[G4] AIFF, MP3, Quality Issue

[Snow White]

Each time you convert the file it is a generational copy.  If you use 
the new file to create the next conversion copy the result will be less 
than the original AIFF.

I keep all the AIFF files on an external drive and convert to AAC (MP3 
if you want) for use on my computer.  I have found that as my music 
library grows it is better to have about 1000 songs per grouping (in 
AIFF), as that fits on any of the computers and can be converted to 
AAC.  If I put all the AIFF files on my computer at once I have no 
space left on the HD and can no longer do much of anything.  I do keep 
the AAC copies on the external as well as they are small, transfer 
quickly and sound great.

If I want to burn a CD I turn on the external and in itunes prefs I 
change the file to the look at the external and delete all the itune 
files on my computer.  itunes will rewrite its list to reflect the new 
content (all AIFF on the external) only after the files on the computer 
are trashed and deleted.  I still have all the original info on the 
external in both AIFF and AAC, so there is no loss - but this is a pain 
in the backside that itunes does not update as soon as the prefs are 
changed - I must  ' force '  it every time.

Anyways, this lets me keep the original AIFF and the first copy in AAC 
to avoid any compromise of quality.  And lets face it, if this is your 
music collection, do you want scratched records or perfect ones?  
Collecting a few songs is easy but a few thousand is alot of work; I 
back it up on at least 2 hard drives.

I use my personal computer as the collection point and everything I had 
previously is in AAC here.  All new songs are in AIFF exclusively.  The 
External has all the AIFF files in batches of 1000 and the AAC files in 
the same batches (so I do not need to convert again - too long).  The 
work computer has a second HD to back up, well, work - and the music 
(AIFF only).  The primary HD on this work computer has the AAC copies 
to listen to.

As I import new songs to my personal computer it fills up and once it 
has close to 1000 new songs in AIFF format I can delete all the AAC and 
copy the itunes folder to the external and work computer in AIFF and 
then convert them to AAC to delete the AIFF and copy those AAC to the 
external.  Then import all the AAC files into itunes to access 
everything again.

There is probably other ways to do this, but this is simple in 
practice, if not in explanation.  And everything is duplicated as 
original.  The only reason I keep the AAC files on the external is 
because of the time it takes to convert a 1000 songs or even copy from 
one HD to another.

But as I started out saying, changing  itunes pref to point at a new 
folder is very easy and much faster than copying, so for the burning 
application this is a good solution.


jj




On 14-May-05, at 9:57 PM, g4-request at listserver.themacintoshguy.com 
wrote:

> AIFF, MP3, Quality Issue
> To: "A place to discuss Apple's G4 computers."
> 	<g4 at listserver.themacintoshguy.com>
> Message-ID: <EE4217F4-C4D3-11D9-B060-00039368BC92 at earthlink.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Some may remember questions about iMic - I got it to work, finally.
> What did it was to plug the iMic into the speaker ports, not the Aux
> port. Dunno why - whatever works.
>
> Originally I converted my AIFFs to MP3 before burning to CD, as I
> thought CD players played MP3s. Then I discovered iTunes was
> reconverting the MP3s back to AIFFs before burning the CD. I am
> guessing AIFFs have better sound quality as the MP3s are much smaller
> in size.
>
> My ears can't tell the difference because I am hard of hearing.
>
> Any input on this? Now I am just using them as AIFFs when I burn to CD,
> and am assuming the MP3 conversion is only necessary if one wants to
> listen on an iPod. So far everyone has been able to use the CDs, even
> folks on Windows computers.
>
> Anne Keller Smith