Lower audio quality to save storage space???

[V4oLDbOY]

Ok, I have no idea if this would be possible, I am not a pc buff but I need some help.

I am thinking of getting an iphone since my cell phone is broke and I need a new one and have at&t already. But if I do it'll only be the 8gb one for $200.

But that is nowhere near what I need space wise for my music. On my current 30gb ipod I've got about 23gb of audio and adding some every week.

Now I dont expect to keep all of it, I'll have to pick through it and delete some albums I dont want. But can I somehow take all those music mp3s and put them through some program (preferably free) and lower the bitrate or anything that would lower the data space they take up.

Is this possible? or will the audio lose too much quality to be acceptable?

[metaly]

What format/bitrate is your music in now? Unless you're going to listen to it with really nice headphones all the time, you're probably safe downgrading them a bit. With anything over 128kbps MP3, I can barely tell the difference and that's if I'm really paying close attention. I'm no audiosnobphile, though.

Also, iTunes will do the downconversion for you but it might be kind of a pain because you'll end up with duplicates of each file. Just set your format/encoding options under Preferences > Advanced > Importing, then select all your songs and do Advanced > Convert selection to [file format].

[V4oLDbOY]

What format/bitrate is your music in now? Unless you're going to listen to it with really nice headphones all the time, you're probably safe downgrading them a bit. With anything over 128kbps MP3, I can barely tell the difference and that's if I'm really paying close attention. I'm no audiosnobphile, though.

Also, iTunes will do the downconversion for you but it might be kind of a pain because you'll end up with duplicates of each file. Just set your format/encoding options under Preferences > Advanced > Importing, then select all your songs and do Advanced > Convert selection to [file format].


Ah thanks I didn't know itunes would do it for you when you import files.

I think I'll have to export all the music off my ipod and then re imout them on my ipod and lower the bitrate via itunes.

What is a suitable bitrate? I'm using jbud earphones ($20) and most of the time a cassette car adapter.

[metaly]

I'm not incredibly familiar with AAC, but from what I know I think that's your best bet. 128kbps AAC should actually sound pretty good. I think that's what the iTunes store uses for most of their stuff. Maybe convert a few of your favorite songs in various bitrates just to see if you notice a big difference.

[siderealshift]

What is a suitable bitrate? I'm using jbud earphones ($20) and most of the time a cassette car adapter.


32 kbps?

Kidding. Most consider 128 kbps MP3s to be CD quality, but as metaly said, that depends on the listener and his equipment. I suggest taking your favorite CD and ripping your favorite song at various bit rates and comparing to see what's the lowest that you consider "good enough". I did this one day and came up with "-b 32 -m j -h -V 4 -B 320", or if you don't speak LAME, 320 kbps (variable bit rate) with a middle-of-the-road quality (usually works out to around 160 kbps on average).

I would suggest doing a VBR conversion, if possible, as that will reduce the size of your files, yet maintain most of the quality. I've never used iTunes before (amazing, I know), so it may be able to do this. I used MediaMonkey for a while a long time ago, and I remember it being able to do such conversions, as well.

There are also other codecs to consider, but that may not help you, here.

[V4oLDbOY]

I guess I'll do some tests with some songs via itunes. I'm not looking for great results, I just want my music...

And siderealshift, thanks for the help but I have no idea what your talking about really. Maybe you could dumb it down... a lot.