Have you noticed that the songs on your iPod aren’t necessarily as crisp as they are on your CDs? Well, if you are a true audiophile who recognizes these things, there is a reason you may be dissatisfied. When music is ripped onto your computer, an MP3 converter takes the large file and compresses it so that it can fit into the small memory offered by many MP3 Players (including the iPod). The algorithm used for the compression results in lost information, thus translating to lower fidelity and decreased sound quality.

I have a friend who used to run a company that burned CD’s for people. He had a number of audiophobes who claimed that when played through high-end amps and speakers, they could hear the difference between 224k MP3 and lossless-encoded music.

So, how can you improve this issue? Well, you can set the bit rate when you transfer files from your CD to your computer. Inside iTunes (if you are a PC user you can go to Edit > Preferences and Mac users should look for Preferences under the iTunes menu) you can change the setting for the quality of music. Inside Preferences go to the Advanced tab and look under settings. You will see a variety of bit rates offered from 128 - 192 kbps. If you are looking for a higher setting than this, click on Custom. This will offer you a range of bit rates between 16 and 320 kbps.  Good luck and let me know if you can tell the difference.

Question of the day: Apple also just came out with a new version of iTunes that offers downloads with a higher bit rate for $1.29. Does it make a difference?

ASK TRISH:Have a question or blog suggestion? Click here.

Related Posts: