iTunes 5 adds VBR AAC encoding

To access it, open up the preferences window, go to advanced and select the importing tab. Once there, set the encoder to AAC, select custom for the bit rate and then enable to VBR checkbox.I normally use 192 Kbps AAC VBR for all my encoding as it sounds better than mp3 especially for music with a high dynamic range.

In case you missed it, iTunes 5 includes a VBR option for AAC encoding. To access it, open up the preferences window, go to advanced and select the importing tab. Once there, set the encoder to AAC, select custom for the bit rate and then enable to VBR checkbox.

I normally use 192 Kbps AAC VBR for all my encoding as it sounds better than mp3 especially for music with a high dynamic range.

iTunes VBR encoding

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Mac by led light

I recently took some pictures of my Mac in the dark with the only source of illumination being the blue lights of the hard disks, the red lights of the optical mouse and the green lights of my adsl modem.

I recently took some pictures of my Mac in the dark with the only source of illumination being the blue lights of the hard disks, the red lights of the optical mouse and the green lights of my adsl modem. I was really surprised by the results.

This picture takes in my whole desk. From left to right you can see a firewire hard disk, a USB hard disk, a 23″ Cinema display, an optical mouse, an ADSL modem, a Linksys NSLU2 and a network switch. The case of the Apple G5 is not visible as it is stashed to the left of the desk to save space.

Cinema display and desk

Here is the EXIF info for the above photo

Camera make: SONY
Camera model: DSC-V1
Date/Time: 2005:07:02 20:27:24
Flash used: No
Focal length: 7.0mm
Exposure time: 30.000 s
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO equiv.: 100
Metering Mode: matrix
Exposure: shutter priority (semi-auto)

And here is a close up of the left side of the first picture. From left to right you can see the firewire hard disk, the USB 2.0 hard disk, an Apple keyboard and an Apple 23″ Cinema display.

Hard disk

Here is the EXIF info for the above photo

Camera make: SONY
Camera model: DSC-V1
Date/Time: 2005:07:02 20:29:27
Flash used: No
Focal length: 21.5mm
Exposure time: 30.000 s
Aperture: f/3.5
ISO equiv.: 100
Metering Mode: matrix
Exposure: shutter priority (semi-auto)

Next time I need to move my airport base station into the frame so I can have some white illumination.

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iTunes 4.8 and iPod filenames

This time iTunes 4.8 obfuscates the filenames of songs when copying them over to the iPod…. Of course anyone with half a brain should be able to locate the required files using a combination of find and id3lib.

Apple just keeps on trying to stop people copying files back from their iPod. This time iTunes 4.8 obfuscates the filenames of songs when copying them over to the iPod. Previous versions of iTunes kept the original filenames which made locating them on the iPod a breeze. Of course anyone with half a brain should be able to locate the required files using a combination of find and id3lib.

Come on Apple stop bowing to the demands of the RIAA. They are my songs and if I want to copy them back to my computer I should be able to. What happens if my computer crashes or I accidentally delete a track? Do I have to go get the CD and RIP it again?
What if my CD gets scratched or destroyed? Will the RIAA replace it free of charge? I do not think so.

Here is a list of some of the obfuscated filenames generated for clarity’s sake.

-rw-rw-rw- 1 peters swdevel 5022700 May 14 01:15 F31/YSPH.mp3
-rw-rw-rw- 1 peters swdevel 5477057 May 14 01:15 F16/ZPTJ.mp3
-rw-rw-rw- 1 peters swdevel 5444628 May 14 01:15 F16/VQEY.mp3
-rw-rw-rw- 1 peters swdevel 4385412 May 14 01:15 F13/UCKB.mp3
-rw-rw-rw- 1 peters swdevel 8638385 May 16 08:28 F28/WKSG.mp3
-rw-rw-rw- 1 peters swdevel 9565521 May 20 08:17 F12/SFLU.mp3
-rw-rw-rw- 1 peters swdevel 13368477 May 21 19:04 F20/QMVH.mp3
-rw-rw-rw- 1 peters swdevel 19586500 May 22 10:17 F07/EOVF.mp3
-rw-rw-rw- 1 peters swdevel 5256689 May 22 14:34 F07/OTTA.mp3
-rw-rw-rw- 1 peters swdevel 32654329 May 23 10:43 F28/MLEH.mp3
-rw-rw-rw- 1 peters swdevel 5834719 May 23 17:34 F04/BWAF.mp3
-rw-rw-rw- 1 peters swdevel 4530355 May 23 22:37 F49/GOUH.mp3
-rw-rw-rw- 1 peters swdevel 14590556 May 23 22:37 F48/YZLL.mp3
-rw-rw-rw- 1 peters swdevel 9582575 May 23 22:37 F45/GHVM.mp3

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