I am a novice to audio players like Zune, iPod etc.
My questions are what is the best audio format to use for quality, size etc. MP3 or WMA or other?
I am looking at the Creative Zen M, Zune and iPod. I could use a good recommendation. I had trouble navigating with the Zen but it felt like good size.
I will mostly use the device in my car which as a mini jack to plug in players.
Also what is the suggested bit rate to use ion a nice Bose auto system?
Thanks in advance
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I forgot about the bitrates: CD quality for mp3 and AAC is 128kbps.
Using the auxillary input of a car radio is a good idea and will give you good quality provided that the op amp used for the headphone output of your portable is good quality. So I would read the reviews of the op amps for any portable device before you buy it.
Well, after heavy consideration late in 2004 I bought an iPod. It had very little use -- just commuting to work, including some walking. Absolutely no ruggard use or abuse. But in 2006 it died -- and the service is terrible-- they want $50 just to look at them and then tell you its unuseable. It got voted in the top ten of the worst products by the consumer magazine Choice.
I really like minidisc, but you probably won't go with that. You have to buy the minidisc media -- they sound excellent and are very reliable -- but also not cheap. Check them out on the Sony site if you like.
Also, the future of portable storage is solid state -- not hard drives -- so have a look at any solid state/flash memory options.
To be honest, I could read the Zune reviews and then tell you what an expert I was. But it's better that you read all the reviews yourself. Yes the Zune can play AAC (unless they're protected files) so I suppose that means if someone bought a song off iTunes for an iPod that the Zune might not play it (you'd better check that because I don't get into all this protected stuff -- anyway DRM is now being phased out).
A word of caution about MPEG-4. ABSOLUTELY DON'T LISTEN TO ANYTHING ELSE:
There are only two current and official MPEG-4 types of files that you should deal with.
VIDEO: MPEG-4 AVC(Advanced Video Coding) Part10 -- also known as H.264
AUDIO: MPEG-4 AAC (Advanced Audio Coding)
Note: There are many portable video players dishonelstly claiming to play MPEG-4 but often it's the old MPEG-4, which is no where near the quality of H.264 -- if they don't say specifically H.264 don't touch it for video. Also there are other propriety companies (I'm not going to name them) that have their own inferior versions of MPEG-4 -- I wouldn't be bothered with any proprietary MPEG-4 other than MPEG's own licenced version.
And just one last note, whilst I'm not an iPod fan. I quite like the iTunes software and would recommend it for encoding. It can encode to MP3 and AAC and can convert most files to those formats including WMA -- and it's very uncomplicated.
Yes Zune Plays MPEG-4 AAC. Here's the spec.
http://www.dvdtozune.com/s
As for Creative Zen M. It doesn't play AAC or H.264. Here's a review:
http://www.cnet.com.au/mp3
FredShovel I am getting a Zune. I read a lot of hands on reviews and saw many folks on both ends of happiness. I am getting it as I want to get the most out of sound system in my car. It supports your recommended format. It is back by the MS (is that an oxymoron?)
Is it possible to ask you more questions by coming back to this question? You have been great. I doubled the points and awarding them to you because not only did you help me you did not talk down to me. That is character that is appreciated here. migo
Fredshovel: I found this link and thought you would like it. Goes to a PDF.
http://www.ebu.ch/en/techn
Thanks for your comments, points and the article on HE AAC. Good luck with the Zune. EE usually closes the question out some time after a solution has been found and points awarded. The question stays on file but the "Post Comment / Solution" will disappear. Just post any new questions in the Digital Music section. Minimal points are ok if you're running low.
Cheers.
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by: fredshovelPosted on 2007-05-12 at 13:16:41ID: 19079413
The undisputed best codec in the world is MPEG-4 AAC. This comes in a lot of guises but most players now will play AAC. Ipod uses the extension .m4a for AAC, but you can use MP4 or M4P (Real Player).
Probably second is Microsoft's WMA files, which use the WM-9 codec -- a version of this is actually used in the broadcast, set-top-box and streaming industries under the name of VC-1, which is SMPTE approved.
And then there's the old Mp3, which is also MPEG's codec, but is actually superceeded by MPEG-4 AAC -- but the old Mp3 just won't die because it's a generic that just plays in anything and doesn't confuse people.
The bottom line is -- whatever portable you choose make sure that they have the codec to play the format you go with.
iPods will play AAC and MP3 but not WMA -- however iTunes will convert wma to either AAC or Mp3.
Lastly I wouldn't worry about it; you're going to come across all the formats and they can be easily converted anyway. Just worry about your portable and read all the hate mail that iPods are getting.