Hello!

I'm new here... this seems to be a really interesting place !

I just ordered an iPod Nano and read about the VBR problem recent iPods are experiencing.

So, I asked myself if Nero AAC VBR would have problems playing on the Nano. If yes, would iTunes AAC VBR be playing ok? Finally, is this new iTunes AAC VBR good or is Nero AAC VBR still the best?

Thanks for your help,
Nicolas

Welcome to HA!

Yes, Nero VBR AAC will ocasionally produce the stuttering bug on the iPod (3g & photo), mini, and nano. But iTunes VBR AAC will not. This is because iTunes does not make highly variable output with it's VBR mode. Many peolpe have observed that it seems more like ABR than typical VBR.

The iTunes AAC encoder has been more highly rated than the Nero encoder in the most recent listening tests, even when iTunes used CBR and Nero used VBR. Things may have changed since then, but either one would be plenty good for portable use.

If you already have a bunch of files encoded with nero, I wouldn't get rid of them or anything. The bug only affects a low percent of songs. So you can just use what you've got and mark the ones that are bad to be reencoded with iTunes later.

Thank you for the answer.

I should received my Nano in a day or two and will try that as fast as I can. I'm using iTunes for most of my tracks but read that Nero VBR was pretty good for classical music, which is a "style" I listen to a lot, particurlarly Baroque.