Importing CD's To iTunes

Mark

you can import lossless and then convert down to 128 for iPod use. The lossless import is just that and I am just re-building my library in this way.

Jono

It's all subjective but for any given bitrate AAC is supposed to be better than MP3.

As Jono says I would import lossless and then convert simply because if you have an original quality rip you don't need to worry about having to rip it again in the future if your needs change.

On average lossless tracks take up around 30-40mb.

Agree, I've ripped most of my CDs now using lossless with error correction.

Steve

Mark
I import CDs for use on the Ipod using Apple lossless, the bit rate is variable but is in the range of 700 - 900. Sound quality wise I think this is worth the extra space, the sound is more detailed and dynamic than low bit rate mp3s.

I listen in the car using an integrated interface or with a pretty decent pair of Ultimate Ears in the ear phones.

This means I can get about seventy albums on a 30 gig Ipod. I keep a further couple of hundred albums on the hard drive and rotate the content on the Ipod.

Hope this is of some help.

Thanks for the info guys!

El-Rey : Good idea that to rotate what's on the ipod, as I'm not going to be able to put anything like my whole collection on it with lossless, even if I went to the 160GB model!

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by Jono 13:
Mark
you can import lossless and then convert down to 128 for iPod use.
Jono

How do I do that?

Mark

Hi
In the Edit menu go to 'Preferences' then click the 'Advanced', tab then 'Importing' and change the setting on the 'Import Using' bar to, say 'Good Quality (128 kbps)' Click OK.

If you then go to the music library display, select the albums you want to convert, then right click and in the menu that appears there will be an option to 'convert the selection to mp3'.
You will have to change the setting back again to import CDs in a different format.

Cheers

Thanks again El-Rey, but one more question (I really am slow with this iTunes malarkey!) - will the songs I 'convert to mp3' permanently remain so. In other words, will I have lost them in the lossless format? I suspect the answer is "no" but don't follow how it all works. Sorry for being so dumb.

Mark

Hi
When you do this a copy is made, the original remains. To prevent them all being in the same folder you need to have a separate location for each.

When you change the bit rate as described previously, change the iTunes folder location (under the 'General' tab) at the same time so each type of file is in its own location.

This is not as messy as it first seems because you would do a full session of each, i.e. rip a large number of CDs to lossless then change all the settings and convert them to mp3.

I use mp3, as opposed to the Apple encoders,
as it is usable on other players.

From my experience it is best to do everything manually, that is don't 'sync', drag and drop when you are transferring stuff to the ipod.
If you remove something from the library iTunes will wipe it from the iPod when you sync if you want it to or not.

This feels like I have gone from normal to being a geek in a day

Thanks very much El-Rey, much appreciated.

Mark

"This feels like I have gone from normal to being a geek in a day "

aren't we all!!!!!

Ryan

The zip's worn out on my anorak!

Mark

Inspired by some earlier posts I just ripped some new CDs in AIFF rather than in Apple Lossless like I'm used to.

The rips sound better, so I also did some re-rips.

Conclusion: In my set-up (iBook to Konnekt 8 firewire interface to Rega Ear to Grados) AIFF sounds definitely more punchy, detailed and extended than Apple Lossless.

Funny.

Next experimental question: Does one need a Bendini Clarifier for ripping too?

quote:

Originally posted by daddycool:
Inspired by some arier posts I just ripped some new CDs in AIFF rather than in Apple Lossless like I'm used to.

The rips sound better, so I also did some re-rips.

Conclusion: In my set-up (iBook to Konnekt 8 firewire interface to Rega Ear to Grados) AIFF sounds definitely more punchy, detailed and extended than Apple Lossless.

Funny.

Next experimental question: Does one need a Bendini Clarifier for ripping too?

DC,

Check your settings in iTunes Prefences/Advanced/Importing. Is either the "sound check" or "sound enhancer" box ticked? Are you playing back with iTunes volume at full?

There should be absolutely no difference - both formats are lossless, the only issues are file space (Apple compresses the file, like zipping, NOT the data) and tagging. So you go AIFF all you get is bigger files taking up more space. You don't get a better copy.

Try googling AIFF v Apple Lossless, many have been down that road. Here is an example.

Steve

quote:

Originally posted by Steve S1:
Check your settings in iTunes Prefences/Advanced/Importing. Is either the "sound check" or "sound enhancer" box ticked? Are you playing back with iTunes volume at full?

Yes Steve, double-checked that some time ago.

I was surprised too, hence my post.

Perhaps the power of imagination. Or iTunes has improved.

But I have enough disc space, so it's now fine by me.