[skitzo]

Hi! Right now I don't have an MP3 player, but I've been considering the next generation iPod. I've been using Windows Media Player, and I've been dabbling in iTunes. I have a couple of questions to ask:

1. Any new information of the 5G iPod?

2. Can you choose the bitrate at which to transfer songs to the iPod, or does it transfer whatever the file on your computer is encoded to?

3. Do changes in the iTunes database edit the tags, and do they ever randomly change?

4. Should I stop all this nonesense because iTunes and iPods aren't worth the trouble?

5. How long do iPods last in your experiences?

6. Can you carry files on an iPod like a flash drive?

 

[rextrade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skitzo Hi! Right now I don't have an MP3 player, but I've been considering the next generation iPod. I've been using Windows Media Player, and I've been dabbling in iTunes. I have a couple of questions to ask: 1. Any new information of the 5G iPod? 2. Can you choose the bitrate at which to transfer songs to the iPod, or does it transfer whatever the file on your computer is encoded to? 3. Do changes in the iTunes database edit the tags, and do they ever randomly change? 4. Should I stop all this nonesense because iTunes and iPods aren't worth the trouble? 5. How long do iPods last in your experiences? 6. Can you carry files on an iPod like a flash drive?

1. I wish I knew.
2. Why would you want to change the bitrate for your ipod?
3. Changes you make edit the tags--there are no random changes.
4. No. The best thing about the ipod is the integration between iTunes and the ipod (at least for a Mac). If it wasn't for the great integration, I would have probably bought another player.
5. They seem pretty durable. I still have a 1g that a friend is using now. My 3g died from extreme abuse, but I think that was my fault.
6. You can use the ipod as a hard drive. Although I've never really tried it--but I think you can store anything on it that you could store on flash memory.

 

[skitzo]

Thanks, bro. I was thinking of compressing for more space. I think I can sacrifice a little quality because portably it won't both me much.

7. Is my above statement incorrect?

8. If I encode WMA to ACC, can I transfer (that is, not using the iPod) the files and play them on another computer, or are they already DRMed? WMA to MP3?

Also, its weird. Sometimes the tags change at random. Like I changed a song's genre from "Other" to "Rock", and for some, it goes back to "Other". Also, for songs with multiple artists, I tag it Artist1; Artist 2, and iTunes changed it to Artist1/Artist2. To fix that I just changed everytihng to Artist1/Artist2, but the genre thing is still a mystery.

 

[chaostic]

For the tags, I think it might be due to the version of ID3 tags you are using. ID3 v1 has a limited number of fixed genres, ID3v2.x does not have a fixed amount of genres. So depending on the tag, and on where they have been written to, it might change.

 

[Elephas]

1. Any new information of the 5G iPod?
Hopefully there will be one with built-in line out or optical out.

2. Can you choose the bitrate at which to transfer songs to the iPod, or does it transfer whatever the file on your computer is encoded to?
You transfer the file on your computer, which can be MP3, AAC, AIFF, WAV or Apple Lossless. Some iPods do not support some formats; for example, the 1st Gen iPod cannot play Apple Lossless.
Transfers to the iPod shuffle can be automatically converted to 128bit AAC only during the transfer.
Changing file types and bitrates is very easy to do. You choose the desired file type and bitrate in preferences, select the file or multiple files, and convert. It's best to convert from the original WAV or Apple Lossless formats.

3. Do changes in the iTunes database edit the tags, and do they ever randomly change?
Changes to the iTunes database edit the tags. Tags do not randomly change. If your MP3 tags are changing without your input, it may be because of Windows Media Player.

4. Should I stop all this nonesense because iTunes and iPods aren't worth the trouble?
I consider iTunes and iPods the easiest to use combination of PC-based music and portable audio.

5. How long do iPods last in your experiences?
I still have a 1st Generation 10GB iPod working with no problems.

6. Can you carry files on an iPod like a flash drive?
Yes. With the shuffle you have to set the amount of space set aside for files.

 

[ljs]

8. If I encode WMA to ACC, can I transfer (that is, not using the iPod) the files and play them on another computer, or are they already DRMed? WMA to MP3?

OMG please dont do that

It's ok to reduce the bitrate of the AAC files but do not make such things.

Best way to rip a cd:
Exact audio copy>iTunes (AAC 128kb if you want a good compromise between quality and quantity)

In fact, I use EAC to make an image of my audio cd and then I use Daemon tools to mount it. A bit longer but it is far more efficient.

more info on ripping your cds:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php

 

[viator122]

Yeah, going from lossy (WMA) to lossy (AAC) is like making a photocopy of a photocopy. Also, the only AAC files with DRM are those downloaded from the iTunes Music Store.

 

[Hase]

Quote:

Originally Posted by viator122 Yeah, going from lossy (WMA) to lossy (AAC) is like making a photocopy of a photocopy. Also, the only AAC files with DRM are those downloaded from the iTunes Music Store.

I don't like this analogy because transcoding is worse. Transcoding does deteriorate everything like the photocopying example but, photocopying isn't designed to remove quality to increase capacity. People like certain codecs because they vary in what specific information they remove from the audio to make it smaller. So if you encode then transcode, you are removing even more information the second time and not gaining in capacity. To be safe, always re-rip if you want a different bitrate or encoding.

(Right...?)

 

[viator122]

Yes, you're right. I suppose it's more like using a photocopier to shrink a page and then shrink it again?

 

[blessingx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hase I don't like this analogy because transcoding is worse. Transcoding does deteriorate everything like the photocopying example but, photocopying isn't designed to remove quality to increase capacity. People like certain codecs because they vary in what specific information they remove from the audio to make it smaller. So if you encode then transcode, you are removing even more information the second time and not gaining in capacity. To be safe, always re-rip if you want a different bitrate or encoding. (Right...?)

Well I have to disagree a bit with this.
First, B&W photocopiers are designed to remove quality/information (from color originals). Okay, I keed. But as for transcoding, it's less more information is thrown away, then information is potentially no longer faithful to the original. You can transcode while increasing the bitrate the second encoding time (I do this quite often when transcoding audiobooks to give "headroom" and decreasing secondary artifacts). You actually have more information, just less closely linked to the original. The trick is when repeated approximations are made (and especially across codecs using different methods for it) you want to try to get less artifacts built on other artifacts. I happen to think transcoding isn't the Devil's Playground, but it's normally to be avoided. But as a test, take a 128 WMA file and transcode it to 192 AAC and I suspect you'll have difficulty telling the difference.

 

[skitzo]

OH EM GEE!!! It's Windows Media Audio Lossless!!!

And the question remains: Are iTunes converted files DRMed?

The informative group PSA for those not in the know was nice though. Merci.

 

[viator122]

Quote:

Originally Posted by viator122 Also, the only AAC files with DRM are those downloaded from the iTunes Music Store.

See my post earlier in this thread.

 

[skitzo]

Ah, the diamond in the hissyfit, muy bien