iTunes

[Frost]

I think MP3's are great for traveling and car use and I would consider buying them from apple if they werent 128k mp3's. I dont think they sound goot till 192 and still much prefer the 256k. Im hoping they start selling higher bit rate mp3s (not holding my breath) or the mpeg 4 really does sound a lot better and have smaller file sizes.
Frost

[eskay]

I'm more interested to see how good of an application can Apple write for a Windows platform. If it works out well, you might see more apps from Apple for Windows. I think at the end this will have a very positive affect for Mac users.

[smoothmoniker]

installed it for XP about an hour ago. Works really well. My only complaint is the old Microsoft subversion technique ... you set itunes to be the default media player, and WMP takes it right back. I had to uninstall WMP. No big loss.

The user interface looks clean and asthetic against the garish MS graphics. Strike one blow for the good guys ...

-sm

[eskay]

I installed it on my Windows XP laptop, and it's awsome. I actually posted on this software, asking if there were any good software to do CD importing like iTunes in Windows XP, and lo and behold here it is.
I'm more interested in the recording capibilities of the Ipod. Tha'ts going to be hot.

[Kenny Gioia]

AAC files or MP4 files are a huge improvement over MP3.

Itunes Music store uses MP4 at 128K which is better but still not what I'd prefer.

I burn all my home CD's at MP4 192 khz now. I can't really hear the difference and the file size is around 5MB.

Pretty Cool

[cebolao]

Originally posted by smoothmoniker
I'll be interested to see how Windows Media Player users respond to it.

i ALWAYS wanted itunes at home, on my xp laptop!
the itunes store doesn't work in europe yet but what i like most is the itunes internet radio - so many stations, so many music genres! low bandwidth is a pita, but i like it anyway! i can listen to reggae and soca all the time now

[cebolao]

Originally posted by Produceher
Itunes Music store uses MP4 at 128K which is better but still not what I'd prefer.

is AAC the same thing as MP4?

I burn all my home CD's at MP4 192 khz now. I can't really hear the difference and the file size is around 5MB.

what app do you use to encode 192 kHz MP4's?

[Kenny Gioia]

Originally posted by cebolao
is AAC the same thing as MP4?

Yes. Same thing.

what app do you use to encode 192 kHz MP4's?

I do it right in Itunes.

[GearGuy]

Being a PC guy, I've always done all my encoding with Wavelab 4. Has anyone been able to compare what they do with iTunes vs what you can achieve with Wavelab? Thanks!

[cebolao]

Originally posted by Produceher
I do it right in Itunes.

ok, i've been a little bit confused that the mp4 export (convert) settings can be found in preferences in the "importing" window

[smoothmoniker]

Originally posted by GearGuy
Being a PC guy, I've always done all my encoding with Wavelab 4. Has anyone been able to compare what they do with iTunes vs what you can achieve with Wavelab? Thanks!

straight out the gate, it's massively faster. Haven't heard a noticable difference in quality. Both use Frauenhoeffer codecs, so theoretically it should be a similar sound. Wavelabs has some more advanced encoding features, like variable rates, etc.

-sm

[maz[music]]

I too am an iTunes believer (mac platform)... I have probably 25 GB of music encoded - mostly as mp3, but now I encode as AAC (192) as it does sound a whole lot better... it's not perfect though, of course.

However, for casual listening- we are music lovers too, right? - it's great. It's great for my iPod, it's great for playing music while I set up or relax, and I think the iTunes music store is by far the best online model yet. I have spent way too much money there!

But then i came across this article - http://www.recordstorereview.com/misc/aacmp3.shtml - regarding encoding- it says that an AAC file encoded with iTunes sounds A LOT WORSE than one encoded with Quick Time Pro. Which to me makes no sense because I would think they would use the same engine. But I don't have QT Pro, so I can't compare. I know nothing about this website (recordstorereview) or the reviewer, so I don't know how much stock to put in this article.

Anone have any comment or have QT Pro and can do a shootout??

Joe

[Renie]

Originally posted by cebolao

the itunes store doesn't work in europe yet

anyone know when it will?

[Renie]

OK no set date- maybe end of year.

Rhapsody looks interesting.

Also I may hold off on buying an ipod and see what Sony have up their sleeves for next year first.

All these developments are really exciting for music fans and fantastic for the industry .