What types of files should I have for my ipod?

[phyared]

Hi all,

I've just purchased a 40 gig. ipod which I have yet to get delivery of.

I have a very large collection of classical music files encoded in WMA lossless that I plan to convert using dbpoweramp (which by the way has got to be the best conversion program ever, thank you!) into either mp3 or AAC for use on my ipod.

So far, I have used MP3 VBR with "never create ID3V1".

Mono files: VBR 80-160 (non solo piano) and VBR 64-160 (solo piano)
Stereo files: VBR 160-320 (non solo piano) and VBR 128-320 (solo piano).

Would these settings work fine on the ipod? Does the ipod read ID3v2.3 tags correctly?

Would converting instead from WMA lossless into AAC be more efficient? Better quality-wise? At what bitrates?

And what is the difference between Advanced Audio Codec (is that AAC?) and MP4? Which one should I use for the ipod? If they are the same, why are they listed separately in Codec Central?

Lastly, a question on WMA Lossless: How can there be different flavors of lossless? I have a few CD's advertised as 96 KHZ 24 bit. If I rip them into WMA Lossless 44 KHZ 16 bits, I will have lost something right? Ripping them into 96 KHZ 24 bit is slow and generates huge files. But any real differences?

Thanks

[Spoon]

Re: What types of files should I have for my ipod?

>Would these settings work fine on the ipod? Does the ipod read ID3v2.3 tags correctly?

They will be fine, for the iPod it is not wether the iPod reads the tags, but rather the program that sends the files to the iPod (this program writes the database on the iPod).

>WMA lossless into AAC be more efficient? Better quality-wise? At what bitrates?

Have a look here, results of a listening test - ACC @ 128 is better than mp3:

http://audio.ciara.us/test/128extension/results.html

>Advanced Audio Codec (is that AAC?) and MP4?

AAC is what goes into mp4 (think of mp4 as a container). The iPod needs mp4 files (which happen to contain AAC audio).

>I have a few CD's advertised as 96 KHZ 24 bit.

These are DVDs? or a Microsoft SuperCD?

>If I rip them into WMA Lossless 44 KHZ 16 bits, I will have lost something right?

Yes if it was 96 24, but nothing you can probbably hear.