Other Podworthy File Formats

The iPod was designed to handle AAC and MP3 formats the well-nigh efficiently, but it's not limited to them. Here are the other types of music files yous can play on an iPod.

WAV

WAV is a standard Windows sound format, going all the mode back to Windows 95. (Most Macs can play WAV files, too.) Windows fans download WAV recordings for everything from TV-show snippets to kickoff-up sounds and other system alert noises. A WAV song usually sounds amend than the aforementioned song in MP3—merely information technology takes up more room on the iPod.

WMA (Windows Only)

If y'all've spent years ripping hundreds of audio tracks onto your PC using Windows Media Player, you lot must accept had quite an emotional crash when you discovered they wouldn't work with iTunes or play on your iPod.

Fortunately, iTunes iv.5 and later tin convert them into AAC, MP3, or any iTunes format you specify (see folio 102). The fine impress: they must be unprotected WMA tracks (that is, non songs y'all bought from other online stores like Napster 2.0, MusicMatch, or Wal-Mart—and not files for which you lot deliberately turned on, for some reason, Media Actor's copy-protection option). And the conversion doesn't piece of work unless your PC has Windows Media Role player Series 9 or afterward installed. (If not, amble over to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia to download the software.)

When you install iTunes 4.v or afterwards on your Windows PC, the iTunes Setup Banana automatically offers to add your WMA files to your iTunes library (run into Figure two-6 back yonder in Chapter 2). If you didn't grab the take a chance at that moment, you can convert the WMA tracks at any time by dragging a binder total of them onto the Library icon in the iTunes Source listing, or by choosing File Add together to Library and selecting the songs from your My Music folder. A dialog box appears, offering you the pick to skip out if you suddenly change your mind.

One time the tracks are in iTunes-happy formats, you can not simply play them on your desktop computer, but also download them to your iPod or iPod Mini to get.

Note

The next two formats mentioned below—AIFF and Apple Lossless—do non work on the iPod Shuffle. You first demand to convert them to other formats like MP3 or AAC before trying to re-create them to the Shuffle. Although they are high in audio quality and some sound purists prefer them, the song files in the AIFF or Apple tree Lossless formats tin can be gargantuan. At 40 or fifty megabytes per song, you'd barely be able to fit but one album on a small Shuffle anyhow.

AIFF

Speaking of big file sizes, the AIFF standard (Audio Interchange File Format) can create sound files that audio spectacular—in fact, these are the audio files on commercial music CDs—but they grunter hard drive space. For case, if y'all stick Prince'southward Purple Pelting CD into your computer, double-click the disc icon, and drag the song file for "Let'due south Get Crazy" onto your desktop, you lot'll soon have a 46.ix MB AIFF file on your hard drive. Although the audio fidelity is tops, the files are usually 10 times bigger in size than MP3s.

Apple originally developed the AIFF standard, merely AIFF files play on other operating systems, too.

Note

If you insist on putting monster-sized files similar AIFFs on your iPod, y'all'll take to worry about running out of battery power as well as disk space.

A modern iPod comes with a 32 MB memory flake. Yep, it serves as skip protection considering it stores 25 minutes worth of MP3 or AAC music. Merely information technology likewise serves every bit a bombardment-life enhancer because the hard bulldoze stops spinning whenever the music plays from the retentivity buffer.

If yous have large song files on the iPod, the memory buffer holds less music. When it runs out of music data, the iPod has no choice but to read from the hard bulldoze, which runs your battery down much faster.

Apple Lossless

The tradeoff with encoding your digital music files in compressed audio formats like MP3 and AAC is that while y'all can shrink the file, the sound quality of the resulting file is not as good as the original. This is because some of the audio information is discarded during the pinch (more often than not stuff y'all can't really hear well anyway). Because of this, formats like AAC and MP3 are referred to as lossy.

For some people with less discerning audio tastes, this is non a problem because the sound quality is nigh as skillful every bit a CD, and likewise, you lot tin can fit thousands of tracks on your iPod. Only for true audiophiles with impeccable taste and bionic ears, the lossy formats make music audio thin, tinny, and terrible.

Before iTunes four.five, WAV and AIFF were the formats of selection for most hardcore audio fans. Music in these formats sounded better because they were lossless—no sound data was discarded when the rail was ripped from a CD. As noted in the previous AIFF word, though, the files did take upwards a big honkin' amount of hard drive space.

With its new Apple Lossless Encoder (bachelor in the iTunes preferences box, every bit shown in Figure 4-ii), Apple has attempted to become the best of both worlds: great sounding files that take up near half the space of an uncompressed CD rails. Yes, instead of 40 megabytes of precious hard bulldoze space per song, you lot only take to pony up 20 megabytes for an Apple Lossless track.

To utilise the Apple Lossless format on your calculator and your iPod, you'll non simply need at to the lowest degree iTunes 4.5, just also QuickTime half dozen.v.1, and iPod Update 2004-04-28 or afterwards. QuickTime, Apple tree's all-purpose multimedia software, is included in the iTunes for Windows download package at http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/, and out-of-engagement Mac owners who didn't go the new version with Mac OS X Software Update can go information technology at http://world wide web.apple.com/quicktime/download.

Notation

The Apple Lossless format only works on 2003 iPods and later, including the iPod Mini. Owners of the pre–dock iPods that came out in 2001 and 2002 are at a loss for Apple Lossless.

There's more detail in the next chapter, but in case you're curious now, the iTunes Preferences box is where you go to choose your import format. (Press -comma on the Mac or Ctrl+comma in Windows to get there.)

Figure 4-two. There's more detail in the next affiliate, but in case yous're curious now, the iTunes Preferences box is where you become to choose your import format. (Press There's more detail in the next chapter, but in case you're curious now, the iTunes Preferences box is where you go to choose your import format. (Press -comma on the Mac or Ctrl+comma in Windows to get there.) -comma on the Mac or Ctrl+comma in Windows to get there.)

Audible

You can mind to more just music on your iPod; you can also listen to the spoken word. Not books on tape, exactly, only more similar books on MP3—courtesy of http://www.audible.com. At that place's a lot to say well-nigh audio books on the iPod. If you merely tin't expect to detect out more than near audio books, skip on ahead to Chapter 6.

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