Convert higher bit rate songs to 128kbps AAC?

[melman101]

Do you use this feature in iTunes when syncing to iPad? I have it turned on but it takes FOREVER on the first sync. Especially when you are syncing 17gb of music (which turns into 9.7gb). The more you sync, the better value this is working if you don't mind the lower quality (which I can't really hear the difference).

I was thinking about natively converting everything to it, but then I would have duplicates and have to figure out which one I need to delete. Seems like a lot of work.

What do you do?

 

[saving107]

Why do you need so much music on your iPad?

I have less than 3GB of music on my iPad, and even then I am debating about taking some off. On a given day I will only listen to 2-4 albums and in a week only about 6-8 different artist, so for this I have created playlist of only my favorite music by difference artist (anything that I have rated less than 3 stars I won't add).

I feel that having 17GB (9GB) of music is a bit overkill.

This is all the Music I need on my iDevices (though I do have a dedicated iPod nano for all of my Music).

 

[Jolly Giant]

if you're converting from a lossless format, you might like this:

Lossless to AAC Workflow v2.2

Two scripts assist with importing/managing Apple Lossless or AIFF audio files and sending converted AAC copies to a mounted iPod set to "manually manage songs and videos".

Lossless to AAC Workflow (CD->iPod):

Imports each enabled CD track as an Apple Lossless or AIFF file
Makes a converted AAC copy of each imported file
Adds the AAC file to iPod, deleting the original AAC from iTunes.

Lossless to AAC Workflow (iTunes->iPod):

Makes a converted AAC copy of each Apple Lossless or AIFF track selected in iTunes
Adds the AAC file to iPod, deleting the original AAC from iTunes.
In this way you can keep archived lossless files on your hard drive, and manageable AAC files on your iPod.

Yes, iTunes 9.1 will auto-encode tracks to iPod, but only 128 kbps AAC; these scripts enable use of your Custom AAC encoder setting.
​

 

[melman101]

Why do you need so much music on your iPad?

I have less than 3GB of music on my iPad, and even then I am debating about taking some off. On a given day I will only listen to 2-4 albums and in a week only about 6-8 different artist, so for this I have created playlist of only my favorite music by difference artist (anything that I have rated less than 3 stars I won't add).

I feel that having 17GB (9GB) of music is a bit overkill.

This is all the Music I need on my iDevices (though I do have a dedicated iPod nano for all of my Music).

Obviously I don't, but I have a 64GB iPad . So I'm stuffing it with everything I can. And the more content for less space, the better .

if you're converting from a lossless format, you might like this:

Lossless to AAC Workflow v2.2

Two scripts assist with importing/managing Apple Lossless or AIFF audio files and sending converted AAC copies to a mounted iPod set to "manually manage songs and videos".

Lossless to AAC Workflow (CD->iPod):

Imports each enabled CD track as an Apple Lossless or AIFF file
Makes a converted AAC copy of each imported file
Adds the AAC file to iPod, deleting the original AAC from iTunes.

Lossless to AAC Workflow (iTunes->iPod):

Makes a converted AAC copy of each Apple Lossless or AIFF track selected in iTunes
Adds the AAC file to iPod, deleting the original AAC from iTunes.
In this way you can keep archived lossless files on your hard drive, and manageable AAC files on your iPod.

Yes, iTunes 9.1 will auto-encode tracks to iPod, but only 128 kbps AAC; these scripts enable use of your Custom AAC encoder setting.

Hmm, that's close to what I want to do. I'll have to search online for a more exact match of what I want (or edit the one you sent). Thanks for the help!

 

[Reluctant Adept]

I used this option for our first-generation iPads but that initial sync is so slow that I couldn't bear to do it this time around. My music takes ~48GB now, the vast majority at 256kbps, so I know that eventually I'll have to switch it back on and I dread the day. With the 128kbps conversion it takes somewhere roughly 30 hours (not an exaggeration) to sync a new device.

I wish you could tell iTunes to create and maintain "shadow" copies of each song at the lower bitrate so that you could do the downconversion once without the device attached and then sync the results to multiple devices.

 

[phyrexia]

I can tell a difference between 128 and 256 so I do not. I keep em as high a bitrate as possible.

 

[C N Reilly]

I just don't ever need to carry that much music around at a time. If I did, I'd buy another 160GB iPod classic.

Plus it would slow down syncing even more than it already is.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Personally, I would rather have fewer higher quality, less compressed songs than an endless supply of less than CD quality song I have no chance of listening too in a given month unless I'm stuck on a deserted island that happens to have a working power plant.

I encode all my CDs w/ Apple Lossless and 320 MP3. Apple Lossless is for home music server and 320 MP3 for my iPhone/iPad. (I also have higher end Shure earbuds so I suppose that is a factor as well since they are produced more detailed music compared to a basic set of earbuds.