[X4U] Which format for Music?

[B. Kuestner]

Hi Jim,

I hope you didn't feel like you have to defend yourself.

In any way, yes, that sounds much like the audiophile who would  
perceive and value the advantages of lossless encoding. I have  
noticed that most other people who ask these questions overestimate  
their hearing skills and expectations.

DZ-Jay pointed out that this is an Apple proprietary encoder. So  
should you ever move, you will have to encode again. But then, iTunes  
can transcode between supported codecs, and the conversion between  
Apple Lossless and AIFF should be painless, fast and, ahem, lossless.  
So not a big problem, no more hours, days and weeks of playing disk  
jockey once you have everything in iTunes.

FLAC is the open source alternative, but it's not supported in  
iTunes, although a plug-in project is underway. Even if it works in  
iTunes, FLAC would still not be supported on the iPod if that is  
important for you.

One question: Is the digital output as plug-and-play as the analog  
connection? I have never thought about this option, and it makes the  
AE much more interesting for me, although I haven't yet checked at  
what price range amplifiers with a built-in D/A-converter start. Any  
recommendations? (Similar to my preference for Apple I like to keep  
things simple in the audio area as well: Not a whole lot of buttons  
and lamps, just play that music and play it well.)

Thanks,

Björn