Advanced iTunes: Smart Playlists and multiple libraries

By Nate Lanxon on 29 June 2009, 6:05pm

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I've heard about iTunes supporting this Apple Lossless thing. What is it and should I be using it?

Probably not, no. That is unless you're playing your music through a decent hi-fi or a decent pair of headphones, in which case you might want to consider using it. We've covered the benefits of lossless audio at length, and you can read that here. In a nutshell, it copies your CDs bit-for-bit, without a single piece of audio getting discarded for the sake of lower file size, as opposed to AAC and MP3, which does.

To enable Apple Lossless ripping on a PC, open iTunes, click Edit, then Preferences. In the box that appears, click Import Settings under the General tab, then choose Apple Lossless Encoder under the Import Using pull-down menu, then click OK.

Now your CDs will rip in Apple Lossless, which offers identical ripping properties as FLAC or WAV. But bear in mind your files will be larger, so you'll be able to fit less music on your iPod.