iTunes 4.5 and WMA Import Transcoding

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.internet-nexus.com/2004_04_25_archive.htm#108326925948371345

"iTunes 4.5 just completed transcoding the WMA portion of my music library, or about 700 songs. It took the application 5 hours to do this, on a Pentium 4 2.8 GHz system with 768 MB of RAM. That seems a bit excessive, but hey, you only have to do it once. A number of people wrote in, taking exception to my "sounds like crap" comments about transcoding. As I suspected, however, none of these people had actually spent time transcoding. So let's look at how this works..."

Paul Thurrott talks about the transcoding functionality of the new iTunes client, and even though he doesn't like it, he's surprisingly positive about iTunes when all is said and done. I'd sooner be stabbed in the eyes with wee hot forks than have to transcode all my audio just to use a music player, no matter how good it is. Sorry Apple, if you want me to use iTunes, make it play my WMA files. Yeah, I know that's never going to happen, but I want to give lil' Stevie a chance. :lol:

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.internet-nexus.com/2004_04_25_archive.htm#108326925948371345

"iTunes 4.5 just completed transcoding the WMA portion of my music library, or about 700 songs. It took the application 5 hours to do this, on a Pentium 4 2.8 GHz system with 768 MB of RAM. That seems a bit excessive, but hey, you only have to do it once. A number of people wrote in, taking exception to my "sounds like crap" comments about transcoding. As I suspected, however, none of these people had actually spent time transcoding. So let's look at how this works..."

Paul Thurrott talks about the transcoding functionality of the new iTunes client, and even though he doesn't like it, he's surprisingly positive about iTunes when all is said and done. I'd sooner be stabbed in the eyes with wee hot forks than have to transcode all my audio just to use a music player, no matter how good it is. Sorry Apple, if you want me to use iTunes, make it play my WMA files. Yeah, I know that's never going to happen, but I want to give lil' Stevie a chance. :lol:

[Gary Sheynkman]

I agree 100% Jason... and not just because of inconvinience but because of this:

Different codecs take away different bits...so you take away bits to get to codec x (wma) then you fill the missing frequencies with a subwoofer like thump when putting it back into wave...and then you get rid of more sound bits....

If apple whats to win Windows users over by invading the Windows desktop it better get ready to compete with some VERY good jukeboxes

[c38b2]

A little while ago (a few months) I "ripped" all my music into 192kbps MP3 files using iTunes (which is much more friendly to work with than WMP). The best part is that if I decide I don't like iTunes anymore I am assured that virtually every portable music player/music playback program is compatable with the MP3 codec. I would not lock myself into something like WMA or AAC just because they have more efficient compression.

[Steve]

You could almost use wav files on devices these days. Even on a twenty gig device, you couldn't listen to all of the wavs in most sittings. And the quality would be unbeatable.

[dean_shan]

Originally Posted by c38b2

I would not lock myself into something like WMA or AAC just because they have more efficient compression.

Same here. I'm sticking with MP3.

[James Fee]

Originally Posted by dean_shan

Same here. I'm sticking with MP3.

But you give up quality and take up much more space. I'm sure in a year this will be all figured out. Either Apple will take over the world, or someone will come up with a player that costs much less than an iPod and works and looks just as good.

[c38b2]

Originally Posted by cageyjames

But you give up quality and take up much more space.

Not really. I only have ~5GB music anyways -- something that will all fit on current HD based players. Besides, I'm not an audiophile - I just want something to listen to every now and then - but I do value compatability and the MP3 format affords me more than AAC or WMA or Ogg...

[Zack Mahdavi]

Originally Posted by dean_shan

Same here. I'm sticking with MP3.

I completely agree with both of you. To extend this a little further, I have decided to stop buying music from the online music services. Apple's iTunes music service not only locks you into the AAC format, but also into a protected AAC format. This stinks for a number of reasons, as I can't play my songs on my Pocket PC....

So lately, I've been looking for good deals on CDs I like on half.com. I go for the CDs that are slightly scratched, as 99% of the time, they rip perfectly onto the computer. Plus, they can cost around $5 or so..... which is half the price of the online services.

However, I'm glad Apple is offering this new WMA transcoding service within iTunes. It will convince those negligent people that just use Windows Media Player to rip all of their music to get an iPod. The less hassle the better.....