Importing Settings on iTunes

[Wicked1]

Maybe this is not the place but I am looking for the best quality settings for importing CD's in iTunes because I hear all sorts of things about MP3 or ACC and what bit rate. Just curious what everyone here is using and how the quality is because space is not an issue but I am trying not to use 192, 256, or 320 bc the files are too large and I get less space on my iTouch or iPod Nano.


Any Help would be great :D


Wicked1

[Ivan P]

Maybe this is not the place but I am looking for the best quality settings for importing CD's in iTunes because I hear all sorts of things about MP3 or ACC and what bit rate. Just curious what everyone here is using and how the quality is because space is not an issue but I am trying not to use 192, 256, or 320 bc the files are too large and I get less space on my iTouch or iPod Nano.


Any Help would be great :D


Wicked1

This would be better in iPod and iTunes Discussion.

Anyway, the best format is a lossless one. These include FLAC, AIFF and Apple Lossless (ALAC). iTunes, as is, does not support FLAC. Lossless means that the music file on your computer will be a direct copy of the one you rip from a CD as opposed to being majorly compressed like with a lossy format (MP3, AAC, etc). The downside is lossless audio takes up a lot of space. For example, a standard 30 minute album will comfortably take up under 70 or so megabytes in a lossy format, but will take up 300+MB in lossless format, as it has copied every single bit of information from the CD (one minute of music tends to be around 10MB in a lossless format).

With a lossy format, the encoder deliberately removes the highest and lowest frequencies from the music in order to make the file size a lot smaller (though most listeners will ever be able to tell).
I, personally, import CDs in AAC format, with the bitrate set to 256kbs (in the new iTunes it's called the 'iTunes Plus' setting, and is set by default). I did at one point have a lot of my music imported as AIFF files, but considering I was listening to them through the computer speakers and the stock Apple iPod earbuds, I couldn't hear the difference in quality and it was taking up too much hard drive space.

So if you're just a 'standard' listener, just import in AAC at 256kbs, do not import at 128kbs because that's when it does become noticeable bad in quality, IMO. AAC takes up less space than MP3, but is a newer format so the quality is, apparently, somewhat better still.
Unless you have expensive speakers or headphones that are really, really great quality, then don't use a lossless format, as the gain in quality won't be noticeable in the slightest.

[ViciousShadow21]

i prefer importing them using mp3 because i burn a lot of mp3 cd's for play back in my car. ACC is probably better tho. if you want the best for you do a comparison. import the same song using all 4 formats. then play them back and see if you can tell a difference. if they all sound they same use ACC unless you plan on burning mp3 cd's.

[Jolly Jimmy]

If space is not an issue then go for apple lossless and make lossy copies for your ipod.

[Galley]

#1 choice: Apple Lossless
#2 choice: 192Kbps VBR AAC