Stanley Huang in Shanghai has released a new version of MediaCoder which can directly transcode from tagged lossless formats like FLAC, using Nero's new AAC encoder, properly transferring the tags to new *.m4a files. This is a huge convenience for those diligent enough to have gone to the effort of converting old CDs into tagged lossless files -- just load in 500 or so files and when you awake you've got many hours of music for your shiny next-gen musicphone.
I have a 60 Gb iAudio X5 player, now 93% full up with Ogg Vorbis files at q 6.16 -- nominal 197 kbps. There's lots of excitement in user forums at iAudiophile.net because Rockbox alternative firmware has been working on the player for a couple of months. Atypically, I'm not jumping at the opportunity to try new software. I really am a believer in the Ogg Vorbis format and I don't think any "lossy" format, including Nero AAC, can yet achieve transparency at barely above 200 kbps, which seems the case with latest Ogg Vorbis builds from Japan by people who call themselves aoyumi, lancer and blacksword -- the latter two optimizing for encoding speed while the first does the golden-eared tweaking. The major disadvantage of Ogg Vorbis is that it taps batteries more, and this is especially a problem in the iAudio x5 -- eight hours max with Ogg. I'm pretty sure that play time can be greater with LC-AAC on the iAudio x5 -- the official Cowon firmware didn't support it. But, talk in the threads is that battery efficiency with Rockbox is under what the original firmware offered, though improvements are deemed likely.
What clinches me on being a late adopter of Rockbox is that I really like BBE brilliance enhancing effects that the original firmware offers. Audiophiles dismiss BBE as artificial, but I think it a major plus for a mobile device that has to feed one its music while being carried through urban traffic and noise pollution.
But, it's nice to know that I have new options for expanding my music choices.
Did I mention that I have more than 7,000 files on my iAudio? Truth is, I don't have time to listen to all of it.
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