Itunes/Mp3 vs. Mp4 question [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

PDA

View Full Version : Itunes/Mp3 vs. Mp4 question



MindGoneHaywire
10-13-2005, 11:53 PM
Never thought I'd need one, but I'm actually looking at getting an MP3 player. I got my laptop for work purposes, 60gb HD (actually 52, I know they're always a bit smaller than advertised, but this was kinda weak), and I said I wouldn't fill it with music. Then I went ahead & filled it with music. I have an external HD on my desktop PC that has 150 gb of MP3s, and growing by the week. I put about 30gb or so of MP3s on the laptop & figured I was pushing it. Then they started to skip a bit; I degragmented & that took care of that problem, but it started again & defragging didn't do the trick this time. What I'd like to do is take most of these files & find a 20gb player so I have access to the tunes & can run them through the laptop when needed, or through my CD case with a speaker built in.

What I'm not sure about is...when I ripped most of my music to my desktop, the files showed up as MP3 files with the Musicmatch icon, which makes sense since that's the program I used to rip the CDs. When I discovered that ITunes supported naming indivdual artists on comps once Musicmatch inexplicably decided to drop that feature, I decided to look at ITunes as a player, whereas before I'd only used it to purchase a song here & there. When I got the laptop I dumped Musicmatch & went with ITunes exclusively as the player. Now, I have all these R&B box sets, I hadn't wanted to rip them to Musicmatch on my desktop since it would only display as 'various artists,' which is something I don't think I should have to do without. So I was ripping some stuff to the laptop, and some stuff to the desktop. On the desktop, the files showed up as Window Media Files when I ripped them with ITunes. On the laptop, the icon is different, and they're MP4s. With the recent ITunes upgrades, it may well be MP4s on the desktop also, I can't remember, all I know is the icons for them are Windows Media Files.

So, everything I have on the laptop (30 gb) is MP4, and most everything I have on the desktop is MP3, as I've really only ripped a few comps to ITunes, and stuff that's come in that I wanted to make sure I got good MP3s of...Musicmatch rips at 40x if I'm not doing anything else, and that makes me a bit skeptical, as I don't like burning at that speed, I'd rather burn at 4x & end up with less coasters.

What I'm wondering is, if I get an MP3 player, will it support MP4? I poked around CNET & didn't see anything that addressed this. I know I made a CDR on the laptop of MP4s from ITunes & tried to play it on my Discman, which plays MP3s, and it didn't read the MP4s. I'm probably okay, I have a pretty decent collection of stuff that's on MP3, enough to probably listen to for a lifetime, but if there's that one time when I want to hear something that the player won't read, I won't be happy. I do want to get these MP4s off here, sooner rather than later...anyone know anything about this stuff?

Side note: DJ KEXPMF has announced her final sets prior to moving back to the Midwest, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and she plays the stuff all you chukes like. There's no better time to come to NYC than now, so get yr butts here & check her out. Unless you're Jim Clark & will have that opportunity after she moves! If ya want info on where this is happening, send me a PM.

newtrix1
10-14-2005, 07:37 AM
What I'm wondering is, if I get an MP3 player, will it support MP4?

...but I think the answer in "no".

Slosh
10-14-2005, 03:31 PM
Isn't mpeg4 a video format? Ever since I got my HDTV last year I've been wanting to upgrade my Dish DVR receiver to a high-def DVR model but everyone says wait 'til Dish (or DirecTV) introduces their mpeg4 models (that, and I really wouldn't get all that much more at this time with my current subscription package that I don't already get for free via OTA).