Audio files format and the quest for answers

[freddiecas]

some years ago when posting demos from synthesiser keyboards on the net I compared mp3 with ogg and at the same lowish bitrates ogg was noticeably superior in treble "cleanness" and high frequency separation at say 128. Unfortunately many downloaders did not have the codec and it became a pain explaining how to decode in the days before many had broadband so I ended up using 160 lame mp3 as a reasonable compromise between download time and quality. Today with cheap large hard drives all my music is saved in original wave format to avoid having to re-rip hundreds of backup cds to a new format.

[Stratmangler]

Ive had the pleasure today of playing with my Bro'In Law's iPod Classic, and all I can say is it has been a pleasure - it is one of the nicest pieces of portable gear to handle and operate. I've also managed to educate Bro'In Law about the pleasures of losslessly compressed music.

Big shame tho' about iPod's incompatability with FLAC, and that it turn makes it a PITA to have to accomodate - either unearth and rerip CD's to ALAC, or jump through hoops converting files over.

Ah well.....

Chris

[fungke]

Yep, I use a Mac and I have to say that Apple Lossless is also the route I took. It seems pointless to store files in AIFF* (MAC equivalent of WAV), why waste the extra storage needed. MP3 or music compression just isn't an option. I want a faithful reproduction, not a photocopy!

I don't mind using ALAC either, it's compatible with my iPhone which I use daily on the way, and at work. IMO iTunes is an excellent jukebox software.

The only weak link is ripping using iTunes. I prefer to use XLD to encode into ALAC and then add into my library. At least I've got some way of telling if the rip was good or bad. XLD also allows me to convert FLAC to ALAC.

*AIFF allows you to add 'enbedded' meta information as part of its spec. WAV does not without a companion tool, and if you loose that library, you loose your tagging. BWAV allows meta tagging but nobody supports it outside the radio industry.