iPod and Home Stereo

[banditpowdercoat]

Most Itunes and other downloaded music is at 124Kbs I belive. the lower bitrate makes for easier downloads. Now, I tunes itself will rip music into it's format, AAC. I havnt used that yet. I strictly use Windows Media Player ofr ripping my CD's to MP3. In Media Player, go to Options in the upper tabs, then click Rip. in there will be settings on what folders WMP saves the ripped music to, and what fromat, MP3, WMA etc. Stay away from WMA. can only be played on windows media that way.... Damn MS

Any other questions feel free to ask

[Oscar]

Yeah, I have been using mostly Media Player for manageing my music, in particular ripping from store bought CDs. Is the quality of downloaded CDs, whether mp3 or WMA format the same as store bought?

I have a lot of purchased CDs to rip, which is where I would start first.

BTW: My wife bought us tickets to see the Hip in Penticton this summer. Who thought they would ever come here? Got me focused on updating my Hip collection.

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

Most Itunes and other downloaded music is at 124Kbs I belive. the lower bitrate makes for easier downloads. Now, I tunes itself will rip music into it's format, AAC. I havnt used that yet. I strictly use Windows Media Player ofr ripping my CD's to MP3. In Media Player, go to Options in the upper tabs, then click Rip. in there will be settings on what folders WMP saves the ripped music to, and what fromat, MP3, WMA etc. Stay away from WMA. can only be played on windows media that way.... Damn MS

Any other questions feel free to ask

[banditpowdercoat]

The Hip, cool. Would like to go see them.

No quality difference on downloaded music and music you rip from a CD if the bitrates are the same. A lower bitrate will have lower quality. But 9 times out of 10, you will never notice. Sometimes you can hear it in the highs. The cymbals and such are not as crisp.

[lastlight]

I personally love 192kbps AAC. Sounds exactly like a CD to my ears. I always found 320kbps took up way too much space and sounded somehow tinny to my ears. My collection hovers around 300gigs now. Sold all my CDs to help fund my new tank!

[mseepman]

Originally Posted by Oscar

Yeah, I have been using mostly Media Player for manageing my music, in particular ripping from store bought CDs. Is the quality of downloaded CDs, whether mp3 or WMA format the same as store bought?

I have a lot of purchased CDs to rip, which is where I would start first.

BTW: My wife bought us tickets to see the Hip in Penticton this summer. Who thought they would ever come here? Got me focused on updating my Hip collection.

Grant, I don't think I would have pegged you for a Hip fan. I'm sure that will be a great show.

As for the sound of the music from an ipod, I think you'll be fine as long as you rip it at a decent bit-rate.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by mseepman

Grant, I don't think I would have pegged you for a Hip fan. I'm sure that will be a great show.

As for the sound of the music from an ipod, I think you'll be fine as long as you rip it at a decent bit-rate.

We will be seated in the old fart section. Too bad the show is on a Friday night. I am usually pretty beat by time Friday rolls around.

Thanks to everyone on your input.

[mark]

works great and really on the deck, nothing wrong with MP3s.

Can get the docking station to keep the iPod charged up or just get a cable with the headphone plug on one end, RCA on the other (probably $10-15).

As for ripping, I just use iTunes. It rips then sorts into artist directories all on it's own. Know a few people who detest iTunes and use Media Monkey for everything.

iPod and computer speakers work well also for just for a quick/simple system. Got computer speakers on all my Radar sites, just plug into the headphone jack of the iPod.

[mark]

sort of relates so not really a highjack but what do people use for artwork?

Had been using tunesleeves (freeware) for years but recently reinstalled my OS and when I went to get tunesleeves again found now has limited downloads. Liked it as it worked with iTunes, searched then dropped in the artwork automatically.

[mike31154]

So do mp3 files play properly on a 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound? Are they encoded with sufficient data to separate the signal into the 5 or 7 channels plus sub woofer or is it the software in the surround sound systems that work the magic? I know certain DVDs have specially encoded soundtracks to play properly on 5.1 or 7.1 surround systems and older ones have less sophisticated soundtracks. The better home theater systems will still mix/multiplex the signal and send sound to each speaker but the quality will suffer on 2 channel stereo encoded soundtracks. How do mp3 files compare to one of these DVD soundtracks? If I were to seriously consider limiting my system to an ipod with mp3 files, I would want to be certain they're going to sound proper on a multi channel system, not just two speakers and a sub.

[mark]

Originally Posted by mike31154

So do mp3 files play properly on a 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound? Are they encoded with sufficient data to separate the signal into the 5 or 7 channels plus sub woofer or is it the software in the surround sound systems that work the magic? I know certain DVDs have specially encoded soundtracks to play properly on 5.1 or 7.1 surround systems and older ones have less sophisticated soundtracks. The better home theater systems will still mix/multiplex the signal and send sound to each speaker but the quality will suffer on 2 channel stereo encoded soundtracks. How do mp3 files compare to one of these DVD soundtracks? If I were to seriously consider limiting my system to an ipod with mp3 files, I would want to be certain they're going to sound proper on a multi channel system, not just two speakers and a sub.

The 2>5.1 or 2>7.1 is handled by the receiver the same way either fr a MP3 or CD or LP.