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  3. 1140659633

Going over to the Dark Side?

Oh no! So, I finally succumbed to temptation yesterday and got the new 30GB iPod. When I got it, I figured I would store all my songs in .WAV or Apple lossless. Yesterday I spent 6 hours choosing songs from a variety of disks and loading them into iTunes via Apple lossless. Sounded great. But now I'm getting greedy. I think about all the CDs I have (over 1000 easily), and the fact that the iPod would be used for listening while skiing, flying, or in the car, none of which is an excellent listening environment. I already have a reference music system, and at home I'll be listening mainly to vinyl, with the occasional foray into CDs. Now I'm thinking that I could easily triple or quadruple my storage by using the highest AAC setting (320kBS) instead of Apple lossless for my iPod and store a lot more songs.

tonight I ripped a version of a song in Apple lossless and in AAC. I keep listening back and forth through my powered studio monitors. There is a difference, but it seems slight. Then I think of the tiny earbuds, the listening environment, and I hear the siren song of the dark side of lossy compression calling. Oh no!! Run away!!!

Has anyone else faced this dilema, and what was your solution?
arafel
scottz
29 posts
 
Unless you plan on using your hard drive as your main source, it makes sense to copy all your music in AAC format for all the reasons you mentioned.
lenny_zwik
259 posts
 
I use lossless exclusively, but then again i listen using Ultimate Ears UE10 Pros and with those theres' a huge difference.
douglikesaudio
118 posts
 
I was just thinking about this and how it relates to the Squeezebox and other such items. Not to hijack here, but if you rip using lossless, can you transfer to your ipod using a more compressed format? Or, put another way, is the compression used for ripping always going to dictate how it will be transferred to ipod?

Again, not trying to hijack, but I think it relates.
cwlondon
1,198 posts
 
Please please please please:

Make the world a better place. Set an example.

DO NOT compress music.

If you are not deaf, there is a huge difference, even in casual applications and environments. I have been attacked in other threads for saying this, but I could very clearly hear the difference between compressed and uncompressed files, when output from my iPod INTO MY CAR STEREO. WHICH WAS A CONVERTIBLE.

Sorry for SHOUTING. But I feel very strongly about this.

I honestly dont know why anyone who thinks otherwise would bother to register on this forum. They could save a lot of time and money by just buying a mini system and/or the Bose cubes at Best Buy.

Again, please DO NOT.
ckorody
640 posts
 
One last thought - ripping as you have already discovered is something of a PITA. Why not rip Lossless - your first foray into PC based audio is unlikely to be your last - something about the sound quality, the random access etc.

Hard drive space is the cheapest commodity in the equation... as long as you are going to invest the time, you may as well think a step or two ahead - you already know you don't want to do 1,000+ CDs again.
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