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[Health Nut]

Hi,

I was wondering what is the best portable music device that supports lossless compression.  I have my music collection ripped to APE lossless after many many man hours... actually I'm not finished by any means.  I had a DAT portable with 2 hour mixes (Denon DTR 80p portable DAT).  I never got into the lossy compressed music... just couldn't handle the qualitly loss.  Well, now I'm wondering what is available with lossless compression.

Also, should I ever decide to rip to a different lossless format, would there be an easy automated (one click) way to convert all of my library from APE to another format... sure it might take a while, but please say there is an easy way to do this should the need ever come.

Also, what is the deal with 'rounding-errors' ?  Is lossless compression identical to the master, or is it nearly identical to the master--meaning that the ripped lossless copy is 99.8-99.9% identical and after the intital rip, the generational copies are 100% to the ripped copy (i.e, not truly identical to the master copy, but once ripped, then 100% perfect generational copies)??

Thanks,

Chris

[edbro]

I have a Rio Karma that has a 20G hard drive. It will play Flac as well as wma, mp3, and ogg. I love it.

For the 1 step conversion all you have to do is select all files, right click - "Library Tools" - "Convert Format". (Pick a time when you don't need your computer for awhile!"

[Health Nut]

So is the Rio Karma the best quality lossless capable portable device?  Does it come in 40 Gig HD flavor?

Does it work with J Rivers in any way?  

[pank2002]

the iPod got lossless too, though it's a bit more buggy as there is no 3rd party encoders yet, so you'll only be able to use iTunes for transfer. Do you plan to use it with a portable amp? if so, there's only the iHPs which only got wave. Otherwise you can get an extra wire thingy for the iPod which allows you to use it's lineout capabilities.

[edbro]

So is the Rio Karma the best quality lossless capable portable device?  Does it come in 40 Gig HD flavor?

Does it work with J Rivers in any way?  

Best? Gee, I don't know, works well for me though. I think the sound is outstanding. Sometimes I listen through my Seinheisser headphones and the sound is as close to perfect as my ears can tell. (Of course, my ears have been subjected to the noise of flying fighters for 24 years!).

Does it come in 40G? No, but I hear Karma 2 will. I don't know if that is just a rumour or when it will come to pass.

Does it work with JRiver? Well, kinda. You can transfer files to it using WMDM but the support is limited. Karma comes with an app called MusicManager that offers full support. JRiver says they will develop a plugin to give us full support but I haven't seen it yet. JRiver; are you listening?

[SteveG]

Health Nut,

Also, should I ever decide to rip to a different lossless format, would there be an easy automated (one click) way to convert all of my library from APE to another format...

Yes. Right click on the files and choose 'Library Tools->Convert Format'.

Is lossless compression identical to the master,

Yes, it should be.

...so you'll only be able to use iTunes for transfer..

Not quite true. You can use MC to transfer files. However, iPod doesn't play APE files so you would need to convert them to a playable format during the transfer. This is automated within MC and can be accomplished on the fly during the transfer.

but I haven't seen it yet. JRiver; are you listening?  

Of course we are listening. Rio has chosen not to hear our pleas for cooperation with this yet.

Steve

[8thNote]

You should look at a Neuros Digital Audio Computer at www.NeurosAudio.com. This thing supports several audio codecs and formats, I think it either does support FLAC or it's in development for a free firmware upgrade.

I have a Neuros 40 GB (their available in capacities up to 80 GB) and I love it!

[lalittle]

Does it work with JRiver? Well, kinda. You can transfer files to it using WMDM but the support is limited.

What are the limitations when using Karma with MC?

Thanks,

Larry

[SteveG]

Larry,

We do not have a Karma here. I will let others reply.

Steve

[Nolonemo]

The Creative Zen Xtras, by all accounts have superlative sound (mine sounds fine to me, but I haven't compared it), and they play .wavs.  So I guess that's lossless, but not compressed.  But the difference between wav and flac is about the same as the difference between a 60GB Zen Xtra and a 40GB Zen, I guess.