3.2 Other Podworthy File Formats

The iPod was designed to handle AAC and MP3 formats the most efficiently , but it's not limited to them. Here are the other types of music files you can play on an iPod:

3.2.1 WAV

WAV is a standard Windows sound format, going all the way back to Windows 95. (Most Macs can play WAV files, too.) Windows fans download WAV recordings for everything from TV-show snippets to start-up sounds and other system alert noises. A WAV song usually sounds better than the same song in MP3 ”but takes up more room on the iPod.

3.2.2 AIFF

Speaking of big file sizes, the AIFF standard (Audio Interchange File Format) can create sound files that sound spectacular ”in fact, these are the audio files on commercial music CDs ”but they hog hard drive space. For example, if you stick Prince's Purple Rain CD into your computer, double-click the disc icon, and drag the song file for "Let's Go Crazy" onto your desktop, you'll soon have a 46.9 MB AIFF file on your hard drive. Although the sound fidelity is tops, the files are usually ten times bigger in size than MP3s.

Apple originally developed the AIFF standard, but AIFF files play on other operating systems, too.

NOTE

If you insist on putting gargantuan files like AIFFs on your iPod, you'll have to worry about running out of battery power as well as disk space.

A modern iPod comes with a 32 MB memory chip. (Pre-2003 iPods have a slightly smaller buffer.) Yes, it serves as skip protection, because it stores 25 minutes' worth of MP3 or AAC music. For instance, if a jogging bump or your boxing partner jostles the hard drive, the music doesn't skip ”because the iPod effortlessly plays the music it's been storing in its memory. But it also serves as a battery-life enhancer , because the hard drive stops spinning whenever the music plays from the memory buffer.

If you have big song files on the iPod, the memory buffer holds less music. When it runs out of music data, the iPod has no choice but to read more information from the hard drive, which runs your battery down much more quickly.

3.2.3 Audible

You can listen to more than just music on your iPod; you can also listen to the spoken word. Not books on tape, exactly, but more like books on MP3 ” courtesy of http://www.audible.com.

There, you can find over 18,000 spoken recordings to download. These are downloadable versions of the same professionally produced audio books you see in stores: the latest bestsellers in popular genres, children's books, and even old science fiction faves like Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash .

If you choose to subscribe, $15 a month gets you one recorded book a month, plus a daily, weekly, or monthly magazine or radio show. Audible.com has everything from vocalized versions of the New York Times to programs like National Public Radio's All Things Considered . You can hear free samples of most files on the site before you buy.

You can also skip the subscription business and just buy the books you want for a flat fee. Prices vary, but the audio file usually costs less than the hard copy and fits in your pocket better. The Da Vinci Code , a popular mystery novel selling for $25 in book stores, was simultaneously $20 on Audible.com .

But you don't have to go to Audible's site to buy many of its wares. The iTunes Music Store sells more than 5,000 Audible audio books in great-sounding AAC format.

NOTE

The iPod Software 2.0 CD that came 2003 iPod models included some free Audible.com samples, including a 22-minute excerpt from radio's This American Life and the late Douglas Adams reading a chapter from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . If you were lucky enough to find that version of the iPod CD in your iPod package, look fro these files in the folder named Audible.com . The samples come in the MP3 format for MusicMatch Jukebox and standard Audible format for iTunes.

If you bought your iPod more recently, you still get a free sample or two, but you have to download them from Audible.com . The details are at http://www.audible.com/ipod.

3.2.3.1 Formats within formats

Audible.com files that come from its Web site (and not from the iTunes Music Store) use the .aa file name extension. You can't convert .aa files to MP3, but you can burn them to an audio CD to play on the stereo ”and, of course, you can copy them to your iPod.

Most recordings from Audible.com come in a variety of sound resolutions, from low-fi, AM radio “like sound to a really good MP3 quality. The Audible resolutions that work on the iPod are called Formats 2, 3, and 4 (from worst to best quality). Better audio quality, of course, means a bigger file to download.

As shown in Figure 3-2, the 18- hour audio book for Snow Crash is split into two files. The first half is a 34 MB download in Format 2, a 63 MB download in Format 3, or a 127 MB download in Format 4. The various formats cost the same, but unless you have a broadband connection, you'll probably want to stick with the smaller file size.

Figure 3-2. When you buy a title, Audible.com gives you a choice of audio resolutions for your audio book (formats 2,3, and 4 work with the iPod), as well as instructions for what to do with the file once you've downloaded it.

NOTE

If you decide you don't like the way a format sounds, you can download your selection again in a different format by logging back into your account on the Audible.com page ”a benefit you don't get at the iTunes Music Store.

3.2.3.2 Audible.com for Mac

If you're using iTunes on a Mac, make sure the program is set to handle Audible files. Choose iTunes Preferences, click the General icon, and next to "Use iTunes for Internet Music Playback," click the Set button. When you download a book file from Audible.com , it shows up right in iTunes.

Before you listen to it, iTunes asks you to type in the name and password you set up with Audible.com , as shown in Figure 3-3 at top. Thereafter, you can listen to it at your desk (Figure 3-3, bottom) or transfer it to your iPod like any other track.

Figure 3-3. Top: You can play your purchased Audible file on up to three computers, burn it to a CD, or transfer it to an iPod. (Sound like a familiar set of rules, iTunes shoppers?) Bottom: iTunes plays your audio book just like any other track in your library. Longer books are split into multiple parts for easier downloading from the Audible.com site.

You play them just like regular audio files; the iPod even remembers where in the audio book you stopped listening, so you can pick up where you left off the next time. Better yet, these little electronic bookmarks are synchronized between iTunes and the iPod; if you're listening to a chapter of a book on your iPod while walking home from work, you can connect the iPod to your Mac to transfer the bookmark. Then you can continue listening at your desk, in iTunes, without missing a sentence .

3.2.3.3 Audible.com for Windows

Audible offers a vast library of books, periodicals, and radio shows beyond the limited sampler inthe iTunes store offers. To listen to them on a Windows iPod, you need the free Audible Manager software (available at http://www.audible.com/software).

The AudibleManager software (Figure 3-4) does everything from accessing online Audible.com accounts to transferring purchases to Pods. It shows you what you've downloaded, what you have on deck to move to the iPod, and even how much space is left on the iPod (so you don't max it out by stuffing the 62-hour unabridged version of Tolstoy's War and Peace onto the player). The handy AudibleManager toolbar provides a button for just about everything you need to do.

Figure 3-4. When working with Audible.com recordings, the AudibleManager for Windows takes over file management duties . The control bar (top) provides a button for just about every task, from downloading new files to transferring them to the iPod to burning them to CD. You can sync the Pod to PC and keep track of your place within the audio file as well.

If you use MusicMatch Jukebox, the AudibleManager is the only program you need for wrangling Audible files onto your iPod.

If you use iTunes, though, importing them is a separate step. Choose File Add to Library, and then navigate to the folder where Audible deposits your files, which is usually the C: Program Files Audible Programs Downloads folder. Select the folder to pull your audiobooks into iTunes.

Audible realizes this two-step tango is a tad unfair for Windows fans, since Mac folk can buy Audible files right there in iTunes without involving a separate Manager program. The company says that a fix is on the way.