Author Topic: War 30 Radio Show / Other Treats.  (Read 13596 times)

Carl

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Re: War 30 Radio Show / Other Treats.
« Reply #15 on: March 18, 2013, 03:48:04 PM »
If the items are still available on iTunes you can do a little jiggle to get them in 256kbps if you sign up for iTunes Match. I had enough old purchases that I paid the $25 just to do that... match itself is kinda handy but not sure if I'll continue paying for it.

dagobah

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Re: War 30 Radio Show / Other Treats.
« Reply #16 on: March 19, 2013, 12:32:23 AM »
Carl, thanks for the additional info.  Because of your post, I just read about this iTunes Match thing on Wikipedia.  I think I understand the concept, but at this point, I'm going to hold off on doing anything with my iTunes library.  Last week, I had enough trouble updating my version of iTunes.  I had not updated for about 2 years.  I had a problem and I ended up paying $19 to AppleCare Support for some phone assistance.  It eventually worked out ok and $19 is a fair price for customer service, but I just wish I could figure technical things out on my own.   :'(

One thing I noticed while looking at some of the Get Info screens of audio files that I imported (years ago) into my iTunes library from my physical CDs . . . . . . . they are listed as:
Bit Rate: 128 kbps
Encoded with: iTunes v6.0.5.20, QuickTime 7.1

By re-importing (today) those same audio files from the same physical CDs . . . . . . . the Get Info screen shows:
Bit Rate: 256 kbps (VBR)
Encoded with: iTunes 11.0.2.26

And I guess this is where the iTunes Match thing can help.  My understanding is . . . . if I do the iTunes Match thing, then I will not have to sit in front of my desktop computer and re-import all these audio files from all these physical CDs.  Correct?
« Last Edit: March 19, 2013, 12:34:57 AM by dagobah »

dagobah

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Re: War 30 Radio Show / Other Treats.
« Reply #17 on: March 19, 2013, 12:45:35 AM »
Hi - if they are both from the same source, then by all means, the 256kbps is probably the better quality.

It refers to the compression of the track. A CD track would generally be considered to have a bitrate of 1,411.2kbps - these mp3 bitrates are a measure of the compression of the track (and this is achieved by a loss of sound information in the generally not heard ranges).  So 128 would be more compressed, and more sound would be lost than at 256 and so on. 

128 used to be the iTunes standard but they've now switched to 256 as the standard.

VBR does stand for Variable Bit Rate however, which means the files are not a constant 256 throughout, and may be heavier compressed in some areas, and less so in others.
Aaron, so I just found a few audio files in my iTunes library that are listed as Bit Rate: 320 kbps
Based on what you wrote in your post, does that mean audio files with 320 kbps are even better quality than audio files with 256 kbps?

Aaron

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Re: War 30 Radio Show / Other Treats.
« Reply #18 on: March 19, 2013, 09:00:03 AM »
@Dagobah -

There are several formats that are lossless, i.e. no loss of sound occurs from the original file.  This includes wave files, flac files, and apple lossless files. 

Then there are formats that remove sound information, generally in the can't be heard ranges, such as mp3.  mp3s can be encoded at different bit rates, and the higher they are the better quality they are.  The highest standard rate that an mp3 can be encoded at is 320kbps due to limitations of the format.  A bit rate at 256kbps is going to be very similar, being the next rate down.  Especially if it's a variable bit rate encode, which may be higher in places, and lower in others, but overall comes out around 256kbps. 

You can set what rates you import your music from CD.  If you are in iTunes go to "Edit" and then to "Preferences" on the menu, and you'll see an area where it sayd "When you insert a CD" with a button beside it that says "Import Settings":

This will allow you to pick between formats:

It has two compressed options:
AAC Encoder (High Quality 128, iTunes Plus 256, Spoken 64)
mp3 Encoder (Good Quality 128, High Quality 160, Higher Quality 192, Custom)

And three lossless options:
AIFF Encoder
Apple Lossless Encoder
WAV Encoder

On the two compressed options it gives you a range of options that you can choose between.  For AAC files for instance you can import at "High Quality" or 128kbps, or "iTunes Plus" quality at 256kbps.  If you go into mp3 they give you a number of options as well but you will have to go into custom settings if you want to choose 256 or 320kbps.

Yes the files are better quality as you go to the higher settings.  The ultimate quality is to import your whole collection using a lossless format, then there is no sound information lost.  However before doing so I recommend you consider the size of the files you are generating.  An mp3 at 128kbps is half the size as one at 256kbps.  And an mp3 at 128kbps is 1/11 the same song in an uncompressed wave format.  So you will gain in sound quality, but you quickly lose storage space.

Me personally?  I do have the entire U2 collection ripped in a lossless format.  And I have a few other artists where I prefer having everything in loss less (The Smiths, Depeche Mode, Gavin Friday, New Order / Joy Division).  But I rarely listen to the lossless formats, I use it generally for back up in case anything should happen to the original CDs.  Because I also maintain a collection in compressed mp3 format at 256kbps for use on my phone / mp3 player / general listening around the home.  The uncompressed wav files are much too big to store much on a phone, so I prefer the smaller compressed formats for use there.  I can store about 5x as much music in 256kbps mp3 as I can in an uncompressed format.  I personally do not use iTunes match, as I was worried about it getting confused by remixes or names that were slightly off, and I just decided for me that it was not worth it - as I have a well managed collection right now.

If you have the CDs you can import at any quality you like.  The directions are above if you want to import at a higher bit rate.

The most common mp3 settings you'll find are 128, 192, 256, 320, although there are others, and the higher the number, generally the better the quality if they come from the same source.



dagobah

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Re: War 30 Radio Show / Other Treats.
« Reply #19 on: March 20, 2013, 01:45:24 PM »
Aaron, wow . . . . . that is a fantastic post.  I pretty much understand everything you wrote.  These are the kinds of details I was never aware of.  It's important for me to understand this information because I have become frustrated at reading people's forum posts (that mentioned these concepts) and not understanding them . . . . . . whether it's on this forum or forums for other bands.  And I will forget this info if I don't make a note of it.  So . . . . I have just copied and pasted it to my WORD document titled music.doc.  This will allow me to refer to it when necessary.  Thanks very much for taking the time to explain it to me.    :)

George

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Re: War 30 Radio Show / Other Treats.
« Reply #20 on: February 21, 2016, 07:22:12 PM »
As for these original tracks, they were given on a tape to the radio DJ by U2 themselves for use with an interview he had done. He recently dug them out for the 20th anniversary stuff. The tape is not labeled as to location or date, and the songs are as he was given on the tape, he didn't do further edits. The other three tracks I mentioned were also live. 

He mentioned he'd like to share more from the tape with us, and I have asked about a better format quality wise.  If he decided he's willing to share I'll happily let everyone here know. 

Waiting to hear back from him at the moment.  I haven't mentioned we found the other four tracks, just "One" and "Love is Blindness".

Aaron

Yes, I know it's been three years, but I still have hope.  Aaron - did you ever hear anything back about additional tracks, the dates, or anything?

Thanks!

Aaron

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Re: War 30 Radio Show / Other Treats.
« Reply #21 on: February 24, 2016, 12:59:35 PM »
Sorry George - I never got a reply on actually getting a better quality version of the songs.  He was happy to explain where they had come from but never responded to any further queries about them.  Maybe I should try again.  :)