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ALAC to AIFF Question


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Hi.

Ok, a couple of days ago i converted a new CD to Apple Lossless with iTunes 8.2.

I was reading about how a lot of audiophiles think AIFF is superior to ALAC.

Well i went through the forum a bit and saw that someone asked the question about reripping CDs to AIFF or converting ALAC to AIFF, answer by Chris, that you can just convert them in itunes.

Now first when i ripped the CD to ALAC, it showed each track having different bit rates, varying through 400-500 kbps.

Some others CD i ripped in ALAC where 800-1000 kbps.

Anyways, i re-encoded the CD that had 400-500 kbps originally in ALAC, to AIFF.

Once in AIFF, all tracks showed to be at 1411 kbps.

 

Whats that all about?

Should i rerip them directly to AIFF?

 

Thanks.

 

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Bit rate when referenced to AIFF or WAV files is ALWAYS 1411kpbs (killo bits per second) this is the same as on your CD. When we compress music, we are reducing the amount of bits available for each second of music.

 

If using AAC or MP3, these use what is known as Lossy compression. In this, parts of the music is thrown away to reduce the space used. These bits can never be recovered, only approximated. When you choose to compress music using a lossy compression you can tell the computer what size you want the file to become, i.e. each second of music must take up 320kb (killobits), and the software will fit the 1411kb into the desired 320kb (loosing the rest)

 

Now when you use Lossless compression (e.g. Apple Lossless - ALAC - or FLAC, etc) the software looks for repeating patterns within the data, and using it's algorithms, reduces the size of the file to it's minimum while being able to reconstitute the original data. Some files can be compressed more than others, hence the bit-rate will vary between different music files.

 

Hope my explanation helps you ... anyway your files are being correctly converted back to uncompressed AIFF files.

 

Eloise

 

Eloise

---

...in my opinion / experience...

While I agree "Everything may matter" working out what actually affects the sound is a trickier thing.

And I agree "Trust your ears" but equally don't allow them to fool you - trust them with a bit of skepticism.

keep your mind open... But mind your brain doesn't fall out.

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