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Newbie to iTunes

S

scoostraw

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 2, 2006
21
0
Upper Midwest US
Please forgive me for asking a beginner's question here. (If there is a FAQ, feel free to refer me to it)

I am using a G5 iMac and have been importing CD's as MP3 files. However I realize that MP3's are a lower quality format than the original data. What is the best way to use iTunes if I wish to burn another CD and have it equal in quality to the original?

Thanks for any help.

-- Ken
 
If you want the songs to be "equal in quality" to CD, then you'll want to use the AIFF Encoder in iTunes. AIFF is an uncompressed format that will give you CD quality. This will give you huge file sizes though. In practice, you can get away with a fair amount of compression. Apple Lossless gives you files about 60% the size of uncompressed audio and claims that you can't tell the difference. But even for most discriminating ears, 320 kbps MP3 or AAC should be fine. Most people go even lower than that. I'm not that picky...I typically use 160 kbps MP3.
 
I dont know anything about either of these and was wondering the same thing. Can someone please tell me the differences, or outline AAC, AIFF, MP3, and Lossless music files. How are some better and how do they differ?
 
Well I just googled and learned that iTunes downloads are Mpeg-4. I also learned that mpeg-4 also are called AAC and are of low quality. The next best is mp3, then AIFF. I found out that Apple Lossless is really just AIFF compressed. Is all of this correct?
 
AIFF (like WAV) is uncompressed, with nothing lost from the original (but very large files)

Apple Lossless is compressed but with nothing lost (which is why it only compresses to about 60% the size)

AAC/m4a/mp4/mp3 are compressed, lossy, formats and all have the ability for the user to choose the level of compression/quality on conversion. The harder you ask it to compress (or the lower the quality setting), the more information it will throw away to get the file size down. At the high settings (256-320Kb) most people would be hard pressed to spot the difference, BUT, each time you re-compress (even at the same bit-rate) it will throw away a little more information.

Which is "better"? AAC seems to me to give smaller files at better quality, but it's entirely possible it's imaginary.

Exactly like jpg image files.
Or gifs (which can be set as lossy or lossless)
 
rye9 said:
I also learned that mpeg-4 also are called AAC and are of low quality. The next best is mp3, then AIFF.
Click to expand...

This is not correct. At comparable bit rates, AAC is better than MP3. More specifically, 128 kbps AAC will sound better than 128 kbps MP3, but not better than 192 kbps MP3. As far as efficiency (quality versus file size), AAC is one of the better compressions out available.
 
WildCowboy said:
This is not correct. At comparable bit rates, AAC is better than MP3. More specifically, 128 kbps AAC will sound better than 128 kbps MP3, but not better than 192 kbps MP3. As far as efficiency (quality versus file size), AAC is one of the better compressions out available.
Click to expand...

OK, so now how do I convert my mp3 files into AAC? Also, how do I convert files to Apple Lossless? (I have lots of room on my ipod mini, i might consider using high quality files which take up lots of space)
 
rye9 said:
OK, so now how do I convert my mp3 files into AAC? Also, how do I convert files to Apple Lossless? (I have lots of room on my ipod mini, i might consider using high quality files which take up lots of space)
Click to expand...

If you got music cds then go advanced in itunes>importing tab> select lossless if you want that then close the advanced tab window.. re-rip the music cds = you'll get lossless files and .mp4 file of the same song, so delete the .mp4 file from your library

If the music from ITMS then just keep the music in that format or you'll lose more parts of the music by burning then re-ripping into lossless:eek: :eek:
 
iphil said:
If you got music cds then go advanced in itunes>importing tab> select lossless if you want that then close the advanced tab window.. re-rip the music cds = you'll get lossless files and .mp4 file of the same song, so delete the .mp4 file from your library

If the music from ITMS then just keep the music in that format or you'll lose more parts of the music by burning then re-ripping into lossless:eek: :eek:
Click to expand...

So I'm stuck with the music I have? I cant make the quality better w/o re-purchasing my whole library!!!!!!!!!!??????????:eek:

As for the CD's, I guess I wont bother borrowing them again from my neighbor.:p I just think that it sucks I would have to re-rip and repurchase songs to make them sound better.....

Well, since I buy ALL of my music off of iTMS, I cant do anything about that quality, right? But whenever, in that once a year occasion I rip a CD, should I use Apple Lossless because its higher quality?
 
rye9 said:
So I'm stuck with the music I have? I cant make the quality better w/o re-purchasing my whole library!!!!!!!!!!??????????:eek:

As for the CD's, I guess I wont bother borrowing them again from my neighbor.:p I just think that it sucks I would have to re-rip and repurchase songs to make them sound better.....
Click to expand...


ITMS songs are in 128kbps as default and no-way to change it that i've found :eek:


sorry for the bad news
 
Right...iTMS downloads are generally 128 kbps AAC. There's no way to change this.

And you can't magically convert low quality MP3 into higher quality Apple Lossless or AIFF. That's the idea behind compression...you throw away some of the information in order to reduce the file size. You can't just conjure up the information you already threw away.
 
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