No worries. Hmm, maybe the software itself does it differently. I've never ripped my own CDs before with iTunes, just bought a few MP3s off iTunes, and checking now, it looks like MP3s bought straight from iTunes were ripped at 256 no VBR.

 

Yeah. Some are 256 and some are 128. I'm listening to "Crisis? What Crisis?" now and it was encoded at 128K. Sounds good enough, but I wouldn't have minded the iTunes folks using a higher bitrate.

 

boy----Did i open up a can of worms withi this thread----

 

Where did I mention CD's weren't digital?

All I said was audiophiles scoff at digital because it can't duplicate the audio quality of a record.
(yes this includes CDs as well)

One thing I've noticed is that most MP3s available are not ripped at maximum quality, or variable rates. I come across a lot that are 192kbps, and I admit I'm guilty of dumbing mine down to fit more on the CD.

Most people can't tell the difference between a high quality 320kbps MP3, or lossless FLAC and/or don't have higher quality audio equipment to hear it anyway.

I know a lot of aftermarket units can play MP3 through AAC, WMA and FLAC.
It'd be nice if the stock units played those.

 

I don't use iTunes, I rip from my own CDs. But my biggest problem is getting the ripper program to fill in all the music info correctly. I have many old CDs that don't have all the pre-amble info that the new CDs have so when I put them on my flash drive, usually the song name, artist, etc info is messed up. Having 1000 songs on a flash drive like this is a real mess. I'd rather have a 6 CD changer. Or find a good program where I can edit the MP3 files easily. Any what about volume? You put a few hundred songs on a flash drive they are going to be at all different volume levels. Using shuffle in this mode and some songs will be very soft and some very loud. You need to normalize the levels too.

Joe C

 

I've been using MP3 CD's since I got my car back in '05, and I don't think I've ever used the other 5 slots because of that. I simply never needed them. I guess you all have much better hearing than me...Unless the song is truly terrible quality, I never notice much of a difference. 128 or 192 in a car is generally good enough quality for me. As far as 1,000 songs being a mess and being at different sound levels on a flash drive...It all depends on how well you can organize it when you're putting it on the drive. And unless we took a step backwards, the headunit should have some sort of setting to balance the sound levels from song to song.

 

BOOM problem solved.

NEXT THREAD PLEASE!

 

Folders. They're your friends.

 

Bean Counter Vicitm?

 

See, that's your problem!

And iTunes allows you to tweak the relative volume and brightness/bass of each song individually. Runs on Windows.

I started out as you, and wound up having to manually label each of the MP3 files.

 

I've listened to many different MP3 players, Ipods, etc-

For some strange reason, they never sound as good a an original CD, or Ripped CD- I agree.

Through your earset though- they're great for example if you go to the gym, jogging, etc

Theres always some stupid reason- either formatting, volume control on the MP3 player, etc

 

I ripped a bunch of stuff to a thumb drive from CDs at the highest quality the latest Windows Media Player let me, and I can't hear any difference in quality in the car. Also don't have any volume control issues. Things that were 'lower' volume on the CD (for instance, 'LaGrange' from ZZ Tops greatest hits is lower than anything else on that disc) are still lower... otherwise, no worries. FWIW...

 

MP3s are lossfull compression, even if you RIP a CD yourself.

They won't sound as good, and even worse depending on the bitrate quality and codec being used, which like I said above, most MP3s are now VariableBR or encoded at a lower than optimal rate. Average I see online are 192. 320 way better, lot bigger, but still lossfull. (CD audio is about 1400)

You need a lossless sound compression like FLAC, WMA lossless, Apple Lossless (ipod, MP4-v14+)

 

jocatch, you need to use better software for ripping and managing your MP3s. I like Media Monkey. It will find the title information for most CD's, you can have it "normalize" the volume, and it's easy to update information on the MP3's and organize them however you want. I'm sure there are lots of other programs that will do it, too.

 

YES YES YES

 

I agree, although I can tell the difference but don't care. The convenience of the MP3 player makes up for it.

But FYI, even at 320Kbs, you're losing quite a bit of information. CD are mastered at 1,411.2Kbs. Like I said, it's good to have a high-quality backup.

As others have said, I can really tell the difference on the home stereo (very efficient 3-way speakers), but in the car, just slightly.

For those who don't have original CDs (downloaded), I hope you have the MP3s backed up. Your hard drive WILL fail -- it's just a matter of when.

 

Wonder how many people have WAVs of CDs on their PCs :P

 

This is likely due to the rip quality. 192kbps is CD quality, typically if the bitrate is lower than 160kbps you may notice a difference. You can rip up to 320kbps with most software, though...

 

Ha... I actually rip all my Vinyl directly! Run my real turntables (not that cheap ION USB), Technics 1200s. Bring them in as CD audio... get that warmth of the vinyl.. .Crackles and all...

Yes, even there you loose alittle something, but the speakers in the cars don't recreate the full frequency range anyway... I did car audio install for years and while able to put together amazing sounds in a car, it was only "amazing for being in a car" was still a step behind a proper home system... Not a big deal since after years of being a DJ and audio installer, I think my ears are missing a few frequencies now too! Pity I'm only 30... and I will never get rid of vinyl, But for outside the home, CD is long done and digital media is the way to go.. carry 1,000+ "good sounding tunes" in your pocket can't be beat.

 

I would hope not many but FLAC would be a much better alternative. WAV doesn't do jack to compress, FLAC is lossless but still does compression. Trick is you'll be hard pressed to find a music player that supports FLAC, and FLAC is still a good chunk larger than a VBR-320 MP3.

If my Mustang or my phone ever supported FLAC, I'd upgrade my music quality, but until that day I'll have to stick to VBR-320 MP3s and the knowledge that I have the full lossless originals on safely kept CDs.