IPOD experts...

steveinaz

I'm considering picking up an IPOD shuffle, and all of my music will be imported into Itunes via my CD's...here's my question, is AAC format and 128kbps good fidelity or should I use something higher?

BaggedLancer

Higher....much higher. Lossless formats range from 900-1100 kbps.

Why do you want a shuffle? You don't want something with an LCD screen you can see? I can't imagine being able to store much on a shuffle.

steveinaz

I wouldn't use it very often, but I may go for the nano. Just don't want to spend alot on it.

BottomFeeder

Shuffle's hold about 250 songs and that only w/the songs being recorded at 128 kbps.

If you have more songs that you want on your ipod, I suggest the nano & up.

Unfortunately for me, I once read that the human ear can't hear the difference after 128 kbps. So I recorded all of my songs onto my ipod at 160, "just to be safe." Now I've read that the higher bit rate, the better the sound.

One article posted here by a member said that about 224 is best while others (most here) say just go lossless, which means that what you put onto your ipod is the same as what's on your cd.

That takes a lot of room, but, if you want your ipod to sound the sweetest, that's what it'll take.

polkatese

nano is definitely a meaningful starting point, Stevie!

I have 30GB video and 4GB Nano. Can't leave home without them, when traveling by air...

RuSsMaN

I love my shuffle. Small, discrete, right now I have 17 complete albums on it, from Keb Mo to Dire Straits, to The White Stripes. I don't miss having a screen at all, and find it very easy to navigate.

janmike

I am looking at the 4GB Nano for my son's birthday in February. Seems like a good place to start.

hoosier21

RuSsMaN wrote: »

I love my shuffle. Small, discrete, right now I have 17 complete albums on it, from Keb Mo to Dire Straits, to The White Stripes. I don't miss having a screen at all, and find it very easy to navigate.

yea but your hardcore

steveinaz

RuSsMaN wrote: »

I love my shuffle. Small, discrete, right now I have 17 complete albums on it, from Keb Mo to Dire Straits, to The White Stripes. I don't miss having a screen at all, and find it very easy to navigate.

Russ, what bit rate do you use? Would AAC @ 256kbps be a good compromise? I have no interest in IPOD video...strictly music.

bobman1235

Don't forget to check out Apple's refurb store if you're looking to save some money, they have some good deals.

janmike

I like the free shipping and free engraving. Great gift idea.

hockeyboy

That U2 model is a steal for $179. I actually have a $150 gift card sitting here un-used so am considering getting it for my bedroom i-radio. Although Steve if you want to PayPal me $120 I would sell you my $150 card since I don't really need another excuse to buy something. I got it free for Christmas from Ameritrade for being an APEX trader.

If you are interested PM me.

cmy330go

Since I never do any critical listening with mine I have found 160kbps AAC to be very adequate. Even on the rare occasion that I listen to it on one of the home systems it sounds fine. I really don't hear a difference between it and a CD unless I'm consciously trying to hear the difference.

steveinaz

Thanks fellas for all the advice, I think I'll go w/256kbps and the shuffle. Appreciate the offer hockeyboy, just don't want to spend that much...

BottomFeeder

cmy330go wrote: »

Since I never do any critical listening with mine I have found 160kbps AAC to be very adequate. Even on the rare occasion that I listen to it on one of the home systems it sounds fine. I really don't hear a difference between it and a CD unless I'm consciously trying to hear the difference.

Wow! Is it even legal to admit that?

I just got a cool Accurian Universal Docking station - nothing fancy, but it was on sale for 50% off - & I'm really surprised by how good my ipod sounds running through it. Yeah, I can easily tell the difference between it and a cd (everything's just quite a bit clearer w/a cd), but it really sounds good. Unless I'm doing critical listening, I'm down w/the ipod! For just cruising around the house music, it's great.

Sorry for the derail!

BottomFeeder

steveinaz wrote: »

Thanks fellas for all the advice, I think I'll go w/256kbps and the shuffle. Appreciate the offer hockeyboy, just don't want to spend that much...

& Yes, go w/AAC. That's what I've heard is the best.

ledhed

Does it have to be an iPod? You can get other brands flash memory players very cheap. I picked up a Sandisk Sansa (very easy to use, just drag and drop and also has more features than iPods) 4GB for 50$

cmy330go

BottomFeeder wrote: »

Wow! Is it even legal to admit that?

I just got a cool Accurian Universal Docking station - nothing fancy, but it was on sale for 50% off - & I'm really surprised by how good my ipod sounds running through it. Yeah, I can easily tell the difference between it and a cd (everything's just quite a bit clearer w/a cd), but it really sounds good. Unless I'm doing critical listening, I'm down w/the ipod! For just cruising around the house music, it's great.

Sorry for the derail!

That's the whole thing. Why would you ever want to critically listen to an iPod? It is either for car use or background noise. Why waste a ton of hard-drive space unless you are constantly using it as a main source.

ledhed wrote: »

Does it have to be an iPod? You can get other brands flash memory players very cheap. I picked up a Sandisk Sansa (very easy to use, just drag and drop and also has more features than iPods) 4GB for 50$

That is actually a good point. For ultra small units I too would recommend something along the lines of a Sandisk or iRiver. You can usually get just as much if not more space than a Shuffle, plus you get a screen. I have an older iRiver that I've had for years, and it doesn't miss a beat. Plus I honestly think it sounds a little better than my iPod. :eek:

BaggedLancer

My whole 2ch rig revolves around my iPod so I "played it safe" and went lossless. Definatey can hear the difference between lossless and 192kbps, it's not even remotely close.

In the end it's all just a matter of personal preference and what suites your needs. If 128 sounds good to you, use it....you'll be able to get alot more songs on it.

RuSsMaN

You've got a gig of space Steve, even at 256 you'll get more than enough music for a plane flight, workout, road trip, what have you. I rip at 192, and lot of stuff I already had is at 128 to 256 - and I find the quality perfectly acceptable for the intended use. For me, it seems to involve the encoder used much moreso than the bitrate.

bigaudiofanatic

GO HIGHER MUCH HIGHER at least 256 if not 512

dkg999

80gb iPod and I use Apple Lossless for conversion (better not say for what or big brother will be after me ). To me the apple lossless transfer sounds very good, and with 80gb I don't worry about space. I download movies from Netflix when I am going to be on long flights.

I just bought this cool Marantz docking station that outputs the video via S-Video connection. I can now take music to my system at the farm, with the S-Video hooked to my TV so I can watch a movie and the analog outs hooked to my Marantz 2270B receiver. It actually sounds pretty good!

steveinaz

I grabbed a shuffle. This little thing sounds great through my Grado SR60's with 256kbps transfers. This is strictly a convenience thing--wont be used as a source in the big system, so I'm not looking to split hairs with fidelity. 22 songs isn't even using a tenth of it's capacity...cool.

RuSsMaN

Awesome Steve, I knew you'd dig it.

I-SIG

steveinaz wrote: »

I grabbed a shuffle. This little thing sounds great through my Grado SR60's with 256kbps transfers. This is strictly a convenience thing--wont be used as a source in the big system, so I'm not looking to split hairs with fidelity. 22 songs isn't even using a tenth of it's capacity...cool.

You and Bev need to come by soon and you can check out my iPod with all Lossless on the big system.

Wes

steveinaz

I bet it sounds pretty good--I hooked up the shuffle on the patio rig, it sounded better than XM, that's for sure!

steveinaz

Lasareath wrote: »

Wes, Can you explain the steps so that I can get my CD's into my ipod as lossless?

Thanks,

Sal

If you use Itunes, go to "EDIT"-->Prefrences-->the Advanced tab under "Importing" and select "Apple Lossless."

I-SIG

Thanks, Steve. Sorry I didn't get to this until now, Sal.

If you don't use iTunes (and I'm not sure how you would) I have no idea.

Wes

shawn474

This might be a stupid question, but how do you change the bit rate to the Ipod? I hear some people talking about getting better sound quality - is that something you do through I Tunes or the actual I pod? Thaks in advance for the help.

Shawn

steveinaz

EDIT-->Preferences-->Advanced-->Importing--Import using: (select a codec to use)
Then select your desired bit rate in the next box marked "settings"

shawn474

Thanks, steve. Next question, does it matter which option I use to import the music? IE does one sound better than the others? Thanks again.

Shawn