Transfering MP3 and AAC: Any degradation?

[Foxer]

OK. As soon as the new PM come out, I will be buying one. The first thing I do (after the wonderful first trip to "Software Update") will be to transfer my iTunes library from my PowerBook to the new machine. This will be the fourth time I've moved the whole library from Mac to Mac and I'm wondering if this sort of transfer results in any sort of further reduction in the fidelity of the files. I know this isn't like dubbing old casettes, but is there an digital equivalent? Any ideas?

[robbieduncan]

No

Moving the file is simply that. You do not notice you text documents losing quality when you copy them from one location to another? Music files are simply a collection of bits, just like any other data. The only loss of quality would come if you transcoded the files (say from mp3 to AAC).

[Foxer]

No

Moving the file is simply that. You do not notice you text documents losing quality when you copy them from one location to another? Music files are simply a collection of bits, just like any other data. The only loss of quality would come if you transcoded the files (say from mp3 to AAC).

Yeah, I thought about the text document analogy as well, but for some reason I was worried about the music files. Glad to know that they're safe.

[briankonar]

isn't digital great (at least for making perfect copies).