iPod and iTunes?

600 CD's will equate to about 250GB of lossless.

So...I'd go for 320kbps MP3.

But hey, what do I know?

If I were you I would rip all CDs in apple lossless to be stored in hard drive, and then either

(1) copy to iPod in 320kbps

or

(2) copy albums that fit your current/recent mood to your iPod in lossless (surely you don't always want to carry all 300 albums on the go?)

320 AAC or lossless

depends what you listen via, if its nothing spectacular 320 is probably fine but if it was me id go lossless as sooner or later you will want it.

I think I would go for what one poster said also.  Rip everything in lossless and store it on your hard drive, or pick up a 1TB external for about 90 bucks and store it there.  It would take you so many days to listen to 64GB worth of music, you can just change your music in and out. 

I will throw this into the mix however.  If you're playing music straight from your ipod into some headphones or earbuds into your ears, then I would not bother tying up all the space with losless.  I would go for 320kbps.  Without high end equipment and very high end earbuds or headphones, you'll likely never hear the difference in quality.  There is a difference, but it's going to take more than average gear for most anyone to hear it.  Just a thought.

I use 320 VBR AAC.  I can't tell the difference between that and lossless on either my iPhone with JH13s or my home system.

it also sounds better then 320 MP3, to my ears.

you might also want to consider v0 mp3s or variable to save more space. i think you might need something other than itunes for the ripping, but i hear for the size, it wins over 320

The stuff that you want to hear, Apple Lossless is the way to go. 

Quote:

That is all we use on ipods and our iTouch's.  The better the earphones the more you will need Lossless.  Not just music but TV shows copied from the net need good earmonitors on your Touch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpha10 

Hmm, I still haven't decided, Apple Loosless sounds much better than AAC in my ears.

Try a blind test.

My personal belief is that lossless is a waste of space on a portable. I don't think I'd ever be able to sit down and do a critical listening session with an iPod, which is the only situation that lossless may sound better with some tracks.

Meanwhile I do rip in lossless to my hard drive for easy encoding later on. In the era of $70 1TB drives, it costs less than 3 cents per CD.

Depends what you mean with "best option".

If sound quality is all that matters, then Apple Lossless, WAV or AIFF is the way to go. But if storage space matters as well, then AAC or MP3 may be your "best option".

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpha10 

I do rip to lossless, but I don't see an option in iTunes to go higher than 128kb/s when synchronizing the music to my iPod, am I missing something here?

Edit - Preferences - Import Settings - Import Using - Apple Lossless (or whatever you choose to use in the end). That is the bit rate for the music file as stored on your computer and it is the bit rate the file will be synchronised to ipod with.