Music Forum / music file formats

i just wanted to open up a discussion on file formats for music. i just got done retagging my WHOLE collect, and now, for uniformity i would like to have it all in the same format. any recommendations?

i was thinking ACC.

i like .mpc

and it's aac.

i converted my whole music collection to acc a while back. it went from about 8.5 gigs to 10. so i dunno if i'd choose that one.

Size has nothing to do with format, but bitrate! Also, don't convert compressed music into another format, it doesn't do anyone any good! Only convert uncompressed files!

I'd go with AAC too, though.

It really doesn't matter...if you go for the right bit-rates they are pretty much the same...(mp3 and aac)

I'd just go with mp3 for easiness sake. I mean, unless you're an audiophile you can't really tell the difference, anyway.

I've found that, for whatever reason, AAC sounds better than MP3 in the same bitrate. Maybe it's just me going crazy though.

No, I agree. It's not a major improvement, but it's good. 128kbps AAC in iTunes is equal to about 192kbps MP3 in iTunes, or 160kbps MP3 with a great encoder. It's also VBR now, which I like!

Although mostly I use Apple Lossless, which is also AAC, but lossless. Kind of big, though, compared to other lossless codecs, but there's nothing that plays those, and a lot of things which play AAC (especially on the Macintosh).

So, yeah, whatever.

well, i don't rip anymore. i have a static music collection which i want to standardize. i was considering acc, but don't you have to have itunes to do that?

well, i don't rip anymore.  i have a static music collection which i want to standardize.  i was considering acc, but don't you have to have itunes to do that?

OH NO NOT AN APPLE PRODUCT!

OH NO NOT AN APPLE PRODUCT!

itunes runs like shit on Pcs. i've had so many bad experiances with apple, yet, i am apping for a job at the mac store here.

Ok. I still love iTunes more than anything else.

chauncey is of course right. re-compressing compressed formats decreases the already decreased quality further.
i thought you were ripping. but you're not.

for lossless audio formats, i'd go with wavpack. (extension -- .wv)
nicer than .ape or .flac, if you ask me.

If we're talking lossless, I use .flac, but only because that's what most of the live tapers use.

ipods can't play flac though?

Well yeah, gotta decompress them.