Change the convert to 128 kbps before transferring to iPhone option?

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Level 1

5 points

Change the convert to 128 kbps before transferring to iPhone option?

iTunes gives you the option to convert all higher-bitrate audio to 128 kbps AACs before transferring to my iPhone. Great, except I'd prefer a little higher quality. Is there any way to make it, say, covert to 192 kbps VBR AACs instead?

27" iMac11,3, Mac OS X (10.6.7), Intel Core i7 2.93Ghz / 12GB RAM / 1TB HDD / ATI 5750HD @ 1GB VRAM

Posted on Mar 29, 2011 5:54 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

IdrisSeabright

Level 10

155,201 points

Mar 29, 2011 6:15 AM in response to Doug_S

No, it's not something you can change.

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Answer 2

Jolly Giant

Level 7

25,464 points

Mar 29, 2011 7:17 AM in response to Doug_S

if you're converting from a lossless format, you could use this:

[_*Lossless to AAC Workflow v2.2*_|http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=losslessaccworkflow]

Two scripts assist with importing/managing Apple Lossless or AIFF audio files and sending converted AAC copies to a mounted iPod set to "manually manage songs and videos".

*Lossless to AAC Workflow (CD->iPod):*

Imports each enabled CD track as an Apple Lossless or AIFF file
Makes a converted AAC copy of each imported file
Adds the AAC file to iPod, deleting the original AAC from iTunes.

*Lossless to AAC Workflow (iTunes->iPod):*

Makes a converted AAC copy of each Apple Lossless or AIFF track selected in iTunes
Adds the AAC file to iPod, deleting the original AAC from iTunes.
In this way you can keep archived lossless files on your hard drive, and manageable AAC files on your iPod.

+Yes, iTunes 9.1 will auto-encode tracks to iPod, but only 128 kbps AAC; these scripts enable use of your Custom AAC encoder setting.+

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Answer 3

Mar 29, 2011 2:43 PM in response to Doug_S

You can but it will not improve the sound quality.
128 is the max an iPhone can play, that is why 128 is suggested in iTunes.

Why is this suggested ?
All higher settings take up more -useless- disk space.

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Answer 4

varjak paw

Level 10

170,200 points

Mar 29, 2011 2:50 PM in response to Leo Raymaekers

Leo Raymaekers wrote:
You can but it will not improve the sound quality.
128 is the max an iPhone can play, that is why 128 is suggested in iTunes.

I don't know where you heard this, but that's completely wrong. An iPhone is by no means limited to 128 kbps per second tracks. Just look at the tech specs for any iPhone model and you'll see. It may be true that with some earbuds, or some people's ears, that difference in quality when encoding tracks to a bit rate higher than 128 kbps may not be audible, but it's not a limitation of the iPhone itself.

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Answer 5

Mar 29, 2011 3:07 PM in response to varjak paw

You are correct, I was wrong.
My apologies.

I'll update my brain with the correct capabilities.

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Answer 6

Doug_S Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 29, 2011 3:21 PM in response to Doug_S

Thank you everyone for your replies. I was already well aware of the iPhone's hardware limitations for audio, though in that case it's more nothing beyond 20–20,000 Hz for frequency response and no 24-bit audio (which is too bad).

The workflow option is interesting but a little more clunky than I'd like, thanks all the same.

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Answer 7

lairdo

Level 1

4 points

Mar 12, 2012 9:29 PM in response to Doug_S

I know this is an old post, but since I was just searching for this last week, I figured I would post this:

As of iTunes 10.6, there are now three options on the device screen - 128 (the default), 196 and 256 - for conversion. This is showing up for my iPad 2, iPhone 4S and iPod touch 5th gen. It may work on the nano, but mine is in my car and I haven't checked it.

So, it looks like Apple listened - this is presumably also because iTunes Match uses 256K files.

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