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Hello, what settings in iTunes 4 best approximate LAME --alt-preset standard? I know that LAME sounds better then iTunes at about any setting but LAME on a mac is very slow since it is not optimized for the PowerPC. iTunes is wicked fast in comparison. There are times when a fast encode is better then no encode at all. So what do you think? I could post the preferences pane of iTunes 4 if that would help. Of course if someone knows of a PowerPC optimized LAME that would solve the problem. Thanks, spies

What's the ripper you're using with LAME?
and your question seems quite out of question to me Because the answer you'll get on HA is clear.

Hmm BTW, you can decide not to convert to MP3 * at all * and leave your CDs alone. That would be even faster!
The reason PowerPCs are slow is not entirely because of LAME. Mac hardware is indubitably inferior to a PC with the same price tag because of the lack of competition. But if you're happy with your iTunes encoded music why would you just use it then?

Oh, and no setting would approximate LAME. Because the underlying encoder is different. But you can encode in a very high bitrate and get a fast and OK quality encodes at the expense of harddrive space.

atici, you make very valid points. I may be mistaken about the reasons LAME is very slow on Macintosh platforms. However I would still like to know what settings in iTunes 4 best approximates LAME --alt-preset standard if just for comparisons sake. Maybe approximates is not the right term. How about iTunes 4 VBR setting that approximates LAME --alt-preset standard bit rate and file size. Is that better? Thanks, spies

There's a fast MP3 encoder called Gogo which is based on LAME. If speed is your major concern maybe you can find a version for Mac.

Other than that LAME has many settings itself. What do you want to approximate exactly? If it's alt-preset standard pick high quality + joint stereo + quite a high bitrate.

atici, thanks for the suggestion of "high quality + joint stereo + quite a high bitrate" I will start with 160 and work my way up form there until I get a bit rate and file size that about equals the results I get with LAME --alt-preset standard. I will post my findings when I get a chance, spies

Actually, I think you can't (would really like to be proven wrong, though)

The problem is, Gogo archieves it's great quality by heavily using x86-specific assembly optimizations. Besides, it uses code optimized for x86 extensions, like MMX, 3Dnow! and SSE.

Gogo would have to be nearly completely rewritten, with PPC assembly and Altivec optimizations, in order to function properly on a Mac.

Have you tried --alt-preset fast standard yet? --alt-preset <bitrate> (ABR) is also faster than aps IIRC.

If you "need speed" and quality, why don't you change to AAC? It seems that the new Dolby codec in QuickTime 6.2 and iTunes has been increased quite a bit in coding speed, so it's probably faster than LAME now (which doesn't bear its name fo' nuttin'... ). If you want to achieve comparable quality, start with 160 kbps and listen to your music carefully, then decide if you should go lower or not. Hardware issues also don't exist anymore, because iPod can be updated to AAC playback now, too.

OK, so here are my speed test results:

Apple G4 Cube 450 MHz, 576 MB ram, Seagate Baracuda V 120 GB running Mac OS X 10.2.5, iTunes 4 and LAME 3.92 using Nicholas Jitkoff's excelent iTunes-LAME Encoding Script 1.0.4b

Boingo's 15:58 "Change" ripped to AIFF for the source

LAME --alt-preset standard = 23.1 MB 201 kbps VBR in 18:12 = 0.88 real time
LAME --alt-preset fast standard = 23.1 MB 201 kbps VBR in 8:59 = 1.78 real time
iTunes 4 MP3 160 kbps VBR Highest Quality Joint Stereo = 21.5 MB 187 kbps VBR in 2:22 = 6.75 real time
iTunes 4 MP3 192 kbps VBR Highest Quality Stereo = 24.7 MB 215 kbps VBR in 2:13 = 7.2 real time
iTunes 4 AAC 160 kbps = 18.5 MB in 2:13 = 7.2 real time
iTunes 4 AAC 192 kbps = 22.2 MB in 2:13 = 7.2 real time

I used "Change" for the source since it is quite a long song and has, what I think anyway, good dynamic range for a rock song. Of course I like the song too. As you can see there is quite a speed hit when using LAME on a Macintosh. During this test I discovered something I was not aware of about the iTunes MP3 encoder. iTunes refuses to encode in Joint Stereo at bitrates of 192 or above in either CBR or VBR even though Joint Stereo is selected. You would think that if this is the case they would have made Joint Stereo unavailable to select at these bitrates instead of just having the resulting file end up in Normal Stereo. I also find it interesting that MP3 192 VBR, AAC 160 and AAC 192 seem to encode at the exact same speed. Switching to AAC is tempting but I do not think I am ready to give up on the compatabilty MP3 offers right now and the ability to MP3Gain my files. Besides I would probably lean more towards OGG at the moment. I may add OGG speed tests as well for comparison. Informal sound quality tests to follow, spies

The speed you have using Lame seems perfectly normal. Considering your processor speed, it seems on par with the intel version without asm (--noasm mmx).
The speed of iTune encoder is very impressive. It seems faster than a regular FhG fastenc, so it is likely to be altivec optimized.

D'oh! Interesting test, thank you...



That's right, and this is also why encoding at 192 kbps MP3 is even a bit faster than at 160 kbps (same is true for FAAC, by the way... ).



"Chacun à son goût..." as the French say...



You mean, because it sounds worse, encodes slower and has no hardware support? Just kiddin'...

It is good to know that the speeds I am getting with LAME are normal for my system. The iTunes encoder is optimized for Velocity Engine (Altivec). So is it possible that LAME could be optimized for PPC and Altivec? If so, is there anyone with the time, experience and equipment to pull it off? I would be willing to "bribe" someone for the right price. Thanks again, spies

iTunes can encode in Joint Stereo at any bitrate. By default, however, "Smart Encoding Options" is checked in the import preferences, and if it is checked, iTunes will override your JS preference. That option is supposed to let iTunes decide if your preferences are optimal, and I have not seen it override anything but Joint Stereo preferences at higher bitrates, so I'm not sure what else it would affect.