VBR clips song ends on iPod, CBR does not.
I just did some experimenting with various CBR and VBR encodes and transferring them to the iPod. Using Media Center 9 to encode with VBR, the VERY end of the songs will be clipped when playing back on the iPod. This is not normally noticeable on songs that end with silence, but when the song goes right up to the end of the track (like on albums where one song leads directly into the next) you can notice it.
For example, on Madonna's "Ray of Light", the very end of the first song is clipped when using VBR -- part of the word "religion" is cut off. This does not happen when playing the CBR encode, but it is 100 percent repeatable using Media Center with LAME to encode with VBR. VBR will always cut the end (on the iPod), CBR will not. This does not happen when playing the songs on the computer with MC9 or Windows Media Player -- the behavior is specific to the iPod.
Note that in either case you get a slight gap and little "click" in between songs (i.e. neither is seamless), but the CBR encode is definitely "more" seamless than the VBR encode.
Has anybody else ever noticed this? Is this a firmware issue (perhaps related to the "click" bug)?
Thanks,
Larry
[1224 byte] By [
lalittle] at [2007-11-9 12:22:27]
# 1 Re: VBR clips song ends on iPod, CBR does not.
lalittle, does the new firmware (2.01) fix this problem? I had a 15 gig Ipod and I returned it because I was also getting this VBR problem. I'd really consider buying the Ipod again if this problem was fixed as almost all my mp3s are VBR.
reni at 2007-11-15 17:06:42 >
# 2 Re: VBR clips song ends on iPod, CBR does not.
I didn't notice that the 2.0.1 update was released until just now (must have been released just today.) I'll apply the update as soon as I get in front of the system and let you know what happens. Hopefully this will solve this issue since the update supposedly has "Improved handling of mp3 VBR songs."
Larry
# 3 Re: VBR clips song ends on iPod, CBR does not.
The new 2.0.1 firmware did NOT fix this issue. I did narrow in on the problem however. It seems to be related to Media Center 9's VBR mp3 encoding combined with the iPod's playback. If I use Nero instead of MC9 to encode VBR, I do not get this issue. If I use something other than the iPod to play the files, I also do not get this issue. If I use MC9 to encode CBR, I do not get this issue. The clipped end requires all three conditions to be met -- MC9 to encode, VBR instead of CBR, and iPod to play.
I'm using the default MC9 mp3 encoder (LAME.)
An interesting point is that when I tried re-ripping and encoding the files through MC9, the end of the song was still clipped, but not by as much -- i.e. it got closer to the end of the song before getting clipped. The amount that is cut off, in other words, is not consistant. What IS consistant is that at least "some" of the end is always clipped when using MC9 + VBR + iPod.
Larry
