[scottder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PATB I heard the very early ones had a problem with the headphone jack. Not quite sure about what actually happened there with the early models. New minis don't have any audio problems (can't say the same for the 4G). I just bought one for my son, and it works as good as mine.

You're correct, it was the headphone jack that was the issue with the mini. I knew I remembered some issue. I have a 3G and haven't yet seen a compelling reason upgrade.

Scott

 

[fr4c]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn i don't even use the dock anymore, since the cable that docks to the dock is something you can just plug right into the ipod and bypass the dock - that way you never have to take your skin off the ipod since the dock rejects all but a nekkid ipod.

so are you willing to give your dock away?

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fr4c so are you willing to give your dock away?

Yep! My sister in law is using it as we speak!

 

[Oink1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PATB I have this setup: 320KAAC=>iPod Mini

Could you give me a rough guesstimate as to how much storage this gives you? (i mean in amount of music stored)

 

[fr4c]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn Yep! My sister in law is using it as we speak!

oh shucks!

 

[PATB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oink1 Could you give me a rough guesstimate as to how much storage this gives you? (i mean in amount of music stored)

A lot! Seriously, this depends on the length of the songs. I don't have the pod with me and I have all kinds of encoded songs there (some 128K, some 192K). I can tell you that I just loaded at least 8 CDs of 320KAAC into it last week.

 

[Oink1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PATB A lot! Seriously, this depends on the length of the songs. I don't have the pod with me and I have all kinds of encoded songs there (some 128K, some 192K). I can tell you that I just loaded at least 8 CDs of 320KAAC into it last week.

I want as near a faithfull copy of the origional as possible on my 'pod when i get it but i still want some space... Just wondering what the best method\bitrate would be...

 

[ipoddy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oink1 Could you give me a rough guesstimate as to how much storage this gives you? (i mean in amount of music stored)

Using 192 I get about 10 CDs to a gig.

Jim

 

[robzy]

Does using the lineout improve the sound quality of the ipod? Im all confused.

Rob.

 

[TWIFOSP]

Well not directly. But it does allow you to line out to an amp, which will improve the sound drastically.

You can use an amp directly out of the headphone jack, but it's not as good. Reason being is that, in order to power the headphones, the ipod (as well as any other player) has it's own internal amplification circuitry tied to volume control ect. This amplification circuitry is very cheap and small in order to fit the player and keep the costs down.

The line out however, is a line directly from the audio processing with no amp circuits. This allows an unmolested signal to go directly into the pickup of an amp, where the signal can then be boosted and processed. So if you were to run it directly out of the headphone jack, into an amp, you're getting the benefit of the amp, but it's already run through a murky amplification. So you're amping not only an already "interperuted" sound, but a potentially (and most likely) bad sound. And most definetly not the sound that is capable of coming straight out of the audio processor in the unit.

 

[BRBJackson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oink1 I want as near a faithfull copy of the origional as possible on my 'pod when i get it but i still want some space... Just wondering what the best method\bitrate would be...

Your best bet is to encode several different songs at a number bitrates (including VBR), then audition and judge for yourself what the optimum quality/storage space equation is. Myself, 224k AAC was the best compromise, but it'll all depend on your ears, equipment and music styles.

 

[Spankypoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BRBJackson Your best bet is to encode several different songs at a number bitrates (including VBR), then audition and judge for yourself what the optimum quality/storage space equation is. Myself, 224k AAC was the best compromise, but it'll all depend on your ears, equipment and music styles.

And I'd consider doing it in a way which won't make you easily aware of the bitrate of each file. (E.g., don't put the bitrate in the song title, or order 'em in ascending/descending bitrate.) Try to remove as much bias as possible.

I'm not in the "it's all mental" camp, but I do believe it's a big factor.

If you can even have a friend name 'em for you and keep track of which is which, it'd be a fairly balanced test. (Don't pay attention to load times, tho!)

 

[BRBJackson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spankypoo If you can even have a friend name 'em for you and keep track of which is which, it'd be a fairly balanced test. (Don't pay attention to load times, tho!)

Brilliant, just brilliant. I must try that next time, Spanky!

 

[ChickenScrtchBoy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oink1 I want as near a faithfull copy of the origional as possible on my 'pod when i get it but i still want some space... Just wondering what the best method\bitrate would be...

320 kbit/s music should get you 271.267361 hours of music on a 40gb hdd. I don't know if this is correct, but "40*1000*1000*1000*8/1024/320/60/60" is the equation I used.

The best method (IMO) would be to rip all your music to ALAC, load it onto your pod, then if/when you need more space or crave more battery life, you can transcode the ALAC (and keep them as archival copies) to a suitable bitrate.

Or you can just blind test it, and find the bit rate you like best. This, of course, is best done from archival ALAC copies, incase your ears/headphones change.

 

[Oink1]

A big thank-you to everyone for your shared wisdom

-Just got to break it to the other half that i've bought it now!-wish me luck!