Has anyone switched from a WMA device to an Ipod?

[GrantMeThePower]

I'm thinking of switching from a gigabeat to an ipod. I actually hate all that is ipodian but my new car has an ipod connection that keeps it charged and i can access everything through the stereo. That is very nice. SO i'm thinking of switching, but my 30 gigs of music is all in wma format.

Did anyone else go through a similar thing? What did you do?

 

[aphex]

http://www.wma-mp3.org/

 

[torpid]

I re-encoded. First I used AAC but I found that the ipod was a little quirky with that format. I have since re-encoded using Exact Audio Copy and Lame MP3.

 

[ForumMaster]

what format is the WMA? if done properly, you can convert it too a cmopatible format without losing too much quality. i don't suppose you could get the originals? a lot of people these days prefer .flac files and put rockbox on their ipod. gives the ipod the ability to play many more formats.

now that i think about it, i remember that i read once that the ipod can easily play WMA files with the hardware inside it. there might be some sort of OS for the ipod that can play WMA.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster
what format is the WMA? if done properly, you can convert it too a cmopatible format without losing too much quality. i don't suppose you could get the originals? a lot of people these days prefer .flac files and put rockbox on their ipod. gives the ipod the ability to play many more formats.

now that i think about it, i remember that i read once that the ipod can easily play WMA files with the hardware inside it. there might be some sort of OS for the ipod that can play WMA.

But i wonder if he changed the OS, if it would still interface with the car...

 

[torpid]

Last I checked, rockbox didn't support WMA, and barely supported AAC.

 

[GrantMeThePower]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: ForumMaster
what format is the WMA? if done properly, you can convert it too a cmopatible format without losing too much quality. i don't suppose you could get the originals? a lot of people these days prefer .flac files and put rockbox on their ipod. gives the ipod the ability to play many more formats.

now that i think about it, i remember that i read once that the ipod can easily play WMA files with the hardware inside it. there might be some sort of OS for the ipod that can play WMA.

But i wonder if he changed the OS, if it would still interface with the car...

Yeah, i doubt it would, and thats the whole purpose so I'm going to stick with the ipod formats..which is just aac and mp3, isnt' it?

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: GrantMeThePower
I'm thinking of switching from a gigabeat to an ipod. I actually hate all that is ipodian but my new car has an ipod connection that keeps it charged and i can access everything through the stereo. That is very nice. SO i'm thinking of switching, but my 30 gigs of music is all in wma format.

Did anyone else go through a similar thing? What did you do?

You'll have to reencode everything, and it is going to suck major ass. You may not lose all too much in quality, but WMA never has been the best sounding format to begin with. Id suggest reencoding from the source. But if your WMA files are protected, you wont be able to reencode them anyway.

 

[mpitts]

iTunes will re-encode WMA files.

 

[GrantMeThePower]

Originally posted by: mpitts
iTunes will re-encode WMA files.

O really? Can i choose between AAC and mp3? And will it do ALL of my songs in one batch and keep the tags? Can it make a copy rather than reencode and delete?

 

[arod]

i just have all my music in mp3... that way i can use whatever player i want.

that said ive tried a few of those indash controllers and all of them have issues imo.... being slow, not pulling all of the songs in right, issues playing back vbr mp3's. It was a year or so go last time I looked at them so they are probably better but I personally have my heart set on a pc in the dash. We are starting to see them already and that to me is going to be a much better system imo.

 

[keeleysam]

Originally posted by: GrantMeThePower

Originally posted by: mpitts
iTunes will re-encode WMA files.

O really? Can i choose between AAC and mp3? And will it do ALL of my songs in one batch and keep the tags? Can it make a copy rather than reencode and delete?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!

And Apple Lossless, WAV, and AIFF too!

 

[0roo0roo]

technically its not great to reencode music, its like a photocopy of a photocopy. but you probably won't notice if its a half decent bitrate wma source esp on a portable device. better to rerip as all mp3 lame extreme or insane setting sure, but i guess just tossing it all into itunes to trancode is probably good enough considering it saves work.
]
but next time you rip a cd, use eac+lame to rip to mp3. don'[t use such formats like wma that trap you

 

[GrantMeThePower]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
technically its not great to reencode music, its like a photocopy of a photocopy. but you probably won't notice if its a half decent bitrate wma source esp on a portable device. better to rerip as all mp3 lame extreme or insane setting sure, but i guess just tossing it all into itunes to trancode is probably good enough considering it saves work.
]
but next time you rip a cd, use eac+lame to rip to mp3. don'[t use such formats like wma that trap you

Why is it better to use eac+lame if I'm just going to mp3? Won't most rippers (even itunes and wmp) do mp3??

 

[0roo0roo]

well in tests the lame codec seems to come out on top in terms of quality. there are presets like -extreme for ~192-224 average vbr and insane for 320kbps. extreme is probably enough for most people.

eac is good because it is good at reading discs with minor scratches or something, error correction? i dunno, you can read about it on its site, it is called exact audio copy after all

other alternatives like itunes are made to be easy for the general user, they are not the best way. and well apple has no real incentive to improve their mp3 codec when they back aac. lame is always under development.

 

[Kirby]

Another vote for EAC and Lame. VBR FTW!

 

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
well in tests the lame codec seems to come out on top in terms of quality. there are presets like -extreme for ~192-224 average vbr and insane for 320kbps. extreme is probably enough for most people.

eac is good because it is good at reading discs with minor scratches or something, error correction? i dunno, you can read about it on its site, it is called exact audio copy after all

other alternatives like itunes are made to be easy for the general user, they are not the best way. and well apple has no real incentive to improve their mp3 codec when they back aac. lame is always under development.

Are you talking freeware here ?
Has anyone tried the Sonic Solutions stuff?

< has yet to fix soundcard on laptop he's currently using so is talking out my @$$ about "computer sound.....

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: AlienCraft

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
well in tests the lame codec seems to come out on top in terms of quality. there are presets like -extreme for ~192-224 average vbr and insane for 320kbps. extreme is probably enough for most people.

eac is good because it is good at reading discs with minor scratches or something, error correction? i dunno, you can read about it on its site, it is called exact audio copy after all

other alternatives like itunes are made to be easy for the general user, they are not the best way. and well apple has no real incentive to improve their mp3 codec when they back aac. lame is always under development.

Are you talking freeware here ?
Has anyone tried the Sonic Solutions stuff?

< has yet to fix soundcard on laptop he's currently using so is talking out my @$$ about "computer sound.....

just google EAC - Exact audio Copy..it's very easy to use.

 

[0roo0roo]

yup its all freeware