Apple Lossless two thumbs up..

rhythminmind · Post by **rhythminmind** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 4:51 pm

i finally got around to checking out the apple lossless codec in itunes. i have to say it's holds true to it's name...

as a test i ripped a track into lossless format and also into an uncompressed wav. then converted the lossless into a .wav to compare the 2. I used wavelabs audio file compare feature.. both files came back identical down to the sample ..

the compression is about 50%. so on a 200 gig drive i'd say around 500 fullres full length albums.. not bad at all..

3phase · Post by **3phase** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 5:11 pm

I guess we are talking about the old emagic soundfile compression format here...
i think it was called zap?

claudek · Post by **claudek** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 5:13 pm

Is this a setting or just the conversion engine of Itunes?

rhythminmind · Post by **rhythminmind** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 5:22 pm

you pick what codec/file format you want to use to import tracks.. wav, aif, lossless. AAC, or MP3..

siddhu · Post by **siddhu** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 6:20 pm

Apple Lossless is a variant of MPEG 4, hence the suffix ".M4A".

It was included on Amon Tobin's Chaos Theory 5.1 DVD so that users could burn CDs using iTunes.

simon · Post by **simon** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 12:39 am

There is also FLAC. Open source - as good or better compression than apple's.

Free Lossless Audio Codec

http://flac.sourceforge.net

Livewire · Post by **Livewire** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 1:57 am

what about aac? is it better than mp3?

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 2:13 am

yes.

remember mp3 is more correctly mpeg1-layer 3
that's ye same encoding (mpeg1) you get on a Video CD, that popular format.
preeety old now.

aac is much more recent mpeg-4
thats 3 better

Livewire · Post by **Livewire** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 3:06 am

lol so why is ableton just adding mp3 support? why didnt they add these other ones?

what do you guys think will be audio codec of the future? m4a? and by the future i mean as popular and widespread as mp3.

rhythminmind · Post by **rhythminmind** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:24 am

m4a (mpeg4) should do well... can handle high bitrates and multi channels..

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 10:54 am

My guess is that they will add other codecs now the base 'compressesd audio' routines are inplace. It will be a lot easier than doing it from scratch.
Mp3 was added because it is the most well known, lives on most peoples hard drives and quite possibly the most requested.

I do not have a single m4a, will never use Itunes or proprietory locked down formats.
they are evil.

The Mysterious Flying Pum · Post by **The Mysterious Flying Pum** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 11:03 am

Even if I use iTunes, I still rip all my music in mp3 (160Kb) as it is the most universal format, supported on all music players. By the way, AAC is not a proprietary format, it has been designed by the guys who made the mp3. What is proprietary is the AAC format that includes the Apple DRM layer when you buy a song in iTunes.