Different Music Codecs

[GuitarRocker2562]

I was looking at the iPodRuntime in the wiki (found here: http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/IpodRuntime) and I already knew there were differemt types of mp3, but what are there differances. Also if I import albums using MP3 VBR ~160kbps using iTunes, what codec am I using. Also if I import an ablum using 128kbps AAC, what codec am I using?

[soap]

I was looking at the iPodRuntime in the wiki (found here: http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/IpodRuntime) and I already knew there were differemt types of mp3, but what are there differances.

The differences are in the bitrate and (to a lesser extent) in the actual program doing the encoding.  This is really a topic better addressed by the Hydrogen Audio Forums.
Your (basic) choices are between a Constant Bit Rate (CBR), and a Variable Bit Rate (VBR).
CBR is the older way of doing things, regardless of the audio content a fixed number of bits per second get spent encoding the audio.  This gives you the advantage of maximum compatibility, and easy to calculate file sizes.
VBR is the newer (but not that new) way of doing things.  The encoder (within set limits) spends as many bits as it feels are needed to encode to a certain quality level.  The result is a much higher quality to filesize ratio, since bits aren't wasted encoding silence or square waves, and the encoder is free to use lots of bits to encode difficult samples.

Also if I import albums using MP3 VBR ~160kbps using iTunes, what codec am I using.

MP3 (of the VBR variety).  The LAME encoder is widely considered to make superior encodings (bitrate to bitrate) to the encoder used by itunes.

Also if I import an ablum using 128kbps AAC, what codec am I using?

AAC - a much newer MPEG audio codec, while the format has much greater potential than MP3, encoder technology is not as mature, so real-world results are not as impressive (yet) as they could be.  Rockbox on the iPod has trouble with AAC bitrates above 128.

[mightybrick]

On the Hydrogen Audio forum, a recent double-blind listening test placed the iTunes AAC encoder, at 128 bitrate very high.  Unfortunately the iTunes mp3 encoder is rather poor.  I find the iTunes AAC 128 vbr to be very good, and they play flawlessly in rockbox on my nano.  The only downside is that the AAC codec is not optimised, so battery life suffers when playing AAC files, albeit still acceptable.

[GuitarRocker2562]

I was looking at the iPodRuntime in the wiki (found here: http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/IpodRuntime) and I already knew there were differemt types of mp3, but what are there differances.

The differences are in the bitrate and (to a lesser extent) in the actual program doing the encoding.  This is really a topic better addressed by the Hydrogen Audio Forums.
Your (basic) choices are between a Constant Bit Rate (CBR), and a Variable Bit Rate (VBR).
CBR is the older way of doing things, regardless of the audio content a fixed number of bits per second get spent encoding the audio.  This gives you the advantage of maximum compatibility, and easy to calculate file sizes.
VBR is the newer (but not that new) way of doing things.  The encoder (within set limits) spends as many bits as it feels are needed to encode to a certain quality level.  The result is a much higher quality to filesize ratio, since bits aren't wasted encoding silence or square waves, and the encoder is free to use lots of bits to encode difficult samples.

Also if I import albums using MP3 VBR ~160kbps using iTunes, what codec am I using.

MP3 (of the VBR variety).  The LAME encoder is widely considered to make superior encodings (bitrate to bitrate) to the encoder used by itunes.

Also if I import an ablum using 128kbps AAC, what codec am I using?

AAC - a much newer MPEG audio codec, while the format has much greater potential than MP3, encoder technology is not as mature, so real-world results are not as impressive (yet) as they could be.  Rockbox on the iPod has trouble with AAC bitrates above 128.

Thanx, so ok, what can I use to rip CD's into the lame mp3 format? Link?

[travishayes89]

CDex, it requires a little setting up, but is easy to use, and supports CD-Text and CDDB (not gracenote but a independent CDDB), also, it supports various formats, even ripping to wave, and it does it in a way that first rips the track to .WAV, then converts over to mp3 or AAC or FLAC?, i don't know if it can do flac, will have to check, and it supports "Jitter" correction if you know what that means.

actually, if you know the FLAC encoder commands, then you can use it, but if you don't, your squashed, it supports an external encoder, with the ability to use the (encoder.exe -options) system.

and it supports normalization, and the ability to tag multiple aritst compilation (ie, WOW, NOW, soundtracks, you get the point) with individual artists, and using a custom folder format. will find link.

ok, here you go, it only runs on windows right now, but its great. http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/index.html

[Febs]

I recommend using EAC with LAME 3.97b2 to rip and encode MP3s.  Go to misticriver.net and look in the signature of any of my posts for a good configuration guide.