iPod/iTunes Question
 

I am a little slow on new technology, but is it worth it for me to re-rip my CD collection to AAC format? I want something better than the MP3 format that I ripped my CD's to originally...

Whats the quality you have/had it set to?

256kbps in MP3

I saw a turntable advertised the other day that you plug you I Pod directly into and it converts your vinyl records and saves them on your I Pod. I think it might have been called an Ion or something. Anybody know anything about that?

If I saved my CDs in I Tunes, would they be in AAC format by default? I don't remember seeing an option to save them as anything else.

I'd keep a permanent collection in .wav format. For most listening situations however, (car, office, iPod), I doubt the audio limitations would be that discernible.

Depend on what you are trying to achieve.

The Ion turntable is okay for the average user looking to quickly rip their old LP favorites onto their iPod. But the turntable cartridge quality will determine how well the source is being preserved. Again, I would only do this for general listening purposes.

I have a very nice turntable with an excellent cartridge on it and a little preamp that converts the signal to go into the USB connection on my computer. I tried to use that to convert my records without success. I think I had a trial version of some kind of software that didn't seem to work for me. What would you recommend for that, G?

You are definitely okay with your turntable cartridge setup...your PC software (as you stated) and possibly your sound card may be what needs help.

The PC software available to convert the analog audio into the desired format, is pretty cheap these days. I got one from eBay for $10, and not only can I record in whatever format I desire, the editing tools are powerful enough to clean up un-listenable material.

I don't remember the name of the software though...I have to go home and look it up.

Yeah, that would be great if you don't mind doing it, G. Thanks.

Generally speaking, AAC compression can achieve the same quality audio as MP3 while using a lower bit rate and a smaller file size.

256 MP3 is pretty good, I would directly convert them to 192 AAC (which is what I use for my iPod). In doing so, you will save considerable space if you have a lot of music. No need to re-rip all your music, IMO.

192 AAC is more or less lossless in terms of audio quality. People will argue there is still some loss of fidelity, but you will always have that when you are compressing music. Furthermore, if you are playing your iPod on a system good enough to discern the difference (and not imagine it), you should be using your reference CDs anyway. ;)

I have two music libraries on my desktop. One is all Flac, as its nice to have a loseless copy of my music, and then I have a copy of my library in mp3 320 kbps. This copy of it is good, as it allows me to stream my music to my media center, burn cds, ipod, etc.

Considering the extremely low cost of digital media, whether it's dual layer DVD or 1TB hard drives, there's very little reason anymore to scrimp on bit rates. ;)

Yeah, no kidding. I bought a 1 terabyte Western Digital external hard drive at Best Buy for around $200 a few months ago.

Every now and then, Fry's has the Seagate 1TB drive down to $150.

Costco has the 1 terabyte Western Digital hard drive right now for $179.00.

It's insane how cheap hard drives are these days.

And dropping -

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=206821006&adid=17070&dcaid=17070

Sixto
87 300D