AAC vs. .WAV for IPod's

When "import"ing music to an IPod, which is the best quality??....a couple songs skip when i use mp4 (aac), but with .wav, nothing skipped...but to me they both sound pretty similar....any help would be much appreciated! thanx!
-peace
ryan

[irishcrazy2005]

Originally Posted by ed hochuli

When "import"ing music to an IPod, which is the best quality??....a couple songs skip when i use mp4 (aac), but with .wav, nothing skipped...but to me they both sound pretty similar....any help would be much appreciated! thanx!
-peace
ryan

Well, it all depends on what your ear can hear and what sounds good to you. Inherently, wav is better than aac because aac is a lossy compression (like mp3). If you can't hear much of a difference, than I suggest that you use either mp3 or aac for your iPod because the files are MUCH smaller. Wav is a completely uncompressed file format. Another option for the iPod specifically is the apple lossless format (alac I believe). This is similar to SHN or FLAC (although not as good from what I hear). Either way, go with what is smallest in filesize and still sounds good to you.

-Phil

Disclaimer: This is for your iPod and personal use only, never trade lossy files!!!

Thanx phil!, that cleared up a few questions i was dealing with.....Real quick, so would u say the skipping is caused by the smaller file size??...(only 2 songs skipped out of 12 using mp4, but none with .wav.)....thanx again!
-peace
ryan

In what part of the song did the skip occur?

it skips in the beginning of the song....the last two songs of the cd....(it's a live show (.wav's converted from flac's))....thanx!

[rherron]

I have had an iPod since the first model came out. Filled the first one and I recently bought the newest one (20 G) and have 3000 songs on it. I have never had a song skip on either iPod. The skipping has nothing to do with the format you chose. Something went wrong when you encoded it. Couldn't say what for sure.

I encode to AAC for the reason irishcrazy2005 mentioned -- size.

Rob

I agree that the skipping has nothing to do with the file size, or format per se.

Since this problem appears at the start of tracks, it might be a gap issue with AAC rather than a 'skip'. AAC files are, AFAIK, not capable of gapless playback unless they are put into an mp4 (aka .m4a) container during encoding.

I don't have an ipod but if I didn't I wouldn't use lossless files with it. The best thing to do would be to learn how to encode gapless AAC files inside an mp4 container.

[DoIFeelLucky]

It doesn't matter if the AAC files are gapless; I don't think the iPod is capable of true gapless playback. Maybe it can crossfade, but that's not good enough.

And I dunno... it seems more likely that the skipping is a result of an error in the ripping process, and not an encoder problem. iTunes isn't as reliable a ripping program as EAC.

If you insist in ripping using iTunes for your iPod, I recommend using their AAC encoder. iTunes' MP3 encoder isn't really that great, but their AAC encoder is apparently the best one there is for that format (as of 2004).

Just to note, iTunes Encode lets you use the iTunes AAC Encoder when ripping in EAC. I have not tried it yet, but I've heard good things. (iTunes Encode thread at Hydrogenaudio)

Originally Posted by DoIFeelLucky

It doesn't matter if the AAC files are gapless; I don't think the iPod is capable of true gapless playback. Maybe it can crossfade, but that's not good enough.

And I dunno... it seems more likely that the skipping is a result of an error in the ripping process, and not an encoder problem. iTunes isn't as reliable a ripping program as EAC.

If the IPOD isn't capable of gapless playback then that could be the problem. (I wouldn't pay that kind of money for a player that can't play gaplessly.)

I can't tell for sure whether our friend is having true 'skips' or gap problems from what he describes. I agree that if he's sure it's a skip then he needs to rerip and rencode.

[DoIFeelLucky]

Originally Posted by uhclem

If the IPOD isn't capable of gapless playback then that could be the problem. (I wouldn't pay that kind of money for a player that can't play gaplessly.)

I don't know of any portable that does gapless playback. It would be nice if a company made one, but sadly I don't foresee it happening any time soon.

[wazoo2u]

Originally Posted by DoIFeelLucky

I don't know of any portable that does gapless playback. It would be nice if a company made one, but sadly I don't foresee it happening any time soon.

Rio KARMA.

Plays FLAC and OGG too... only problem is limited (20gig) capacity.

[willndmb]

iPod will always skip with aac and mp3
so if you don't want that then you need to do wav or aiff
but they will take but a lot more space

[DoIFeelLucky]

Originally Posted by wazoo2u

Rio KARMA.

Plays FLAC and OGG too... only problem is limited (20gig) capacity.

I checked out the specs on Rio's website, and I found no mention of gapless playback - just a crossfader.

Back on topic... I wonder what the iPod's behaviour is with Apple Lossless. It's an inherently gapless format, unlike MP3 or AAC. Does anyone know about this?

[rherron]

Originally Posted by willndmb

iPod will always skip with aac and mp3
so if you don't want that then you need to do wav or aiff
but they will take but a lot more space

Positively untrue. I have 2 different iPods with over 5000 songs between the 2, all in either AAC or MP3 (mostly MP3 on the old iPod, and a mix of MP3 and AAC on the new one). I listen to my iPod, on shuffle, in my car everyday (30 minutes each way to/from work). My best friend also has 2 iPods. He also encodes to AAC or MP3 and has not encountered this problem. I have just never heard one of them skip. Either has he. We have both had iPods for 3 years. Skipping is just not an issue. Something went wrong when he encoded to AAC. I suggest re-encoding.

Rob

[RainDawg]

The iPod DOES skip, between songs. Listen to some music that is continuous (live a live set with aud noise) and you'll clearly hear a little click between the tracks. They have been informed of it, and by not fixing it for the past 2 years since I first heard people complain about it, Apple has proven they care more about flair than functionality.

The Karma DOES play gaplessly with both FLAC and OGG, and this feature is listed in one of the firmware revisions (forget which one). The first 1-2 firmware releases didn't do this perfectly for all files, but it has since been solved and works as it should. As far as I know, the Karma is the only portable that does this.