Important Music File Question

[Derek]

I've heard and read conflicting answers to this question. My mom is getting a backup computer because the one i have now is getting old and funny stuff is happening. I've got my music files backed up on a portable drive, and they are Itunes files. Now here's the question alot of the music i have has been on another computer and they traveled from one drive to another. I've heard that the music file can lose sound quality if they have been doing alot of "traveling". Then i heard thats a load of bunk. What do yall say?

[Borris]

They should only lose quality if they corrupt. The copy should be exactly the same.

If you burnt them as an audio cd and then created MP3 copies from that you would definitely lose quality, but just copying from one drive to another, no.

[Derek]

How would i create copies? Confused When you're copying from one drive to another, you're creating copies, i don't really understand the differance. You mean if you copy them from disc to disc would lose quality? I never did that.

[Borris]

Don't worry about it, just moving the files from one drive to another will create exact copies of files, there is no loss of quality.

When you get loss of quality is when you change the format or edit an mp3 file, as you're not doing this you don't need to worry.

Sorry about causing confusion.

[Derek]

Here's another question: Does the bitrate determine the sound quality? Most of mine are 256kbps (VBR). I can't remember how much i imported straight from CD. Because when i first got my Ipod, i was still using Windows Media Player, and i had alot of music on there and alot of it i didnt even have the CDs of anymore, so i had to convert them, which was alot easier than getting out my big CD wallet and handling my CDs which is something i don't like to do.
After what i've read about the bitrates it seems (according to the bitrates, anyway), they are the same sound quality. http://www.mp3-converter.com/mp3codec/bitrates.htm

PS: it said something about samplerate, so i checked that too, all my samplerates are 44,100 khz except 3 and i've got about 3294 Itunes audio files.

Or just answer this: Does higher audio resolution mean better sound quality?

[Borris]

Yes, bitrate does determine the sound quality. The higher the better quality and the bigger the file. So if you use a high rate you will have better quality but you'll be able to fit less music on your ipod. I use the highest quality on itunes 320kbps, because I often listen to my ipod through my stereo. I've also got a largish ipod 80GB. I think the sample rate you are using is that of standard cds, I'm not entirely sure I understand the distinction between bit rate and sample rate, here are the wikipedia entries:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_rate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_rate

[Derek]

I thought 120 was standerd. Thats what "Windows Media Player" files are.
Actualy the Ipod i have has 3294 songs and has 124 GB free. So, i'm good. even has pictures on it. Theres no way to fill that sucker!

[Borris]

I thought 120 was standerd. Thats what "Windows Media Player" files are.
Actualy the Ipod i have has 3294 songs and has 124 GB free. So, i'm good. even has pictures on it. Theres no way to fill that sucker!

Yes pretty low bit rates are standard as a lot of ipods are in the 2-16GB capacity range and also because if your headphones aren't very good you won't be able to tell the difference anyway. That is one giant ipod you've got there.

[Derek]

I thought when one of your senses get weak, the other senses get strong. I'm blind in my right eye, and have glucoma in the left, but my hearing is somewhat accute because i can hear things people can't. i can hear a distinct differance between 128 and 256 kbps. I also heard 320, but it just sounds too loud to me and i can hear a tiny bit distortion from the loudness. Its almost like when i'm in a crowded room and everyone is talking at once, i won't be able to hear that person talking to me, its not because i have a hearing problem, it's because i hear too much, you see? (and which would also explain why i didn't really like the way Phil Spector produced George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass", and that album, in a way is my fav solo-beatle album.)

[Borris]

What a weird world it is. Sounds like you literally suffer from too much information. I suffer from Tinnitus and hearing loss, it's the equivalent of a dirty pane of glass obscuring my vision of the music. I think that's partly why I don't like noisy rock music so much now.

I also love All Things Must Pass and although the remastered version is better but Phil Spector's production does come across to a certain extent as noise.