Have I lost my mind (bit rates)!?

[buchananmb]

Re: Have I lost my mind (bit rates)!?

Why is FAAC recommended over iTunes if they are both free and iTunes scored higher?

[Tomb]

Re: Have I lost my mind (bit rates)!?

Why is FAAC recommended over iTunes if they are both free and iTunes scored higher?

I-tunes is currently the better codec but is not available to non 2000/XP users. FAAC also has vbr which i-tunes doesn't currently have but that will change with quicktime 7.

[Spoon]

Re: Have I lost my mind (bit rates)!?

iTunes is not really 'free' - it is there to sell you something, FAAC on the otherhand is not trying to sell you anything.

[neilthecellist]

Re: Have I lost my mind (bit rates)!?

Right, basically, just because a product scores higher in audio quality doesn't mean it's available to more people.

[buchananmb]

Re: Have I lost my mind (bit rates)!?

All good points. For what it's worth, you can hide the iTMS and any links to it in your preferences and use iTunes as a music/ipod manager. Also, I've heard there are issues with the ease of use of QT 7 as an encoder to use with iTunes. Is VBR in FAAC via CLI? I recall only seeing settings for fixed bit rates, but may have missed it?

Though it's not in any test result I think the value of this forum needs to be considered in these decisions. I've really appreciated everyone taking the time to educate a newbie like me even though these are questions you've fielded a thousand times.

[xoas]

Re: Have I lost my mind (bit rates)!?

Is VBR in FAAC via CLI? I recall only seeing settings for fixed bit rates, but may have missed it?

The FAAC m4a/mp4 codec supports either VBR or ABR. The number by the VBR settings is a quality rating. The number by the ABR settings is average bitrate. There is no cbr for this codec in dMC that I can see. To find out how the quality settings for cbr compare to actual bitrates you might need to do a little experimenting.

Best wishes,
Bill

[buchananmb]

Re: Have I lost my mind (bit rates)!?

No idea how I missed the setting. Thanks Bill. I see VBR now. The main benefit of VBR is reduced file size because the bit rate varies with the complexity of the song? Or are there other benefits? Any downsides vs. CBR? I do stream my collection to a media receiver. Not sure if that relates to what I've read about CBR being better for streaming applications.

[LtData]

Re: Have I lost my mind (bit rates)!?

See here for some explanation of CBR vs. VBR: http://www.dbpoweramp.com/spoons-aud...de-formats.htm