what format help

[tpm45]

Just got my HD5 working and running today, can anyone give me a few tips as to what format to use ie attrac plus wmv or mp3. Just ried mp3 at 160klbs and it sounded reasonable. Got about 300 albums to transfer.

I know its probably an old question, but would appreciate any info. Thanks

[shadowritten]

It's really entirely down to you, mate. Some swear by higher bitrate MP3, but I'm quite happy with just 64kbps ATRAC3Plus (before you laugh, try it!). Old, old rules: trust your own ears; and give some thought to the current and future size of your music collection. The smaller the bitrate, the more tracks you'll pack on!

For reference, you may struggle to get 300 albums on at 160kbps MP3 ... I just managed to squeeze on 310 albums with my 20GB Zen Touch using 128kbps MP3.

[drmoze]

I decided on Atrac3+ because I really want gapless play for my ripped CDs (many of which are live). That was a major factor in picking the Sony DAP to begin with! From there, I did several listening tests between 192 and 64 on a few different headphones, and couldn't discern a significant difference. S oI am going with 64 kbps for my cd collection. (Still working on it!) So far the sound is fine, and the extra capacity is great.

If you plan to play music back through a real sound system, you may want to encode at 192. I didn't compare 64 and 192 thru my stereo, just using headphones.

[shadowritten]

Originally Posted by drmoze

If you plan to play music back through a real sound system, you may want to encode at 192. I didn't compare 64 and 192 thru my stereo, just using headphones.

If your hifi isn't high-end, you'll be pretty knocked out by just how amazingly good 64kbps can sound through it! I know I was ...