Quick Question: Ripping CD's and transfer to 80G 5th Generation iPod

nature boy · « **on:** 6 Mar 2010, 02:32 pm »

Just bought my first iPod a 80G 5.5 gen with Wolfson Dac. Yes I am behind the times, but I want to maintain a high level of music quality on iPod playback so I am looking for guidance from fellow AC'ers.

Any recommendations on best compression, if any to use, and links to a how to guide. I would prefer to rip once using iTunes? and then download to my iPod. I only have a few CD's currently ripped to my PC primarily using Exact Copy and having them stored as uncompressed FLAC files. Since I'm going to be storing more CD's, thought I would get input from the discless circle community first.

Thanks.

NB

srb · « **Reply #1 on:** 6 Mar 2010, 03:46 pm »

The iPod does not support FLAC, so your highest quality/smallest file will be the proprietary Apple Lossless format.

Most of the forum discussion revolves around using iTunes and Apple Lossless for music servers, where battery life (even if using a MacBook Pro on battery) is not a concern, as it might be for the portable iPod.

WAV files will result in the lowest battery life on the hard drive equipped iPod, as the hard drive will be spinning more often to fill the buffer. (I believe your generation iPod has a 64MB buffer instead of a 32MB that is in the newer version, so that is a small benefit).

Apple Lossless, being smaller, will result in a little better battery life, even though the iPod processor has to work a little harder to uncompress the file.

Because of the smaller file size and without the need to uncompress, MP3 and MP4 compressed files give the longest battery life.

I would probably just rip in iTunes to Apple Lossless with error correction enabled. I will let others who use EAC give you advice as to whether there might possibly be any sonic benefit in using EAC to rip to Apple Lossless (with the iTunesencoder.exe installed), and whether there may be any tagging issues using that method.

You could convert your existing FLAC files to Apple Lossless, or if it is just a few CDs like you said, could just re-rip them.

Steve

nature boy · « **Reply #2 on:** 6 Mar 2010, 05:49 pm »

Thanks Steve, I am ripping using Apple Loseless to iTunes with error correction enabled per your suggestion. Now to see how many CD's I'll be able to store on the 80G hard drive and if I can talk my way into getting a Vinnie IMOD on the new iPod.

NB

sanjaygolf · « **Reply #3 on:** 6 Mar 2010, 06:01 pm »

You can play FLAC on your 5.5G 80gb by installing a firmware called Rockbox. Basically it's like having two Operating Systems (OS), like Mac and Windows, on your iPod. Rockbox allows for FLAC playback, a much more expansive EQ, and is just overall more customizable. And most importantly, it sounds wayyyyyyyyy better than the stock iPod. It's very easy to install and use. http://www.rockbox.org/

nature boy · « **Reply #4 on:** 6 Mar 2010, 06:19 pm »

Thanks for the information Rockbox, I'll check it out before doing a lot more CD ripping. I found this link for info on installing Rockbox and bootloader:

http://www.junauza.com/2007/07/installing-rockbox-and-bootloader.html

Anything else you would suggest??

NB

srb · « **Reply #5 on:** 6 Mar 2010, 06:22 pm »

My CD collection averages around 600MB in .wav files per CD. Converting to Apple Lossless or FLAC uses around 55% - 60% of that, or around 350MB per CD.

For your (slightly less than) 80GB iPod, I would guestimate you could store around 200 - 225 CDs.

Steve

nature boy · « **Reply #6 on:** 6 Mar 2010, 06:45 pm »

Steve,

My first three CD's with apple lossless took up almost 1GB, so I think you estimate is spot on ~ 220 CD's. Should make for some very enjoyable portable listening with my Etymotic ER-4P's. Thanks for your helpful suggestions!

NB

srb · « **Reply #7 on:** 6 Mar 2010, 07:13 pm »

I had heard of Rockbox, but have never used it. Although the forums are filled with users reporting problems (as most software is), much of that was about older software versions and iPod models. It has apparently evolved over the past few years to be easier to install and use than ever. I believe support for the 80GB iPod was added in mid 2007.

If you go with Apple Lossless, the proprietary file format will limit you in using other software players and equipment. The Logitech Squeezebox variants can use the FLAC files, but not Apple Lossless.

On the other hand, I'm currently using iTunes and .wav files on my PC, and stream wirelessly to three remote Airport Express locations. The Airport Express go for about ~$50 used, so it was very economical.

I am using the .wav file format (not concerned with saving space for iPod use), because I didn't know if I might change player or hardware platforms and not be able to use the Apple Lossless files. Using .wav files under iTunes, I have all of the tags and artwork, but I would loose that if I used them with another platform, as that information is stored in the iTunes database and not in the file header.

Of course, if you have the extra hard drive space, your song files can be converted to another format using either iTunes, EAC or dbpoweramp, but sometimes loss of file tags can occur, and you never really know about the conversion process. It's better to have a good idea what direction you want to go before ripping hundreds of albums.

Decisions, decisions! Good luck!

Steve