I am thinking about getting an ipod but don’t know anything about the various formats or best practices etc. I would be grateful if someone could help with the following questions.

1. just want to transfer my CD’s to the device and can’t really see me downloading anything. Therefore I can ‘rip’ using windows media player 10, correct?

2. Would an album be just one file with some form of chapters (tracks) or does each track become one file with some kind of control file for the album (collection)

3. I would be looking for sound quality over everything else so which file format would be best mp3,wma, mp4?!?

4. What software comes with an ipod? And is it better to use this and therefore some apple file format when transferring my CD’s?

5. Are there any avantages with a particular file format with regards to song/album text/details being automatically detected?

Thanks in advance

M

Yeah you get iTunes with it,
download it here http://www.apple.com/itunes cause the new iPods don't come with a setup CD-Rom anymore. iTunes will convert all your music from WMA to AAC during setup so don't worrie about having to rip your cds again.

Hope this helps

mp4 is the successor to mp3 and its sound quality is better at the same bitrates or similarly the same at lower bitrates. Their is debate about the quality of wma but personally I'm not a fan. mp3 due to it effectively being first on the scene currently has the widest compatibility though.

Since the iPod can't use wma there would be little point using it since you'd have to re-rip it and in turn lose sound quality. If you want to be as sure as you can of future compatibility then rip in mp3 using whatver software you want. In order to actually put stuff on your iPod you'll need iTunes and since it's free it's hardly difficult to try before you buy.

It's true that iPods don't come with iTunes on CD anymore, which to be fair makes sense. Since they add new versions and fixes pretty regularly, the CD would soon be obsolete and taking space.
Last edited by moisie : 02-10-2006 at 15:15

If your priority is sound quality then I'd order a set of decent headphones at the same time you order the iPod. Sennheisers are my weapon of choice but there are plenty other decent sets out there.

The standard iPod earbuds are crap. (Don't bother arguing please people .... they're rubbish .... fact.)

Second, again if it's sound quality you're after, then avoid MP3, WMA, AAC etc etc .... they are all lossy formats. For ultimate quality you want to encode using Apple Lossless. Takes up more space than MP3/AAC but if it's quality you want ....

Thirdly, again gunning for sound quality, don't get an iPod! Cowon are generally recognised for being about as good as it gets on that front in the portable market. I use an A2 myself and it does sound pretty damn good. A Cowon player, FLAC (similar to Apple Lossless) encoded files and Sennheiser headphones is about as good it gets IMHO.

Yes they do, I bought an iPod video only two weeks ago and got the setup CD-Rom with it.

1. No. You need to use iTunes to rip music from CDs.

2. Each track is seperate.

3. iTunes would automatically rip your CDs to AAC format which is near-CD quality.

4. iTunes comes with an iPod. You would have to use this to move songs onto your iPod, and rip music from your CDs.

5. iTunes will automatically assign names to your music from the album you rip the music from.

I am talking about the new iPod Nano the box is too small for one

Thanks chaps, thats lots of stuff I didn't know.

Surely you mean opinion. I recently had to replace an ipod that died and the new headphones they supplied were much better than the old ones (even when used on other equipment).

Of course you can buy super duper noise cancelling headphones and you do get what you pay for, but the standard headphones are now pretty good, especially when you change the EQ settings to suit the type of music you're listening to.

No.

They're crap ..... fact.

In the world of headphones the buds supplied with iPods (and, for that matter, pretty much all headphones supplied with MP3 players) a distinctly fourth division.

It's always amazed me that people will spend £250/£300 on a player and then use the crappy headphones they give you with it rather than buying a half decent set instead. You only need to spend £30 odd and you can get a half decent set of Sennheisers for that .....

I wouldn't agree that they're crap, they're perfectly usable but I would agree that it's certainly worth the investement in a better set. Personally, I'm glad the included headphones on any device are shit, I always replace them. Not just because of the sound but because I want something that fits me well. I would prefer they come without but they'd get far more people moaning if that were the case.

... get a personal CD player!

The problem is, iPods (and I would assume other personal players) are optimised for a bit rate that is a compromise between sound quality and file size. In the case of the iPod, it expects you to use 128kbps AAC files, so the buffer in the iPod is designed to allow the hard disk to spin down during play, thus using the battery less. If you use higher bit rates the files will be bigger, so the buffer won't be able to operate as efficiently and the disk will have to spend more time spinning, so the battery will run down quickly.

128kbps AAC, preferably using VBR (an option in iTunes) is not CD quality but it should be OK for listening in most situations, even with good earphones.

If you buy the new enhanced iPods, then you will have to download iTunes, which has its own burning software to rip CD's. Quick and efficient. You don't need Windows Media.


Each track is a separate file. The iPod has a brilliant interface, where you can scroll through your collection by song, artist, album, or playlist.


Apple Lossless would give you the best sound quality, but it does take up a lot of space. If you rip your CD's at a decent bitrate, Mp3 or AAC will be fine.

I am in agreement though with other who said that it would be best to spend an extra £30 on a decent pair of headphones. The standard ones aren't 'crap' as such, but if you're looking for great sound quality, then they're not for you. I find them very uncomfortable too. I have a pair of Senheisers, which only cost me £27 and they're brilliant.


As said before, iTunes comes with your iPod, although Apple have stopped including the CD, so you will need to download it from the Apple website, which won't take too long.


No advantages with a particular file format. For most of your CD's, it won't matter what format you rip then in, the ID3 tags should be fine, although you can edit anything that's missing in iTunes.

yup - i'd have to agree it's well worth getting a decent pair. i had some sennheiser PX200s, but have recentyl replaced them with some shure in ear ones, and the sound is fantastic. (and that's on an iPod! )

Iain

With that sort of setup, you really want to get yourself a nice headphone amp, you'd be amazed at how much the SQ will improve