Question about iTunes and bit rate

[shannonw6290]

I have an iPhone 5 already but was thinking about buying an iPod nano for my music to save space on my iPhone. So I was curious how many songs a 16GB iPod would hold, and when researching this, of course all the answers I got were "it depends on bit rate." I checked the bit rate of the few songs I have on iTunes at the moment (not bought from iTunes) by clicking "Get Info" and it says they are 320kbps...which means I wouldn't be able to fit very many songs on it at all! Then I read something about how iTunes doesn't support 320kbps, so does it change the bit rate of songs when syncing to an iDevice, or what? Sorry if this is a n00b question!

 

[Bear]

If iTunes didn't support that bitrate you wouldn't be able to play the music on iTunes.

You can have iTunes convert the music to a lower bitrate for tracks synced to an iOS device. This is a per device setting.

 

[shannonw6290]

You can have iTunes convert the music to a lower bitrate for tracks synced to an iOS device. This is a per device setting.

How can I change the bit rate? I was trying to figure out how to do it, and all I got from what I read was to go to iTunes>Preferences>General and click Import Settings...but it seemed like this had to do with CD's and my music doesn't come from CD's. I don't understand the options anyway. :/ I'm not very good with this.

 

[Bear]

How can I change the bit rate? I was trying to figure out how to do it, and all I got from what I read was to go to iTunes>Preferences>General and click Import Settings...but it seemed like this had to do with CD's and my music doesn't come from CD's. I don't understand the options anyway. :/ I'm not very good with this.

With your iPod or iOS device connected to you computer, go to it in iTunes. On the Summary page, it will offer you the option to convert the bitrate of songs that are synced ot the device.

 

[shannonw6290]

With your iPod or iOS device connected to you computer, go to it in iTunes. On the Summary page, it will offer you the option to convert the bitrate of songs that are synced ot the device.

Thank you! I actually just figured that out right before I read your message. Do you think 128kbps is ideal or is it poor quality? Apparently I'm used to listening to 320kbps songs...

 

[jeff92k7]

Thank you! I actually just figured that out right before I read your message. Do you think 128kbps is ideal or is it poor quality? Apparently I'm used to listening to 320kbps songs...

If you're listening to 320Kbps songs, then they are probably encoded as MP3 files. If converting to AAC, you can expect roughly the same quality at 256Kbps. AAC is a more efficient encoding format than MP3, so you can get smaller file sizes at the same perceived quality. I believe 256Kbps is the highest bit rate available for AAC (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

At 128Kbps, you are halving the size by throwing away a lot more audio information. Only you can make the decision whether that's too much data loss or if the resulting audio file still sounds acceptable.

 

[Bear]

Thank you! I actually just figured that out right before I read your message. Do you think 128kbps is ideal or is it poor quality? Apparently I'm used to listening to 320kbps songs...

Play with the sizes. There are 3 options offered. It will take some sync time, but see how each sounds to you. I personally would probably opt for the 192kbps option.

...
I believe 256Kbps is the highest bit rate available for AAC (someone correct me if I'm wrong).
...

iTunes allows you to import up to 320Kbps AAC or MP3. I'm thinking about re-ripping my CD collection as Apple Lossless and using the down convert option for syncing.