mac diddy

Almost two years ago when I got my first iPhone (a 16GB iPhone 3G), my iPhone became my iPod. All of a sudden I had my favorite tunes with me everywhere I went and there was much rejoicing. The only problem: my 40GB music library wasn’t going to fit on my 16GB iPod. Even less would fit as I eventually would put 2.5GB of apps on there, along with photos, video, etc.

So I prioritized. Rather than synching my library wholesale, I made playlists of my favorite stuff and synched only those to the iPhone. This worked out pretty well for a while, but it wasn’t too long before I had well under a gigabyte of free space and needed to start juggling tunes and apps.

Well iTunes version 9.1 has finally delivered a very simple way to improve the situation: a little checkbox in your iPhone Options box that says “Convert higher bit rate songs to 128 kbps AAC”. iPod Shuffle users have long had access to this option, but it wasn’t until iTunes 9.1 was released on March 31st that all iPod/iPhone users could do the same.

It so happens that a large portion of my music was originally ripped at a higher bitrate, along with all of the iTunes Plus purchases, which are 256 kbps by default. Higher bit rate = somewhat better sound = significantly bigger files. Well when you check this magical little box, iTunes will automatically re-rip your higher bit rate tunes at 128 kbps, freeing up (in my case) gobs of space, while leaving your iTunes library itself untouched.

But won’t my music sound worse if I do this? Technically, yes. Barely. The strength of the iPhone/iPod is in interface, simplicity, and portability; it’s not an audiophile’s device. Chances are the device’s DA converter, headphones preamplifier, and the headphones you use are already enough of a limiting factor for sound quality that you won’t miss the higher bit rate on most of your tunes. Most pop/rock music is already so compressed in the studio that compressing the bit rate further won’t matter much.

The bottom line is that if you use really good headphones and listen to lots of classical music, you might skip this step, but for most people the space gained far exceeds any diminishing in sound quality. I got 2.5GB freed up. Your mileage may vary.

Big news for Mac users who like to game and gamers who like to Mac: Valve Software‘s game platform Steam has gone live for Mac users. But perhaps the biggest news is that until May 24th, Portal is a free download for Steam users. Originally released as part of Valve’s excellent Orange Box, Portal made waves in the game industry for its innovative first-person puzzle gaming. Gamers will eat it up and people who game less frequently should check it out too.

Other games available at launch include Civilization IV, the time-bending innovative platformer Braid, World of Goo (a favorite of this author), and a bunch of others. Valve has also promised a new “set of games” every Wednesday for the next several weeks. All of a sudden Mac gamers have reason to feel significantly less neglected!