[greentee]

Am considering buying an ipod. Firstly, what is the difference between mp3, aif, aac files?
Secondly, went to the store to look at ipods and noticed that when you pass your finger gently over the top set of buttons, it will activate them ( menu, fast forward ect.). If you get the case, is there enough clearance over these buttons that if your ipod is in your pocket it won't activate them. the interface on the mini seems like it is designed much better. But the value on the standard ipods seems to be a lot greater. Lastly, called apple store and they told me that if you buy the ituner that if you set it to a frequency that is not being used by a radio station that you can play files/radio remotley to speakers. In other words, your speakers will pick up the radio frequency and play what ever you want files or live radio broadcasts. Anyone tried it. thanks

 

[iamdone]

The ipod has a hold switch at the top which turns off and on the touch sensitive buttons. Also, if you can it in the case that comes with it, you cannot activate the buttons.

Mp3 and AAC are both compressed lossy music file formats. AAC is supposed to have better sound quality at the same bit rate.

WAV and AIEF? are the exact file that's on the CD. One is for the Mac and the other PC but they sound exactly the same as the cd but take up much more space than the mp3 or aac files.

For playing your ipod over the radio, look up itrip from griffin. It's about $30 and works pretty good. Here's the website: http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/itrip/ You also buy this from the apple store as well.

 

[kugino]

Quote:

Originally posted by iamdone Mp3 and AAC are both compressed lossy music file formats. AAC is supposed to have better sound quality at the same bit rate. WAV and AIEF? are the exact file that's on the CD. One is for the Mac and the other PC but they sound exactly the same as the cd but take up much more space than the mp3 or aac files. For playing your ipod over the radio, look up itrip from griffin. It's about $30 and works pretty good. Here's the website: http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/itrip/ You also buy this from the apple store as well.

check here for all you've ever wanted to know (and more) about different codecs: hydrogen

mp3 and AAC qualities at the same bitrate is a controversial topic. using a good mp3 codec, i think the quality is better than AAC at the same bitrate.

AIFF and WAV files, though uncompressed, are NOT exactly the same as the CD. the sound may be indistinguishable, but they are not the same.

griffin's itrip is probably the most aesthetically pleasing of the fm-tuner attachments, but it's not the best in terms of transmission quality. macworld had a comparison of the different attachments and the griffin came in almost last in terms of quality of reception/sound quality.

these are my humble opinions...

 

[dSquared]

It might be good to do a listening test and figure out which compression format your ears like (if any). If you decide the 320kb bitrate AAC/mp3 is unacceptable to your ears, and decide to go with aif or wav, you may not even want an iPod (the internal buffer of an iPod is only something like 32 mb, so you're going to have unusually short battery life because the hard drive is going to have to spin up during a typical song). For me, and the situations where I usually listen to my iPod, 320kb (all time favorites) and 128kb (everything else) AAC is just fine for me; I save all the uncompressed music for listening at home with my good cans (especially since it eats so much hard drive space).

In terms of value and deciding between the mini and 3g iPods, it pretty much comes down to your needs and what _you_ value the most. Where are you planning on using your iPod? How often do you switch your music around? Do you prefer extremely small and portable? or just small and portable?

For me, initially I liked my iPod as a repository for all of my albums, but, now, a year later, my actual listening habits point toward about listening to maybe 3 albums a day. And since the integration between iTunes and the iPod is so tight, swapping playlists on and off is no problem. Considering that even 4GB can fit 2.5-3 DAYS of solid music at 128kb AAC, the issue may be moot, anyway.

That said, I also use my iPod as an external hard drive, so the my iPod serves in a non-music capacity. (I'll confess that I'm probably going to end up with a mini sooner or later for gym use. I'm just waiting around to see what the 4g iPod looks like before I make any decisions)

As for the fm tuning in the car, I don't really like it at all, but I live near Washington DC and there's a lot of strong radio stations around here that interfere with the signal (if you get one, make sure you get one like the iTrip that can choose from the entire spectrum and not just the 88.1-88.7). If you want to hook your iPod into your home setup, there's a line out on the dock, which is much better solution than a radio transmitter. Docks are included w/ the 20 & 40 GB iPods and optional w/ the mini and the 15 GB.

 

[cmascatello]

dSquared, I live in Arlington ands have had pretty good luck with the iTrip. For me, the secret was tuning it to 97.5 or 97.7 -- the only station in that same area was 98Rock in Baltimore and the signal in DC/VA is far weaker than the output of the iTrip. Your results may differ b/c I see you are in MD and could be much closer to BMore. The real secret is to go through as many stations as possible and see what works. I always start at the higher frequencies and work my way down -- I have found the sound quality to be a bit better in the 100+ range vs the 88.1-ish frequencies of the other FM transmitters.

 

[meistyle]

about those iPod buttons:
the term touch-sensitive is very misleading. Actually it is completely wrong! The buttons on the 3G and the scroll 'wheel' on the 2G iPod are absolutely not sensitive to force. So your concerns whether those buttons get activated while in the storage pouch are unnecessary (at least for that reason).

The principle behind of all of these 'touch sensitive' buttons is that of a parallel plate capacitor. With the button being one of the plates and your finger the other one. If close enough to the button a voltage across your finger and the button is established and hence the button activated. The threshold is low enough that you actually have to touch. Try using your iPod through some insulating material - won't work as well. For all of you owning an Apple Display (or Cube): you can easily activate the power button without actually touching it....

For the other question visit hydrogen as has been mentioned before.