Compression of data.

[Hydie]

I've only just realised that Apple Lossless on iTunes compresses the data (my 740mB CD ended up at 470mb approx), the question is ..... Does lossless compress the music? I'm sure this is a numpty question but hey ho.:lol:

[Hydie]

I'm looking to use iTunes in a study system rather than a CDP.

[Tim]

There is a huge amount of information out there about this Kev, Google is your friend ;)

Like anything there are differences of opinion too, I have tested FLAC v WAV and cannot detect a difference, but I'm 55 and my ears are not what they used to be, but I'm not alone in this and a lot will depend on your system capabilities and how seriously you take it. This will get you going;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_file_format

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLAC

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/blogs/mitchco/flac-vs-wav-vs-mp3-vs-m4a-experiment-94/

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/blogs/mitchco/flac-vs-wav-part-2-final-results-155/

Only way to be sure is you have to try it yourself before you embark on a ripping spree - I tested all the formats and all the players available 2 years ago and settled for FLAC, but at a low compression rate. I'm happy with my choice :)

If you are serious about it iTunes is not the best player available, but it does a job, its simple to use and has a lot of fans. However, I wouldn't recommend using iTunes to rip a music library, use EAC or dBpoweramp.

[NRG]

"Does lossless compress the music?"

Music compression is entirely different. Music compression affects the dynamic range of the audio signal and is often used in the recording studio.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_range_compression

Lossless file compression is just that, a method to reduce files size whilst being able to recreate the original file without any data loss or change.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lossless_compression

[Werner Berghofer]

Hydie,


Does lossless compress the music? I'm sure this is a numpty question but hey ho.:lol:

no, ALAC (as Apple Lossless Audio Codec is called in nerd acronym speech) only compresses the way the music’s digital representation is being saved to the storage medium. Think about it similar to a ZIP version of a text document. The moment a zipped text document is being decompressed (or unzipped) the original, unaltered content of the text is available.

Werner.

[Tim]

The moment a zipped text document is being decompressed (or unzipped) the original, unaltered content of the text is available.
That's a great way of putting it across Werner.

[Hydie]

Thanks for the responses, sorry for not coming back, the Egyptian hotel WiFi is shite. :(