Import Quality Question

Question

Ok I don't know much about this but,
How much audio quality do you lose when you import from a CD? Also, if the answer is lots, then does iTunes use that lossless audio encoder called apple lossless and if not where can I get and what do I need to use it? kinda 3 questions in one there...

Answer 1

Choose iTunes > Preferences> General pane and click Import Settings.
Choose an encoder from the Import Using pop-up menu.
You can listen to songs encoded in AAC or Apple Lossless formats in iTunes and on iPod models that come with a dock connector. If you plan to listen to your music using a different program or MP3 player, choose MP3 Encoder.
If you want to burn high-quality audio CDs with the songs you’re importing, without losing quality, choose Apple Lossless or AIFF. (Keep in mind that songs imported using this format use much more disc space.)
If you’ll be playing your songs on a computer that does not have MP3 software, choose WAV.
Choose a bit rate from the Setting pop-up menu (not available with Apple Lossless Encoder). In most cases, the default selection works well.
Higher Quality: Choose if you chose MP3 Encoder and plan to create your own audio CDs or listen to your music with high-quality stereo speakers.
High Quality: Choose if you play music in a noisy environment. This setting creates files that are about 1 MB in size per minute of music.
Good Quality: Use to fit more songs on a portable MP3 player with limited storage capacity.
Custom: Choose for greater control over the file size and sound quality.
To choose AIFF and WAV import settings:
Choose iTunes > Preferences>General pane and click Import Settings.
Choose AIFF Encoder or WAV Encoder from the Import Using pop-up menu.
Choose Custom from the Setting pop-up menu.
In the dialog that appears, choose settings:
Sample Rate: The number of times per second the music waveforms are captured digitally. The higher the sample rate, the higher the quality and the larger the file size. Don't choose a sample rate higher than the rate used to store the music originally or you'll waste space. CD quality, for example, is 44.100 kHz, so choosing a higher rate when you're encoding from a CD is unnecessary. In general, the best choice is Auto, which uses the same rate as the original music.
Sample Size: The number of bits used to store each sample taken as the music is encoded. The higher the sample size, the better the quality and the larger the file size.
Channels: If you don't have stereo speakers or if your audio files are monaural (mono files are about half the size of stereo files), choose Mono. If you'll be listening through headphones or a stereo system, choose Stereo or Auto. Auto converts monaural tracks into mono files and stereo tracks into stereo files.