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[Quboid]

I'm considering getting an iPod (probably a 4GB nano), but a fair bit of my music is in the Ogg format. I know this won't play, but I'm sure it would be possible for a sync program to automatically reencode to a playable format, and then detect when either the Ogg or the reencoded file have been altered for future syncs. I know reencoding lossy files is a bad idea, but I'm sure it would be OK - I have high quality Ogg files and I'd be happy with 128 or 160 VBR MP3s so I dont think the quality loss is a problem.

Can Media Center do this? Is there any other software which can?

[JimH]

MC can convert on the fly when uploading to a handheld.

[Quboid]

Nice - how fast is the conversion? Is it intelligent enough with syncing so if I change the Ogg (say, fix a typo in the tags), it will convert again, but if I sync without changing the Ogg, it won't do any conversion? Also, can I choose the encoding settings? I've had a look around the 11.1 trial and I'm afraid I can't find this feature, but I don't actually have a player yet so features may be hidden.

On a related note, how do I choose what to sync? My collection is much more than 4GB. Do I build a playlist and sync that?

[JimH]

You can drag and drop manually or you can name playlists you want to synch.

Conversion takes a little time.  30 seconds a track?  Just a wild guess.

If you changed a tag, you might have to delete the file from the handheld first and then synch.

[Alex B]

You will have these MP3 encoding options available:



The default option "VBR Normal, fast mode" would be the best option for about 160 kbps VBR files.

For about ~130 kbps highest quality VBR encoding you could try this string in the custom command line dialog:

-V5 --vbr-new

BTW, you can emulate a basic portable player by configuring a folder as a handheld. (Options > Handheld > Add Device...).