When will Apple add eAAC+ to iTunes?

Schlep · #1 11-19-2008, 12:02 AM

Both playback and ripping. Right now all my tracks pulled from CD's are 224kbps AAC. That was the point where I could barely tell the difference between AAC and the uncompressed source material on a decent stereo. I'm thinking that with eAAC+ I could possibly bring that down to 160kbps or 128kbps and save a ton of room on my iPhone that I could allocate to more podcasts and movie rentals.

I realize no one outside Apple probably knows. I guess this is just a thread to complain about how lax Apple has gotten with introducing real innovation in their iTunes releases. They spend more time on gimmicky UI like coverflow than adding useful features like improved codecs, better smart playlist options, and subscription music/movies.

**DAB** · #2 11-19-2008, 12:32 AM

Well honestly how many average iTune - iPod users even think about codecs? I would venture to say very, very few. What do they respond too it would be those things you seem to think are gimmicky. The one thing that Apple does well is use iTunes to market its store be it videos, podcast, ringtones and of course music.

I think the playlist options especially now with the genius setup has been pretty darn significant. So to say they have done nothing in this area in terms of improvement is just not true. I know of no other MP3 player that offers anything like genius.

The bottom line is for the average joe how really important is eACC+?

Schlep · #3 11-19-2008, 12:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DAB

The one thing that Apple does well is use iTunes to market its store be it videos, podcast, ringtones and of course music.

The iTunes store is great.

Quote:

So to say they have done nothing in this area in terms of improvement is just not true. I know of no other MP3 player that offers anything like genius.

I never said they've done nothing. I said that their updates are becoming less revolutionary with each major release. Genius is ok, but without a subscription music service I don't personally see much of a benefit.

Quote:

The bottom line is for the average joe how really important is eACC+?

The average joe has 100-200 songs on their iPod. Having eACC+ would be nice for the rest of us who would like to store more songs in a smaller amount of space. Especially since we had to go back so far in storage space in the move from HDD to flash memory.

**DAB** · #4 11-19-2008, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schlep

I never said they've done nothing. I said that their updates are becoming less revolutionary with each major release. Genius is ok, but without a subscription music service I don't personally see much of a benefit.

The average joe has 100-200 songs on their iPod. Having eACC+ would be nice for the rest of us who would like to store more songs in a smaller amount of space. Especially since we had to go back so far in storage space in the move from HDD to flash memory.

Revolutionary is a pretty loaded term, but in terms of having a large library on your iPod hitting that option does provide a really cool way of creating a fresh playlist without much effort. It sort of like creating a radio station with your own music. Because you don't see much benefit doesn't mean it isn't a great improvement to creating playlist.

But you don't answer the question for the average joe, you answer the question of why eAAC+ would be a good thing for them to do, which isn't a bad idea at all. But again how many end users do you know that sit around thinking about this stuff? They live with and deal with the space limits by buying the next larger size and when the 64gb flash memory is affordable and becomes available they will just upgrade to that.

Don't get me wrong, I think your suggestion is valid, I just don't see where the average joe thinks that way and this is what Apple counts on. They would much rather sell you the next size up because this is how they make so much money. The marketing machine that is Apple does a darn good job.

Schlep · #5 11-19-2008, 01:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DAB

Revolutionary is a pretty loaded term, but in terms of having a large library on your iPod hitting that option does provide a really cool way of creating a fresh playlist without much effort. It sort of like creating a radio station with your own music. Because you don't see much benefit doesn't mean it isn't a great improvement to creating playlist.

Like I said, it's ok. Genius is just what Pandora and Slacker have been doing for years, except applied to your personal music. That's why I consider it more evolutionary than revolutionary. Revolutionary to me were the organization methods (browser specifically), iTunes store, and smart playlists. But it's really a subjective argument.

Quote:

But you don't answer the question for the average joe, you answer the question of why eAAC+ would be a good thing for them to do, which isn't a bad idea at all. But again how many end users do you know that sit around thinking about this stuff?

I'm sure Average Joe isn't sitting around pining for eAAC+, but I imagine there are plenty of people who would like to fit more music on their iPod/iPhone. At this point it seems like a calculated decision by Apple to force people to continue buying larger devices, as you said.

**DAB** · #6 11-19-2008, 02:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schlep

I'm sure Average Joe isn't sitting around pining for eAAC+, but I imagine there are plenty of people who would like to fit more music on their iPod/iPhone. At this point it seems like a calculated decision by Apple to force people to continue buying larger devices, as you said.

Bingo that is what I am talking about. Again I think your idea is GREAT! I wish they would do it tomorrow, but reality is sales and marketing dictate what goes on at Apple much more so than being Revolutionary!

snakester · #7 11-24-2008, 02:12 AM

going a bit off topic here, but this is one of the things i love about the Zune. It supports WMA pro, which is WMA with better codec tuning and SBR (basically what AAC+ is to AAC)... you can put a shitload lot more music on the thing if you're willing to take the slight quality hit on some of the CD's you don't listen to that much. It's a shame my zune HDD died

gilpdawg · #8 11-27-2008, 12:02 AM

Apple needs to worry about iTunes running with the features it currently has on Windows without hogging up all my resources and memory before they ADD features. It's almost like they do it on purpose to try to get people to switch to a MAC, which I want to do anyway, but not because of that. I have started using Winamp with the ml_pod plugin to manage my iPod. Sorry Apple, but it "just works" to steal their phrase.