Converting MP3's

matt9713

My Ipod is gradually filling up and have been considering converting the songs to a lower bit rate to allow me to fit more on the ipod. Obviously a 128 bitrate will be lower quality than a 192, but if I converted it would there be any further loss of quality? - E.g Would a song that's been ripped from a CD at 128 be better than a song that had been converted from 192 to 128?

Secondly, I believe that some of the music I have on itunes may be "transcoded" which I understand is low quality music posing as a better quality file than it actually is. Is there any way in which I can find out if a song is actually a transcode without listening to it by ear?

Thanks in advance

superscaper

I don't know how different it would be, but you would get a greater loss from 192 to 128 compared to ripping from CD. You're essentially averaging some averages which will always give more inaccuracy than going straight from the source again.

As for the transcoding, I don't know about that but I'd suspect that unless it was tagged, you'd only be able to tell by the end quality, ie listening.