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IPOD CLASSIC 7th Gen, Apple or WAV?

Alright so I might get a new IPOD Classic. I have never owned one, but due to a new car having the USB port capable of controlling it right on the new radio decided it would be nice to have vs. carrying around CD's.

Anyway for the most part I have heard MP3 files in cars, and its not bad, not much different than CD directly. For Car I normally could care less.

Home is a different story, if I decide in the future to hook this up thru a Dock or not I would like to just be prepared and do the best lossless format possible, I don't care about space, the 160 gig on the new one should be fine even with un-compressed files for the amount of stuff I will ever put on it.

So where is the Audio-phile hi end at on the format wars these days? Use apples format, or go to the WAV, FLAC What?

I want it as simple as possible, I will not be using Itunes service for downloading any music, strictly copying the CD's. Which is the final question, not sure if you can do any of this without using ITUNES, but what program and setup do you guys suggest downloading to the Laptop for best CD transfer to an IPOD with best format and of course best user interface? I have plenty of hard drive backup space etc... Once I get the whole CD collection transfered.
Thanks
undertow
albertporter's avatar
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albertporter
4,927 posts
 
I had exactly your experience, bought a car with iPod plug in the glove box and controls on the steering wheel :^).

I transferred a bunch of my favorite CDs into iTunes via Apple Lossless and listen in the car and sometimes for long trips, with Ultimate Ears in ear speaker.

The DAC in an iPod is not going to compete with a nice in home CD, I think Apple Lossless is fine for what you're planning.
thedautch
329 posts
 
I just bought a used car and am in the same boat. 120 GB iPod with all Apple Lossless, and the cable that plugs into the bottom of the iPod, not the earbud input. That's important, because it means the crappy iPod amplifier isn't doing the work; the high end(ish) car stereo is amplifying the signal instead. Not the equal of my home or even computer system, but well within reason for road trips.

I don't drive to work (it's a five block walk), so this is meant to be a 2-5 hour drive type of setup. It works more than well for that purpose.
undertow OP
1,032 posts
 
Thedautch
Oh yeah I will not use the headphone out, the other key aspect to the USB to Apple connection vs. minijack is that it will also keep the unit Charged so thats a nice advantage as well.

I guess just use the Itune and load it up via Apple Lossless?

Thanks
brianmgrarcom
1,317 posts
 
You'll never get everyone to agree on what is best, so educate yourself the best you can.

I think there is a lot more to digital than is known by the average guy, talking of myself; I have this belief based partly due to the vast differences in results reported.

I have compared Apple Lossless, AIFF and WAV and have not been able to discern a difference. Making a change in my system recently, I have copied some files once again to see if I feel the same and while I haven't spent much time comparing them yet, the little I did compare yeilded no difference. (Let me note that while Apple Lossless is a compressed format, it is in a manner where is can be converted back, so no data is truly lost.)

Those that claim to hear a difference I have come to wonder if it has more to do with the equipment used, where certain conversions are done better via some brands, designs, etc.

One pet peeve of mine is that the iPod is talked of in a negative light, such as, "an iPod is not going to compete with a nice in home CD", this I do not agree with, nor due a number of reviewers.

Most are aware of the Wadia iTransport which bypasses the DAC within the iPod, making the iPod a hard drive based source. Now we can go in many directions here, but there are already many threads on most of those subjects.

To finally address your question directly, I'd chose Apple Lossless or AIFF. AIFF is Apple's version of WAV, so the file is full size, but the benefit of AIFF over WAV is its ability to carry metatags along with all your music so you have cover art, etc. These two formats will allow you to easily store your music, per your request. Apple Lossless will take approximately half the space of AIFF, it is your call.
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