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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
undertow OP
1,032 posts
 
One quick question (estimate) I know its not perfect, how many albums can you expect to get onto a 160 gig Ipod in general? In AIFF that is? Most standard CD's are 650 to 750 mb, so not sure where we end up via AIFF on an ipod.
I assume essentially they could even be larger in AIFF due to all the graphics and tags that come along with this format on the device.
Thanks again
undertow OP
1,032 posts
 
Albertporter
I understand and actually my wifes car has the "Apple Branded" cable, which in fact is not a standard USB on the Car end of it and I would assume is an analog signal being passed to a basic auxilary input on the Factory radio, it is some type of proprietary serial connection the car manufactures have installed... However I am using a Sony aftermarket stereo with true USB and DACS, I believe this does bypass the Apple Dacs in this case. Thanks
brianmgrarcom
1,317 posts
 
I do not know the answer to that question but two things I will pass along.

1) After you import a CD, iTunes will search their database for the cover art to attach to your files, which is a nice feature; you can add your own if necessary.

2) If you copy your music as AIFF and later run out of room, iTunes has a feature to convert files to Apple Lossless, and it doesn't take that long.

I have 2711 songs, alomost all are Apple Lossless, I have a few as AIFF, and I have used 71.80 GB.

BTW, AIFF will create a file size exactly the same as what is on the CD. As you stated, cover art adds a little more.
albertporter's avatar
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albertporter
4,927 posts
 
Let me follow up on above, as sometimes comments can't be seen in full light when reading. I fully understand what you were saying in your first post and fully agree, the point I was trying to convey was the possibilities of the iPod at home and rather than use all my own words I stole yours to make my point; I hope this clarifies my point better, my apologies for not being clearer.

And truthfully, I was thinking iPod more for the car even though Undertow's opening statement read he might later put in his home. I use iPod for car trips or to escape engine noise on long flights.

I choose Apple Lossless but admit I have not compared to anything other than MP3 compression. The difference between those two formats was easy to discern, even on my tower computer system with crappy speakers, so I never used anything other than Apple Lossless for my car.
albertporter's avatar
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albertporter
4,927 posts
 
Undertow,

However I am using a Sony aftermarket stereo with true USB and DACS, I believe this does bypass the Apple Dacs in this case. Thanks

Well, you're ahead of my cars system then because I believe you are right that mine just connects with the factory radio to provide analog connection.
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