[Ti] [OT] iTunes 4 mp3 encoding question

[Tarik Bilgin]

On Wednesday, May 14, 2003, at 03:19  pm, Bill Reburn wrote:

>
> I usually see "dumb" when I see a device that has an "auto" anything, 
> but
> you recommend it eh?
>

I did the same as you when i first started ripping. It's just silly 
that it doesn't give you a warning when you choose 48  -- would be more 
user friendly.

different media are "sampled" at different rates when the analogue 
signal is converted to digital (at the mastering phase).

iTunes knows what kind of digital sampling rate it is dealing with, so 
that's what the Auto setting is for. If you stick a CD in your drive 
that was sampled at 48, iTunes will adjust automatically -- I haven't 
tested this but it ought to.
>
> What aboot Joint Stereo, VBR and Smart Encoding Adjustment? Don't even 
> tell
> me I should be using the "filter freq below 1-Hz" setting too!

There is much debate about all this -- r3mix.net is a starting point 
for the "non Fraunhofer" view of mp3. Be warned that his claims are 
contentious, but a great site to start learning about it all.

mp3 is purely a definition of the file format -- hwo you actually do 
the compression is up to you, and there is heated debate about the best 
techniques to use.

iTunes uses a Fraunhofer compliant encoder algorithm -- so you probably 
want to go with what the Fraunhofer boys and girls think.

Joint Stereo has no disadvantage as I understand, so I use it.

VBR is definitely a must if you want to get the most from your encoder 
-- although I just use lame and set all the settings myself. I don't 
want to go too OT, so i'll leave it at that for now.

>
> Should I be switching to AAC yet?

2 points:

1. Yes if you want the best sound quality per kilobyte, even at high 
bit rates.

2. No, if you want to have compatability with mp3's (you can't play AAC 
on anythign other than a Mac/iPod)

> What's your suggestion for bestest-highest quality-sure to never run 
> into
> any sound deficiency setting?

There is always deficieny, this is lossy compression we are talking 
about.

The best is Ogg Vorbis, without any question. An format that Apple have 
not embraced, alas.

For mp3's install lame at the command line (iTunes produces poor mp3's 
imho)

For AAC use iTunes.

I have downloaded whamb, a player App for OSX that claims to support 
Ogg.

> With no consideration to HD real estate.

OK in that case "rip" to AIFF which involves no compression. Your files 
will be around 10 times the size but exact copies of your CDs.

>
> Thank you for the information Tarik.

Always happy to share -- I'm still learning about this interesting 
field.

--
Tarik Bilgin
Opalblue
tarik at opalblue.com