Lossy for iPod, lossless for home?

[flohmann]

The one thing holding me back from moving to a music server is the problem of how to accommodate lossy MP3s for use on my iPod (my collection barely fits on the 160gb Classic), while having lossless copies for listening at home.

 

I'm quite happy with iTunes and my iMac Core Duo, which has been a fine music server for lossy, noncritical listening and iPod management. But I'm still using CDs for the serious listening. I could try to keep two separate iTunes libraries, but that seems like it would be a nightmare, especially as I add metadata (ratings, playlists, album art) and try to sync it across two libraries.

 

Is there any music server system out there that can accommodate both lossy and lossless copies in a single library? I recall that iTunes was able to substitute a lossy copy automatically for the original Nano, but that's not a feature Apple has ever made available for other iPods.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi flohmann - I've been down this same road countless times. The two ways I've done this is to either use a totally separate library, or rip to your lossless version and convert a second copy to lossy after you've made sure all the tags are correct. Then create a couple smart playlists that automatically add lossless or lossy to the playlist. This would separate the two versions. There are other sorting methods as well.

 

The auto-transcoding feature that is enabled with the iPod Shuffle is not available on any other iPod unfortunately. I am well aware that the two options above aren't ideal, but they work somewhat.

 

You could try using another app like Songbird. It might have a plugin to auto-transcode.

 

[user34]

We have 4 ipods at home, one for the car (5G v1), one for short commutes (a 2nd gen shuffle), one for longer commutes ( 1st gen nano) and the touch, which mostly serves as an iTunes remote controller, but I use for longer journeys by train or plane.

 

I discovered this utility for macs :

 

http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=losslessaccworkflow

 

This will take any number of lossless files (or higher bit rate) and convert "on the fly" to your attached iPod. You have to manage files and playlists manually on you iPod and, yes, it will take some time to get the files you want onto your pod.

 

cheers

 

Peter

 

[Phil Bishop]

An issue that has driven me mad too - in my mind, absolutely no need to have lossless on an ipod even with good phones. Yet it is only the cheapest ipod (Shuffle) that has the functionality to convert files on the fly. Apple really do need to extend this facility to the rest of the ipod range.

 

Phil

 

[user34]

Phil,

 

Yes, it obvious that it would cost them nothing to do this.

 

cheers

 

Peter