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iPod What do you encode at?

dferrara said:
I'm going to be importing my collection soon, so I was wondering what you setting you guys use. :)

  1. What bit rate? (128, 192, etc.)
  2. What format (AAC, MP3, Lossless, etc.)
  3. Where do you listen to it most? (iPod, high-fidelity stereo, etc.)
  4. How big is your collection?
  5. Any other relevant tidbits.
Click to expand...

1. 224
2. AAC
3. iPod and Stereo
4. 15.9 GB
5. Anything below 200 is crap in my mind.
 
amholl said:
1. 224
2. AAC
3. iPod and Stereo
4. 15.9 GB
5. Anything below 200 is crap in my mind.
Click to expand...
Even Apple Lossless occasionally produces files with bitrates below 200 kbps. I've seen reports on these forums of Apple Lossless files that encoded at a measly 2 kbps, yet sound just as good as the source AIFF/WAV file (this only happens if the source is mostly silence).
 
Personally, I rip at 192 bps for all music in AAC format.

128 in AAC is pretty good for most pop music, but, I notice a difference in the sound quality for a lot of songs and wish it was possible to get higher encodings of songs from iTunes Store.
 
zach said:
Whatever you do, don't use VBR encoding... It's absolutely awful.
Click to expand...
Would you mind telling me why you think so? I have a massive collection of about 12,500 MP3s, all encoded in 192kbps VBR MP3, and I think they all sound great, from my Shure E2C earbuds to my home stereo to my upgraded car stereo.
 
Bit Rate: 128Kbps
Format: AAC (128) or MP3 (196)
where: iPod mini.
size: 13Gb on PB, full 6Gb iPod mini
tidbits: i love music and i probably would class myself as an audiophile but for some reason i cant tell the difference from 128kbps+, except bass seems deeper.
 
MontyZ said:
How is that e-music site? It looked interesting when I took a look. Is it worthwhile?
Click to expand...

Yeah, the service is awesome! I love it. It's a subscription site that has its own downloader you can choose to use (works on MAC & Win). I actually like the downloader...A few good reasons:

*When you sign up, you get 50 free mp3s as a trial. To get the trial, all you need is a credit card (you won't be billed for the 50 downloads for the trial month, but if you enjoy the service, you'll be charged for your service plan the next month--a clearer version of this is on their site...)

1) It's cheap--I've been a member since Oct. 2004, and I pay $9.99/month for 40 downloads. They have other plans that are affordable too. You can buy booster packs if you need 'em too.

2) They carry indie labels that itunes typically doesn't have. You can find great bands. Their search works well too. If you want something similar to a major artist, their search can pull up great choices.

3) You can redownload your music a bunch of times (I don't even think there's a limit). You go to your profile>download history>choose your artists and tracks, and you can redownload your music, without emailing for permission. It's handy if you accidentally delete a track or two.

4) Tell a friend: You know how most ISP's have a tell a friend and you get something promotion? Emusic has that, where you get your friend's email address, send them an email with a form. If they sign up, they get 50 free mp3s, and you get 10 mp3s as a commission. If you're interested in helping me get some more songs (I'm out and my downloads don't refresh for a while), please PM me with your email and I'll send you the form. Why sign up independently and get the 50 free mp3s, when you can sign up through a friend and get your 50 mps, and get them 10 mp3s in turn, as a gesture of your generosity? Thank you very much for helping me...

There is one nag to this service, although I don't notice it now. You don't have rollover downloads. I didn't start using my emusic service fully until March. I wish I would have in October, cause I would have had 280 songs right now. This isn't a problem if you use your service. I use up all my songs within the first week. I wish I had the 90 songs/mo, but I'm not the one paying for it...

If I convinced anyone, please PM me with your email so I can send you the form. Or you can click the link in my sig to get my email and email it to me if you wish.

Hope this sounds good, and thank you very much,

JM
 
dferrara said:
Lol, it doesn't add DRM to anything. You couldn't if you wanted to!

I really wish iTunes would let you import with VBR AAC...

I want high quality but I'm afraid my Mini will not approve, since larger files don't work as well with the cache and battery life.
Click to expand...

You kinda can... do a search for iTunes LAME on versiontracker... it's a cool iTunes plugin that imports songs using the LAME encoder, and of course you can set your bitrate to anything, including VBR. There is not, however, an option to encode to AAC, but this is close!
 
dferrara said:
Lol, it doesn't add DRM to anything. You couldn't if you wanted to!

I really wish iTunes would let you import with VBR AAC...

I want high quality but I'm afraid my Mini will not approve, since larger files don't work as well with the cache and battery life.
Click to expand...
I don't think this is necessary if my understanding that AAC encoding in iTunes is ABR (Average Bit Rate - a hybrid of CBR (Constant Bit Rate) and VBR (Variable Bit Rate)) rather than CBR is correct.
 
dhracer88 said:
Yeah, the service is awesome! I love it.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the detailed info on e-Music.

I took a closer look at it and am not sure whether I will do it. Most of the music is obscure or old, it appears. They don't have any music by more popular groups or performers. I do listen to a lot of electronic type music, which they seem to have a lot of. But, most of it seems like crap to me.
 
1. 256 kbps
2. MP3 (using LAME)
3. 3G iPod & DENON DN-S5000 CD Turntable (2x)
4. 15,000+ songs, 100+ GB (and growing...)

I use MP3 because it works with my CD turntables (I'm a DJ). The LAME encoder is widely regarded as the best, and 256 kbps allows for a compression ratio of more than 5:1 while still maintaining superb quality.
 
right now most of my stuff is at 128 AAC, working on re importing it all to 192 for the majority of it and my favs will get 320/224, not sure yet
 
What bit rate? 192
What format? MP3
Where do you listen to it most? Equally between Apple Pro Speakers and 3G iPod
How big is your collection? 798 songs, 2.2 days, 3.78GB
Any other relevant tidbits. I used to rip 128 AAC, but I decided to switch to 192 MP3 to make sharing with friends easier. I can't hear much difference in most music, but it's apparent in my classical stuff.


reality
 
  1. 192
  2. AAC
  3. high-fidelity stereo (Cambridge Audio A-500 through Energy eXL-26)
  4. 7.6 G
  5. Slowly going through the painstaking process of digitizing my vinyl . . . (which is stored as uncompressed and also ripped to AAC/192
 
dferrara said:
I'm going to be importing my collection soon, so I was wondering what you setting you guys use. :)

  1. What bit rate? (128, 192, etc.)
  2. What format (AAC, MP3, Lossless, etc.)
  3. Where do you listen to it most? (iPod, high-fidelity stereo, etc.)
  4. How big is your collection?
  5. Any other relevant tidbits.
Click to expand...

normally import cds at 160 but if the music calls for it I will go higher. maybe 192 or 256

normally mp3. I find acc encodes a bit faster but it also sounds a bit worse so I stick with mp3

listen to my cd rips on my ipod and comp

about 1700 songs give or take. I have about 140-150 cds and they are all imported on my hd.

I was a loyal audion user for a few years but switched to itunes when 3 was out.
 
192 AAC (some older ones are 128 aac, but I will redo them when I get an external drive)
iMac with cheapo 3 way speakers or iPod via cassette adapter to car stereo
4859 songs using 23.12 gig, but I had to delete a bunch cause I only have a 30gig drive and needed to free some space.

my iPod 30gb (3rd gen) has 5483 songs at 27.9 gig, and my wife's iPod mini is pretty much full, ~ 4gb

Most played album is Punk-O-Rama 5, with Blood Money by Tom Waits a close second.
 
dferrara said:
I'm going to be importing my collection soon, so I was wondering what you setting you guys use. :)

  1. What bit rate? (128, 192, etc.)
  2. What format (AAC, MP3, Lossless, etc.)
  3. Where do you listen to it most? (iPod, high-fidelity stereo, etc.)
  4. How big is your collection?
  5. Any other relevant tidbits.
Click to expand...
1. 128-192kbps
2. mp3
3. iPod, Computer speakers, Car Stereo (through iPod)
4. 2546 songs and growing (9.21GBs or 6.7 days)
5. I sometimes encode a little lower at 80-96kbps if there is really crappy old recordings like The Sex Pistols because it's just better for fitting more songs, but you don't lose anything. If it's something like great jazz, I may increase bit rate to 192 for those high end speakers I wish I had. :)
 
1. N/A for computer, 256 kbps for iPod
2. Apple Lossless for computer, AAC for iPod
3. Computer
4. Almost 20 gigs, consisting of a combination of Apple Lossless and AAC files (lots of duplicates in different bitrates).
5. I don't have much music cos while I love and live for music, I hate most bands.
 
MontyZ said:
Thanks for the detailed info on e-Music.

I took a closer look at it and am not sure whether I will do it. Most of the music is obscure or old, it appears. They don't have any music by more popular groups or performers. I do listen to a lot of electronic type music, which they seem to have a lot of. But, most of it seems like crap to me.
Click to expand...

That's what I thought originally, but after a couple months of having (not using the service), I checked back again, and found the artists and labels I want. They carry independent labels, so they don't have the big name groups. But for me, I can find great artists in the ska, punk, and rock genre. Mostly little known artists, but you discover new favorite bands through downloading (for free or cheap). I'm not a huge fan of electronic (I have the Prodigy & the Freestyler, but that's it. They're more dance though (bike for me). But do some experimenting on their site, like typing in an artist you want, then checking out the similar bands as well. You're bound to find something. Plus you can get 50 free mp3s ;) ;)

JM
 
I honestly can't tell the difference between 128 aac or a CD/lossless on many many different kind of music. And that's using some Grado SR80s.
All those encoding higher, can you give some demo tracks that you can really tell the difference!? I have a pair of £90 headphones, and I can't!?
 
I encode in FLAC (lossless) and backup my CD collection to data DVDs at a rate of about 10:1 (given that very few of my audio CDs are completely full with music). I also use a simple script I wrote to create m3u playlists by album, by artist and by collection (DVD) so I can listen to them almost anywhere that I have a computer.

My only portable audio player is a 5 year old discman clone.
 
James Philp said:
I honestly can't tell the difference between 128 aac or a CD/lossless on many many different kind of music. And that's using some Grado SR80s. All those encoding higher, can you give some demo tracks that you can really tell the difference!? I have a pair of £90 headphones, and I can't!?
Click to expand...
I know there is a chorus of people here and on the Apple forums who simply refuse to believe that there are others who can tell the difference between 128 bps and CD-quality. Well, you're just going to have to believe us, because if you can't tell the difference yourself, then good for you! You have nothing to worry about and should just buy all of your music directly from iTunes.

But I can tell the difference most of the time. The sound from a 128 bps sound file is "flatter." The same music heard directly from the CD is richer and "sparkles" more. High notes are sharper and resonant on the CD, while in the 128 file they are tinny and muddier. The difference isn't huge, but it's noticeable to me.
 
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