HomebrewandBeer.com forum

f--- I hate itunes.
Three kids with ipods it seems i spend more time stuffing around with them than they do playing them.
Just spent the day restoring the youngest ones back to factory settings to try to get rid of a crappy error.
Apple are no help, had to get the answers from another forum, and don't get me started about not being able to expand their memory.

I spent days ripping my cd collection to put on mine and there are songs that sound like shit. Some songs are so compressed you can't even hear the background vocals.
So now the point of the rant. I ripped my cds in an AAC format. Does anyone know what format I can rip them in that doesn't compress the files?
It hopefully would be able to be played on different players Galaxy phone and ipod.

I really want to get it right before I start ripping 4200+ songs


I feel better now.

Tipsy wrote:Some songs are so compressed you can't even hear the background vocals.

Hmmm. That seems...strange. Couldn't upload an example somewhere could you?

Tipsy wrote:I ripped my cds in an AAC format. Does anyone know what format I can rip them in that doesn't compress the files?

WAV or PCM are the only formats you can use that won't compress the files - but you don't want that. AAC at highest settings should be indistinguishable from the CD source on most devices you're likely to play them on. MP3 is also one that will work on anything and gets good results. FLAC and OGG are both good but you may run into compatibility issues on some devices.

I would rip to mp3 variable bitrate for good quality and good compression. If you dont compress the files then they will be huge. FLAC is an uncompressed format I think that retains the CD quality but files are much larger than mp3. Plenty of free software out there that will rip to mp3 and download track info from the internet and name files accordingly.

I'm with you on the iTune's thing as well. My kids have iPods as well and always running into issues. I refuse to have the software on my PC as it is such a resource hog.

Guru wrote:FLAC is an uncompressed format I think that retains the CD quality but files are much larger than mp3.

Not uncompressed, just lossless compression. Was going from memory but you've prompted me to look into it and FLAC probably is too large to be practical.

Fairly certain FLAC won't play on iPods but it's been some time since I tried.

I just rip to mp3 and haven't ever had issues.

bullfrog wrote:Fairly certain FLAC won't play on iPods but it's been some time since I tried.

I just rip to mp3 and haven't ever had issues.

Thats what I do, stick to mp3 and you wont have problems

It's been said already I know, but go mp3. I have 4 kids and refuse to buy ipods or similar for the reasons you stated. Although the dick smith version seems ok so far. It's all mp3 around here

In the car, this:



is a lot easier than stuffing around with 100s of CDs. Plus you can get audio books and podcasts [Late Night Live, Science Friday, etc etc]. All you need is one of these to play through your car stereo:

http://www.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=510589

Also, you don't need a silly $100+ docking device for your iPhone to use with a amp or small portable stereo. All you need is AUX or even TAPE IN and you can connect your iPhone/ipod [or PC/laptop for that matter - though an audio switch box, $20 from Jaycar, is a good idea if using your PC/iTunes to Amp] for audio output with a $10 cable from Jaycar [two audio leads to one headphone jack].

I know we've gotten quite off the topic now, but the lead lob mentioned above (3.5mm-RCA) is how I hooked up my turntable to my PA speakers. A single RCA to double RCA running off the designated left connector then another for the right and all of North Richmond can hear when "the lunatics are on the grass" or if any given female is "buying a stairway to heaven."

So to bring it back on topic; stop messing around with music files because it all sounds better on vinyl!

Back to the OP. Also turn on error correction in iTunes:

* Choose Edit > Preferences.
* In the General pane, click Import Settings.
* Select "Use error correction when reading Audio CDs."

I am not sure why it's off by default ... perhaps it makes the import of CDs a bit slower.

Cheers,

Oliver

Thanks for the replies, I've calmed down a bit now that that I've restored one of the ipods and got it working again.

I've turned on the error correction thingy and also upped the bit rate to 320kbps (would that help?)

Bum wrote:

Tipsy wrote:Some songs are so compressed you can't even hear the background vocals.

Hmmm. That seems...strange. Couldn't upload an example somewhere could you?

Do you just use a site like photobucket for this?

Definitely.

Uh, at least you could until last week...I don't know which filesharing sites are still active in the current climate.

It just seems really weird that it would be selective in that manner. The backing vocals will sit in roughly the same frequencies as the lead vocals (and pretty much a great deal of the rest of the main focus of the audio.

I'm not sure error correction will be the solution to your problem but 320kbps will help for sure. If the issue was data errors you'd know it - it would be extraordinarily unpleasant to listen to. Think dial-up modem.

I was thinking the loss of some parts of the track could have been taking a stereo track and losing one of the channels. I've had problems before where a 3.5-3.5 cable buggered out on me so my car was only getting the right speaker feed and some tracks could lose anything from the percussion right through to lead vocals.

Just a thought, and not looking at iTunes now, but is there a mono-stereo option that you could check?

I don't think it's playing in mono (but I will check) and to be honest it's only a few songs that I have noticed it but it still gives me the shits.

An example is David Bowies Ashes to ashes. He uses a couple of vocal tracks together but only one comes out. It sounds like one of those shows on SBS where they de construct an album and listen to the separate layers.

320KBps will gve you good quality but anything over 128KBps is normally fine. The higher the number the bigger the file. Most ripping software these days will let you rip it at a variable bitrate (usually 128 - 320). This way it detects when it needs to sample at a higher rate can make smaller file sizes without losing any quality.

Man I'm a dumb bastard sometimes.

I have a little cheap stereo in my shed but when I use the dock that comes with it, it locks the ipod and I have to use the stereo software (with a tv to see what I'm doing).
Trouble is the software is excruciatingly slow. I thought an easy way around this would be to use the cable I use in the car then I can bypass the stereos software. Genius!

Being a dumb f--- though I plugged it into the mic in and got mono sound from two speakers.

bullfrog wrote:I was thinking the loss of some parts of the track could have been taking a stereo track and losing one of the channels.

You got it Bullfrog

lob wrote:Also, you don't need a silly $100+ docking device for your iPhone to use with a amp or small portable stereo. All you need is AUX or even TAPE IN and you can connect your iPhone/ipod [or PC/laptop for that matter - though an audio switch box, $20 from Jaycar, is a good idea if using your PC/iTunes to Amp] for audio output with a $10 cable from Jaycar [two audio leads to one headphone jack].

That's what I'll be doing Lob.

Thanks everyone for trying to help a fool and apologies to Apple for my earlier rant

Glad you got it sorted.

Hardly the stupidest iPod-related story I've heard, though. Unsure if it's apocryphal as it's a sort of a friend-of-a-friend-of-mine type story, but I heard of one guy reading that he could create a speaker out of a circle of tin foil over the top of a glass. Snipped the headphones off the cords and connected one of the cords to each side of the foil. Long story short (pun intended,) he shorted out his two-week old iPod and it never worked again.

Great story bullfrog
Just told this to a sparkie mate of mine and he still laughing
This person hasnt been watching Mcgyver have they

That story makes me feel better. Thanks Bullfrog