uncompressed or one of the lossless formats. This way you will have a proper original you can encode into anything you might choose in the future. Just keep the original uncompressed/lossless files. Oh, and back them up.
I would "re-rip" your entire CD collection at 256 kbps variable bit rate AAC format before copying the files to your new iPod classic. I wouldn't go for 320 kbps AAC because the improvement in sound quality is very insignificant over 256 kbps VBR, and 320 kbps data rate AAC definitely uses more space on the iPod's disk drive. Apple Lossless is an excellent format, but this format uses a HUGE amount of disc space and that means you can't put that many albums into your player even with a 160 GB 6G iPod classic. 
For best quality rip everything to Apple Lossless format. That said, are your ears and equipment good enough? 320K MP3 is pretty good but you did say "audiophile" so if you like to critically listen to music and care enough about it set up some good speakers and buy a quality amp then YES go Apple Lossless format. But if you have aset of powered computer speakers and earbud headphones, go 320K MP3.
Backups: if you care about the data always follow these two rules (1) data is on three different media and (2) data is at two diffent geographical locations.
Yes TM s "good enough" to restore the library but that's just one copy. Buy another drive, make a backup and put it some place far away. Alto the CDs them selves are a third copy.
Back to audio quality. MP3 is OK most of the time but every now and then some short musical passages will not come through well. I have not been able to predict it. Ive got a few old jazz, some "european Electronica and even an Eric Clapton track that just don't like MP3 and have sections that encode to "fuzz" when played backon good equipment. I'd say I have trouble with 1% of the tracks even then it's maye 5% of the track where one of the instruments sonds un-natural.
But if yo do use Apple Lossess you will NEVER have to re-rip your CDs because you will have the exact bit per bit audio stream off the CD. and later you can convert the lossess files to any format you like. I have to convert to 128AAC for my iPod Shuffle
Backups: if you care about the data always follow these two rules (1) data is on three different media and (2) data is at two diffent geographical locations.
Yes TM s "good enough" to restore the library but that's just one copy. Buy another drive, make a backup and put it some place far away. Alto the CDs them selves are a third copy.
Back to audio quality. MP3 is OK most of the time but every now and then some short musical passages will not come through well. I have not been able to predict it. Ive got a few old jazz, some "european Electronica and even an Eric Clapton track that just don't like MP3 and have sections that encode to "fuzz" when played backon good equipment. I'd say I have trouble with 1% of the tracks even then it's maye 5% of the track where one of the instruments sonds un-natural.
But if yo do use Apple Lossess you will NEVER have to re-rip your CDs because you will have the exact bit per bit audio stream off the CD. and later you can convert the lossess files to any format you like. I have to convert to 128AAC for my iPod Shuffle
Apple Lossless is an excellent format, but this format uses a HUGE amount of disc space and that means you can't put that many albums into your player even with a 160 GB 6G iPod classic.
I agree with this. My Apple Lossless collection fills up mostof a 500GB disk drive but then I just bought a new 1TB drive for $150 so space is really cheap. You can always convert the tracks to AAC for us in the iPod and keep Apple Lossless as your "master". That's what I do. You don't need Apple Lossless at the gym but i like it n the living room over the big speakers
Yeah, unfortunately.
As you have sold or tossed out your cd's you're out of luck, and the best you can do is keep the format and bit rate and do nothing except backing them up, all things considered.
Well, that kind of depends of your taste in music, but you'd have to buy them or go the illegal route. The latter would mean you would often receive poorly ripped tracks, tracks which have been transcoded, tracks which have been ripped without any sort of control (resulting in beeps, ticks, and whatnot).
The former would most likely make it just as expensive as buy new ones on CDs, but resulting in the same ultimately non-future proof MP3 or MP4 quality, not to add that most of the MP3/Mp4/WMA music you can buy is DRM'ed (which you don't want it to be if you think about it).
If I where in your situation I would keep the lot "as is", and then rebuy some of the CD's (perhaps second hand?). I would propably not rebuy albums with things like Dead Kennedys, but Primus and my operas and jazz albums would certainly have to be rebought.
In other words, what you did back then when you threw out your albums have now caught up with you (dum dum dumdum ("jaws" theme, lol)). It always pays to think about what will happen in the future.
If it helps, all the people who have bought into the whole iTunes-deal with DRM will be where you are in the future. But unlike you, they won't be able to continue their use of the music if they want to use a better (or just another) player without having to transcode resulting in even worse quality.
Edit: Whoah! That was a bit longer than intended …
Amazon's good. They sell 256K MP3's. But it's likely that buying the CD's on discount might be cheaper.
Here's an iTunes question for everyone...
My son had to reformat his pc's hard drive (go Windoze). He has everything back except his music library. He does have everything on his iPod Touch. It's our understanding that when he plugs in his iPod, it will blank out as he sets up iTunes again. I'm not sure if he had enabled it for disc use... so is there a way to get what's on the iPod back into iTunes without losing any music?
My son had to reformat his pc's hard drive (go Windoze). He has everything back except his music library. He does have everything on his iPod Touch. It's our understanding that when he plugs in his iPod, it will blank out as he sets up iTunes again. I'm not sure if he had enabled it for disc use... so is there a way to get what's on the iPod back into iTunes without losing any music?
I don't know how he can the music back, but there is no disc mode on the Touch nor the iPhone.
lol, well thanks for the response. I guess if i really like a certain cd, i'll re-rip it. Oh well lol
My Son says "Thanks!"
My son finally got around to downloading Sharepod. Glad to report it worked perfectly and he now has all of his music back in iTunes. Now we will teach him about Backing Up!
Yes. Sharepod.
My son finally got around to downloading Sharepod. Glad to report it worked perfectly and he now has all of his music back in iTunes. Now we will teach him about Backing Up!