[X4U] Re: Rip It Up - iTunes Import Settings Survey

[Wilson Ng]

Before AAC showed up on the radar, I used to use 160 kbps Highest VBR mp3 in
iTunes. If it was a CD I really liked, I used LAME alt-preset standard.

Now I just use 192 AAC as the best middle point between size and quality for
me. My ears aren't finely tuned like others so i'm not too miffed about 192
AAC. If I truly liked a song or CD (like a greatest hits), I'll use ALE.

I often mix it up on a track-by-track basis. I'd find a CD with 4 good songs
that I'll put as 192 AAC and the rest as 160 Highest VBR.

If it was a spoken word CD like a comedy concert, I'd switch it to 96 kbps
Highest VBR. For example, I have an Adam Sandler comedy CD. I'd put his
spoken word routines at 96 Highest VBR and whenever he sings a song, I'll
switch to 160 or 192 AAC.

I also try to buy the remastered editions of CDs. Their mixes are a way
better source to encode than the original CDs that came out in the early
days of CDs.

> Thanks for the info Kirk and Eddie. I think I'm going to have to stick to
> the 192 setting as the thought of reripping hundreds of cds fills me with
> dread!

It was a pain in the arse for me to re-rip a lot of my stuff. I had a lot of
songs ripped as mp3s and I went to the attic to search for all the CDs I
wanted to re-rip into AAC. I spent a lot of time re-ripping them and putting
them back into the attic.

While re-ripping, I selected all my favorite hit singles and desert island
CDs and import them as ALE. Then I setup a smart playlist that says: file
type is Apple Lossless. I name this my "Desert island songs" playlist. This
list would contain all the songs I definitely want in hi-res, lossless
format and if I was stranded on a desert island, these songs are what I'd
take with me. I burn it to a DVD-R. I keep inserting new DVD-R blanks until
the whole playlist is burnt.

This allows me to delete these songs from my puny PowerBook hard drive.
Whenever I need to re-rip a song, I just insert the DVD-R into the DVD
drive, iTunes shows the DVD-R playlist. I select the songs I want and then
select "Convert to Format XXX" and it goes into my PowerBook hard drive.

I'd convert it to AIFF if I want to use it in another encoder outside of
iTunes that doesn't support ALE like NMP3 or Ogg-Vorbis.

Burning on to DVD-R provides me with a backup as well as saving space on my
PB hard drive. Now I never have to take a trip to attic to look for that CD
because all of my desert island CDs are in Apple Lossless format. This small
stack of DVD-Rs of lossless audio is the perfect set up for me. It takes up
less space in my bedroom because each DVD-R can hold a lot of audio CDs. I
must admit that I sometimes missing physically browsing through my shelves
(or under the couch, in the kitchen, in the car) for my CDs.


> Try it again in a blind test - rip a bunch of songs in different
> formats, set up a playlist in shuffle mode, then use the smart
> playlist to see what you're listening to afterwards. You may be
> surprised. Hearing is a cognitive action, and our brains influence
> what we hear, often just because of expectations.
> 
 
I usually do a test on a CD or song I am very familiar with. It's usually a
song that I've overkilled playing on the stereo much to my wife's chagrin
;-)



:-)  Wilson - Guam, U.S.A.

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