Men are from Android, Women are from iPhone (??)

[mneimeyer]

The short version is this... when using both an iPhone 4G and a Captivate with a shared library of albums, what is the best music file format to use?

A bit longer... So I was content with my pay as you go AT&T rinky dinky cell phone and an iPod Touch for music... I have in the past always ripped my CDs to Apple Lossless (since up till now it's been ALL Apple devices)

Then I was presented with a new Captivate and I've fallen in love (well maybe not with the GPS but otherwise...)

Now I have a dilema. I'm using TuneSync to move my music over from iTunes (rediculously easy I must say) and it DOES move over the Apple Lossless files. Obviously the built in music player doesn't work. I tried installing andLess 1.2.3 and that gives me an initialization error on playing any of the lossless files.

I'll be syncing an iPhone 4G, my Captivate, an old Classic 60Gb color iPod (that sits in the kitchen), my old iPod Touch (I'll find a use for it), XMBC and an ASUS O!Play to the library.

Since we have "his", "hers" and "Christmas" music playlists (basically) I don't need to preserve ratings of any sort so I could rerip to any format I needed. (We don't keep music we don't like)

All that said... what format should I use? I'm leaning towards AAC but I hate to rerip. Are there any tools in Windows that could find the Apple Lossless and do an "in place" conversion to AAC? Is AAC a bad choice?

Related... is there a way with TuneSync to have it flag a file as a podcast and "bookmark" the file when I stop listening so it comes back in at the same point when I return to the file? (Thinking of the way it works on my iPod Touch)

Thanks a million!

Matt

 

[Infinite-t]

I dont know a whole lot about all the different formats from apple, and everyone else. But is seems like every major manufacturer and even some minor ones have their own format they want their music in. But luckily, just about EVERYbody supports MP3 format. For the last 12+ years I have been ripping in MP3, and of course been aquiring MP3s from all matter of legal sources . I now have a NAS that sits in the den with 10,000 plus MP3s on it that have been and can be played by any device in the house from N. DS, PSPs, iPhones, iPods, iPads, computers, MP3 players of all sorts, DLNA media players, all kinds of cell phones, etc., etc. well you get the idea.

IMO if you want the easiest, most widely acceptable music files, MP3 is it. I am sort of an audiophile and have some high end audio equipment so sound quality is important to me. When I rip MP3s I always rip to 192mb/s instead of the 128 standard. The file size isnt that much bigger but the quality is noticably better over high end gear.

 

[ChaoticKinesis]

Each company claims that their proprietary format sounds better—Apple with AAC, Microsoft with WMA, etc. The truth is they're all good at a decent bitrate of 192 kbps and up, and all bad at low bitrates. The only reason each pushes their own format is that it locks consumers into using specific devices. As the above post already said, luckily mp3 is supported by all devices. Therefore stick to mp3. Don't let companies limit your device options through their proprietary media formats.

 

[Deleted User]

I have over 90% of my library in MP3 format, but I also have a lot of it in M4A (AAC), which is the iTunes download format. M4A=M4P now since there is no more DRM on iTunes music. My Captivate handles M4A really well, and the file size is very appealing when it comes to 256 kbps. If you have it mostly in MP3, do it all in MP3. But if I had time and patience, I'd go for M4A.

 

[mash4077]

if your not concerned about file size windows media lossless is the best

 

[blazeplacid]

mp3 @ 320k is universal and sounds great

 

[Sharkonwheels]

mp3 @ 320k is universal and sounds great

+1 = 320/VBR rules, but sucks up storage...


T

 

[sremick]

I like Ogg Vorbis, and one of the reasons I always hated iPods from the beginning was their inability to play this standard, open format (thank god for Rockbox). I rip my music to Ogg and a number of the podcasts I listen to are Ogg.

Of course, the Captivate plays Ogg too.

I understand this doesn't really help your question, but I just wanted to toss out my opinion.

 

[mneimeyer]

Just thought I'd post what I decided to do...

Since I'm still, basically, going to manage my music in iTunes (since I'm not 'allowed' to jailbreak the iPhone 4G when it arrives) I wanted to stick with something "Apple Approved". So I went with what matches what comes out of the iTunes Store. Namely 256kbps AAC.

I've checked all but one device (the ASUS O!Play... but since that's primarily for video it won't be a great loss) and so far everything including the Captivate can play both purchased (DRM Free) and ripped AAC.

Part of the reason I did this was that I have a smart playlist for "Find a real version of this" for things I've gotten from dubious sources. Up till now I had it show all the music that wasn't Apple Lossless but then I would get "false positives" on stuff purchased from the iTunes store. Now I have it showing me all music where it is not AAC OR the kbps is less than 256 and it correctly excludes music I've ripped OR music I've purchased from the iTunes Store.

While almost everyone above mentioned MP3 I like the simplicity of "AAC 256 Good" everything else "Need to buy the CD and get legal (basically)"

Thanks for all the input!

Matt

 

[Schanz]

Jumping into this thread. I ripped a lot of cds into itunes under the lossless format. They're under the m4a wrapper. I downloaded meridian but they still won't play on my captivate. Is there something else I can try?

 

[Aerodrifting]

I mainly use MP3 and WMA, only start using the later because my sound recorder with my audio device can only save recordings as WMA.

 

[JadeEyedWolf]

I was pleased to find out that the Captivate plays .flac straight out of the box. Open source codecs FTW!

 

[sremick]

my sound recorder with my audio device can only save recordings as WMA.

That's horrible and inexcusable. Get a new sound recorder. WMA is an awful audio format, and is nothing but Microsoft's "me too!" effort to corner everyone into using only their products for media files.

 

[mnemonicj]

That's horrible and inexcusable. Get a new sound recorder. WMA is an awful audio format, and is nothing but Microsoft's "me too!" effort to corner everyone into using only their products for media files.

It's called providing the consumer with choice, and is one of the reasons you have an Android phone.

 

[sremick]

It's called providing the consumer with choice, and is one of the reasons you have an Android phone.

Not when that's the only audio format the app supports, as the poster stated. That's not "choice".

"Choice" is choosing not to use such a restrictive app. Which is what I suggested.

 

[Andrewdroid]

Mp3 is really the best supported format so even though other formats have a lot going for them, but mp3 will give you best player compatibility. A high bit-rate mp3 will probably be indistinguishable for most people's ears. 192 is very good, you can go higher but only if you have seriously good ears and seriously good equipment for listening.

 

[mnemonicj]

Not when that's the only audio format the app supports, as the poster stated. That's not "choice".

"Choice" is choosing not to use such a restrictive app. Which is what I suggested.

I was talking about Microsoft creating WMA. It gives customers a choice, bad or not, it is a choice.

 

[Schanz]

I re-ripped my CDs into the highest level AAC. Sound fine. I'm also ripping some of my vinyl collection to AAC. I just wanted to stay with itunes and conserve space.