As some of you might recall, I had an incident trash a lot of my iTunes library. I was able to use Data Rescue to recover a lot of it, but still I'm going to have to rerip a lot of CDs, and might even just rerip them all while I'm at it.

I have been thinking that with drives getting cheaper, I might want to dedicate a 750GB drive to housing files in Apple Lossless format. I know they're a lot bigger than mp3s or aacs, but there's that lossless bit... (I've preferred a really well-ripped mp3 to aacs, anyway, but that's another story.)

I think some people here have done much the same thing. I did @#$%&, I mean stf. How's it been working out?

If I sync my iTunes with an iPod or iPhone, are there any automatic ways to "downsize" the Lossless file to a reasonably sized aac or mp3? Or does it just sync the lossless file?

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One thing to consider:

If you ever buy a cheap mp3 player (for the gym, or?) you can't play your AAC files on it.
You're locked into the Apple proprietary format.

I know. I'd like to know there's a way to convert the lossless files to aac/mp3 for use with iPods, without permanently converting the file.

Similarly, I'd like to be able to do the same converting to mp3 for Sony/Sansa USB stick players, which are much better deals than Shuffles, IMHO.

Of course, trying to do something of the kind led to my current woes, but that's another story.

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When you import into iTunes for your iPod you can specify the format and the quality.

Preferences>Advanced>Importing>Import Using & Setting

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

This is what I do:

1. Rip CDs in Apple Lossless
2. Uncheck the lossless files in iTunes so they don't get synced to iPod
3. Convert the lossless files to mp3
4. Sync the mp3s to my iPod

So I just have two copies of each song, lossless for "archiving", and mp3 for the iPod.

Thanks, MGS. That makes a lot of sense. It's a PITA to have two copies of each track, but does do the trick.

Do you have to recheck the Lossless files so you can play them from iTunes?

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Unchecking just keeps them from being transferred to the iPod, they still show up in iTunes.

If you use an iPod shuffle, iTunes provides a setting that enables automatic conversion to your specified compressed format on-the-fly, i.e. as the source track is copied over to the iPod. No track duplication is involved.

That option is not available for other iPod models, AFAIK.

For other iPods, there are scripts available at...

[dougscripts.com]

...that will completely automate that workflow for you.

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... Sony/Sansa USB stick players, which are much better deals than Shuffles, IMHO

Look again. None is as rugged, compact, light, convenient, and compatible as the iPod shuffle.

AAC is not Apple proprietary. It is supported on almost as many players as MP3 is. The Zune even plays AAC files if I'm not mistaken. Songs from the iTunes store are AAC files encrypted with a proprietary technique that Apple does not license, or not frequently.

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Bosco
One thing to consider:

If you ever buy a cheap mp3 player (for the gym, or?) you can't play your AAC files on it.
You're locked into the Apple proprietary format.

Not really.

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ztirffritz
AAC is not Apple proprietary. It is supported on almost as many players as MP3 is. The Zune even plays AAC files if I'm not mistaken. Songs from the iTunes store are AAC files encrypted with a proprietary technique that Apple does not license, or not frequently.

Thank you for posting this clarification. Saved me time.



Nathan

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ztirffritz
AAC is not Apple proprietary. It is supported on almost as many players as MP3 is. The Zune even plays AAC files if I'm not mistaken. Songs from the iTunes store are AAC files encrypted with a proprietary technique that Apple does not license, or not frequently.

I was going to say the same thing. AAC even works on my new nokia phone, but of course not if they are bought from the iTunes Store. I rip everything in apple lossless, then convert to aac when I send to my iPod. I don't use my iPod much, so while converting is a pain in the butt, it's not all that often I do it. kj.

While not a proprietary Apple file type, AAC like USB, was widely used on/with an Apple product before most other manufacturers adopted the MPEG standard for their products.

Yes, I know USB is not an MPEG standard.

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ztirffritz
AAC is not Apple proprietary. It is supported on almost as many players as MP3 is. The Zune even plays AAC files if I'm not mistaken. Songs from the iTunes store are AAC files encrypted with a proprietary technique that Apple does not license, or not frequently.

I use AAC for all portable listening-- almost had me believing this for a moment. Thanks for clarifying.

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... Sony/Sansa USB stick players, which are much better deals than Shuffles, IMHO

Look again. None is as rugged, compact, light, convenient, and compatible as the iPod shuffle.

Thanks for the Doug's Applescripts advice. I already use a few of his scripts, I should check them out more closely.

The Shuffle is great if you want it to be a Shuffle. But for about what a 2GB Shuffle costs, I can have a Sony Walkman USB stick with playback that sounds better, IMHO, than my iPods, an FM Radio (I loves me some NPR in the morning), a voice recorder (might be handy) and it doesn't need an adapter; you can plug it into any USB port and it mounts like a regular volume. My Sansa is much the same, except the interface is crappy, but it supports Micro SD, so I bumped it up to 3GB.

Plus the Sony and Sansa give you options to shuffle or not shuffle. I wish the Sony supported regular playlists, but, oh well. It's a good compromise. Plus the Sony sips power and charges in a hurry. The Sony isn't as elegant as an iPod, but except for the problematic syncing, it's just better for what I need.

It's not as tiny as the Shuffle, but it's tiny enough for me.

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