iPod-thread

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 30 Nov 2007, 20:00

OK, I got that iPod yesterday and I am wondering if anybody else has one and can help me with a few things.

Can I add playlists and songs without having to synchronise the iPod with iTunes over and over again?

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 01 Dec 2007, 05:10

Throw out the shitty white ear buds and get some Shures immediately. The build and sound quality is regarded as some of the worst in audio hardware world.

dvdvision · Post by **dvdvision** » 01 Dec 2007, 08:20

I think you got to synchronise whatever you do. There are some alternatives to itunes but I havent tried.

Personaly, I change the album names adding the year they were issued before (much more simpler to browse album chronologically than alphabetically), I take out the "the" before the names of the band because it's a nightmare to find when you get 40 bands starting by "the", and I only import on apple losless to avoid destroying the sound. If you choose this last path, your ipod will sound more arse kicking than all your friends when you will hook it up at parties and such and you'll get all the chicks while the others will stand with their tiny mp3s :mrgreen:

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 01 Dec 2007, 15:42

I've no idea how good/bad the headphones supplied are but from experience Eva is right the supplied headphones are usually very cheap. I bought some Sennheisers (one of the best in the business) and couldn't believe how much bass they had. The depth was so much better, that's with the artificial bass turned off too.

I don't have an Ipod as I don't really like them. They look gorgeous and the GUI is great but otherwise I cannot stand them. A lot of that is because of their reliance on Library software, give me simple Explorer Drag and Drop any day. As it happens I no longer use Explorer as they stuffed it right up in Vista.

Anyway of more importance to this thread: Here are some tips I told my Dad crucial IMO to using Ipod and Itunes. You maybe aware of them. The e-mail written was with my Dad in mind who doesn't have a clue about MP3 Players:

1. How do I have iTunes rip CDs into MP3 format? -

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_do_i_h ... ormat.html

And set it to 128Kbps or 192Kbps. Don’t bother ticking “Use error control”, its overkill and will just take longer to rip music.

This is crucial to not locking you into Ipods for life!

2. I’d also recommend setting the ITunes Music folder to something sensible: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305451

3. In the same tab make sure you also tick “Keep ITunes Music folder organized”. This will greatly help you locate a particular MP3 in Explorer as folders will automatically be created based on the Artist/Album name.

4. Setup an ITunes account: Apple force you to enter your credit card but I believe as soon as you enter it you can delete it. I recommend doing this as you can then manually download Album Art if it's not brought in automatically. I've never actually use ITunes though.

I'm sure there are other tweaks but having barely ever used ITunes I don't know of them.

I take out the "the" before the names of the band because it's a nightmare to find when you get 40 bands starting by "the"

Agreed but I tend to put it at the end, for example "Corrs, The". You certainly don't want to leave it at the start!

and I only import on apple losless to avoid destroying the sound.

I'd never ever do that personally. It wastes stacks of disk space and will make sure you're locked into the Ipod for life.

I'd only ever use MP3. Which bitrate is up to you.

dvdvision · Post by **dvdvision** » 01 Dec 2007, 16:23

Problem is, I hear the difference on mp3. Losless makes for virtually identical sound as the CD, while still reducing the files size.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 01 Dec 2007, 18:09

Fair enough then. How much smaller?

You can hear the difference between MP3 320 and Lossless?

Actually I can on a CD Player but when it comes to portable music I don't really care. Even in it's lossless form it doesn't come close to a proper CD Player setup so I just don't bother and opt to save lots of space instead.

That and to me it's crucial I am never locked into one Player, ever. So that means MP3 or nothing!

It's a pity Apple don't support FLAC as that at least has some support outside the IPod world.

dvdvision · Post by **dvdvision** » 01 Dec 2007, 19:55

Yes, I can hear the difference when hooked to a hi-fi system. (not in the subway listening to music or course). I supervise CD mastering with high end producers on special projects, so after a while, you can hear things and problems where most see just a great sound. Same goes with DVD : i cannot stand anymore the puny sound, compared to LDs or the best encoded HD films.
I think there's a system out there, that you can put on your ipod to replace itunes, and that works with flac.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 01 Dec 2007, 21:07

Yes, I can hear the difference when hooked to a hi-fi system. (not in the subway listening to music or course).

Fair enough that's make sense. People say they can on the underground are talking rubbish.

Same goes with DVD : i cannot stand anymore the puny sound, compared to LDs or the best encoded HD films.

You reckon Laserdisc sounds better than DVD? I thought the bitrates on LD were lower than DVD.

I think there's a system out there, that you can put on your ipod to replace itunes, and that works with flac.

That would void the warranty though, if it's a firmware upgrade.

Actually even WMA would be better for me to AAC. WMA also has a Lossless option too.

dvdvision · Post by **dvdvision** » 01 Dec 2007, 21:37

Here's a great site, where I think you might be able to find the alternative to itunes in the forum section

http://www.ilounge.com/

LD did sound better, here's a recap pulled from the web :

While DVDs almost exclusively use such highly compressed audio formats as Dolby Digital and DTS, most Laserdiscs were encoded with CD quality audio 16/44 tracks.[6] While Dolby Digital and DTS offer multichannel sound, many Laserdisc enthusiasts claim that the uncompressed PCM tracks often can outperform the respective DVDs of a title in richness and depth (and, because of the ways in which 5.1 tracks are often mastered, in dimension as well).

Audio: LD can have better quality on Dolby Surround soundtracks stored in uncompressed PCM format. DVD has better quality on Dolby Digital or music only (PCM). LD has 2 audio tracks: analog and digital, whereas DVD has up to 8 audio tracks. LD uses PCM audio sampled with 16 bits at 44.1 kHz. DVD LPCM audio can use 16, 20, or 24 bit samples at 48 or 96 kHz (although PCM is not used with most movies). LD has surround audio in Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital (AC-3), and DTS formats. 5.1-channel surround sound is available by using one channel of the analog track for AC-3 or both channels of the digital track for DTS. DVD uses the same Dolby Digital surround sound, usually at a higher data rate of 448 kbps, and can optionally include DTS (at data rates up to 1536 kbps compared to LD's 1411 kbps, but in practice DTS data rates are often 768 kbps). DVD players convert Dolby Digital to Dolby Surround. The downmixing, combined with the effects of compression, often results in lower-quality sound than from LD Dolby Surround tracks.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 01 Dec 2007, 21:55

It's true PCM is at a higher bitrate to DD2.0 but it's only ever Stereo on DVD or LD. When it comes to 5.1 DVD sounds better, most LDs were in the lower DD5.1 bitrate for instance.

DVD players convert Dolby Digital to Dolby Surround.

Huh? No they don't.

dvdvision wrote:I think you got to synchronise whatever you do. There are some alternatives to itunes but I havent tried.

Unless you synchronise how can it be updated on the Ipod.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 02 Dec 2007, 00:43

Sennheiser are overrated, the cheaper models are all a waste of time. They don't start becoming viable purchases until the HD595 (or HD580, but those are OOP) and better. Shure make the best earphones.

Brad you're using counterfeit Sennheisers, so how would you know?

dvdvision wrote:I think there's a system out there, that you can put on your ipod to replace itunes, and that works with flac.

The open source rockbox firmware. Which actually can be removed without leaving a trace of it ever being installed.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 02 Dec 2007, 00:49

When we're comparing stock headphones/earphones with Sennheiser they're not overrated

dvdvision · Post by **dvdvision** » 02 Dec 2007, 16:42

That's it, that's rockbox !

Some Dolby Surround LDs, like Mad Max 2, outperform any of the DD 5.1 mixes on DVD or HD of the same film, and I can't understand why would they. When I put the original NTSC LD of Mad Max 2, everyone is blown away by the sound, and these are all people who owns the movie on DVD/HD/BR ! I think some people actually do this sport where they rip a DVD, and re-author it, keeping the untouched image, and adding the uncompressed DS sound of their LD version just so that they can have the best of both worlds.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 02 Dec 2007, 17:41

Some Dolby Surround LDs, like Mad Max 2, outperform any of the DD 5.1 mixes on DVD or HD of the same film, and I can't understand why would they.

As the 5.1 is from a Stereo source I could well believe that. It could just be a case of a better mix than anything technically better. The DD5.1 mix on Jurassic Park Japanese Superbit sounds better to the DTS on the R1. Why? Because it has a better 5.1 mix.

EvaUnit02 wrote:Brad you're using counterfeit Sennheisers, so how would you know?

You have a good memory. I'm not convinced at all they're fake. They sound and look identical o the official one sent to me direct form Sennheiser. Even Sennheiser couldn't tell the difference.

It wouldn't be the first time Tech Support for a company got it wrong. Despite Sennheiser UK claiming they only sell Sennheiser's with Y cables I don't reckon they do. I wouldn't be surprised if mine I bought off eBay were from Sennheiser in another part of the world.