Retro Music

[Raging_Bulls]

I stick my CD into the Mac and download the CD onto iTunes which when connected to the internet automatically found all the relevant song titles, artists, running time stuff and listed them. Then made up playlists on iTunes, connected iPod to computer and downloaded playlists to iPod. All of its simple as the iTunes and Mac does all the techy stuff for me. As far as I can tell for the man in the street there are loads of simple software solutions that dont require loads of tech jargon to use.

... and as a result you get inferior sound quality. I'd rather learn how to do it properly.

As for needing tech jargon, I used Exact audio Copy for my own rips, and found that I didn't need much tech jargon.
On setup I told the program how I wanted my filenames to be formatted ("singer - track title" in my case) and which format I wanted (.flac). Then it was just a matter of inserting the CDs, letting EAC find the Album Art and track lists, and hitting the rip button.

 

[velomaniac]

Surely sound quality is dependent on hardware not software ?

 

[Neil]

Surely sound quality is dependent on hardware not software ?

GIGO.

That said, I understand why people want to store / archive with something like FLAC. But I'm truly not getting that many / any can really tell the difference between that and mp3s in 320 (or maybe 256). I'm sure, some truly have golden ears, but is there anything conclusive in double blind trials between FLAC and 320kbps mp3?

 

[Noisia]

Surely sound quality is dependent on hardware not software ?

Actually, media player conversions were inferior to the winamp and easy cd-da extractor. I guess that inferior or outdated codecs convert to inferior music.

 

[Raging_Bulls]

Surely sound quality is dependent on hardware not software ?

Hardware is an important factor indeed. Lowly hardware will never let you hear the full spectrum because it won't be able to keep up with the amount of data, isn't physically capable of producing certain tones, or both.
On my phone I barely notice the difference between the two due to the lowly earbuds I normally use, but with my good earbuds I do notice an improvement. However on the PC or a good stereo the difference between mp3 and lossless is like night and day. If you listen back to back to the same song in both formats, you'll realize just how much of the fine details are lost.

Yes, you really need to focus on the music to hear and appreciate the difference in quality. If you only listen to music while jogging, cycling or working, you'll probably never notice it, in which case mp3 will save a lot of disc space.

 

[Neil]

Surely sound quality is dependent on hardware not software ?

Hardware is an important factor indeed. Lowly hardware will never let you hear the full spectrum because it won't be able to keep up with the amount of data, isn't physically capable of producing certain tones, or both.
On my phone I barely notice the difference between the two due to the lowly earbuds I normally use, but with my good earbuds I do notice an improvement. However on the PC or a good stereo the difference between mp3 and lossless is like night and day. If you listen back to back to the same song in both formats, you'll realize just how much of the fine details are lost.

Yes, you really need to focus on the music to hear and appreciate the difference in quality. If you only listen to music while jogging, cycling or working, you'll probably never notice it, in which case mp3 will save a lot of disc space.

I remain unconvinced with the FLAC / lossless vs high bitrate (320, say CBR) mp3. Has there been any public trials - or have you done any blind tests? 'cos often, people just "hear" what they want to hear.

 

[Noisia]

FLAC vs. Mp3 320kbps

 

[TGR]

Thanks all for the input, i do appreciate the time people take to reply but although i am computer literate - my literacy relates to stuff i use and this is outside of that. As per velomaniac, the jargon confuses me - i now understand what rip means (thanks) but what is -
sync
rinse you battery
critical listening
I have earphones for the iPod but really i have no idea what they are - they were more expensive than ordinary ones is all i know - apologies for my complete ignorance on this subject.

Have a great weekend everyone - the sun is out in Norn Iron - i might take pics!!!!

Richard

 

[theproudhighway]

Thanks all for the input, i do appreciate the time people take to reply but although i am computer literate - my literacy relates to stuff i use and this is outside of that. As per velomaniac, the jargon confuses me - i now understand what rip means (thanks) but what is -
sync
rinse you battery
critical listening
I have earphones for the iPod but really i have no idea what they are - they were more expensive than ordinary ones is all i know - apologies for my complete ignorance on this subject.

Have a great weekend everyone - the sun is out in Norn Iron - i might take pics!!!!

Richard

If all you want to do is listen to music on you iPod, I wouldn't worry too much about all the tech jargon. You can always learn as you go along (that's probably how we all started out anyways)

Sync just means transferring music from your iTunes library to you iPod. Download the latest version of iTunes, once you have some music you have ripped you just select which songs/albums you want to put on there hit the sync button and ITunes will do the rest.

Rinse you battery isn't really a technical term, rather something I say. Basically the higher the Bitrate the more power your device will use, meaning less time in-between charges.

Critical Listening can be all manner of things, listening for subtle changes on different recordings, different bitrates, differences between one Headphone and another etc.

The most important thing is enjoy your music. I personally think the more you get wrapped up in quality the less you're enjoying your music to some degree, on the other hand a better recording/rip will enhance your listening experience. So finding the right balance for your ears/the kit you are using is key, and then just get on with listening.

If you get stuck with iTunes a quick YouTube search will show you much better than I can describe in words.

 

[TGR]

Thanks for that - i appreciate the time taken for a reply - i will have another read when i get some time. Due to the good weather, i need to get some outside work done - and i have my trusty radio for company.

Richard