I like to rip my CD's to a lossy format, as well as a lossless format. I use the lossy songs on my iPod when I'm traveling and am not too concerned with having audiophile gear with me on the road.
Basically, for the longest time I'd rip my CD's to 128kbps AAC in iTunes, but recently I've acquired some devices (like a PSP) that do not support AAC. I've been contemplating re-ripping these CD's into 192kbps MP3's as the format is more compatible cross-platform with all my devices than AAC. I was curious what codec has the better sound for the disk space. Is an AAC file the same size as an MP3 of the same song going to sound better, or is there no real difference? Do you think I'd be better served by having MP3's over AAC files?
Another question; how is iTunes as a CD ripping tool? Does it compress and encode the audio well, or are there many better options out there? I'm currently on OSX (Leopard) so Mac apps are appreciated, but if you want to recommend and Windows programs I'd appreciate that as well...I will be getting a new Windows box soon enough.
Basically, for the longest time I'd rip my CD's to 128kbps AAC in iTunes, but recently I've acquired some devices (like a PSP) that do not support AAC. I've been contemplating re-ripping these CD's into 192kbps MP3's as the format is more compatible cross-platform with all my devices than AAC. I was curious what codec has the better sound for the disk space. Is an AAC file the same size as an MP3 of the same song going to sound better, or is there no real difference? Do you think I'd be better served by having MP3's over AAC files?
Another question; how is iTunes as a CD ripping tool? Does it compress and encode the audio well, or are there many better options out there? I'm currently on OSX (Leopard) so Mac apps are appreciated, but if you want to recommend and Windows programs I'd appreciate that as well...I will be getting a new Windows box soon enough.
