iTunes conversion from burnt-CD to ATRAC3plus..

[Toddz]

Dear All

I have downloaded a couple of cd`s from itunes to try out the service,and would like your comments

on the bit rate to convert them too... is it best to use simple burner and straight into hi-sp,hi-lp etc.. or convert them into sonic stage first and go for a different rate...

Will it harm the sound quality if i convert these cd`s to hi-sp as iam not sure what bit rate itunes uses... i presume it uses 128k so should i not use anything above that to convert to????

what happens if you try and force a recording to use a bit rate that is higher than it was originally recorded from..

hopefully this is not to confusing..

regards

toddz

[A440]

Practically speaking, I'd use Simple Burner at Hi-SP. It won't clutter up your hard drive with library copies.

You should always use the highest bitrate you can. Every compression (to mp3 or ATRAC or whatever) loses information. The lower the bitrate, the more information lost. The higher the bitrate, the bigger the file.

Imagine you're carrying water in a leaky bucket. When you get it halfway to your destination, you're offered another very leaky bucket or one with a tiny leak. Obviously you take the one with the smaller leak.

So if you have a 128 kpbs mp3, you've already lost a lot of information, and you're about to convert it again to get it onto MD. To save all that's left, you would convert it to .wav (PCM), which doesn't compress your source material any further. But that takes lots of space. Practically speaking, try various bitrates and use the one that makes the best compromise, for your own ears, between size and quality. If you're using 1GB discs, which will hold 8 hours of Hi-SP, then at least use Hi-SP.

[Toddz]

A440

Thank you for your quick reply and explanation,this really makes some more sense to me now,really appreciate your comments..

many thnx

toddz