I thought that the Kbps rating was the stream rate of the music; 128 kilobits per second (64 bits per channel) and in any format would then create a similarly sized file. Yes there may be slight variations but twice the size? The only thing I can think of that may alter the size is that music downloaded from iTunes also includes the album art. That still shouldn't alter the size very much.
My understanding of it is that different formats compress the data in different ways to ultimately produce the 128 kbps stream rate. The efficacy of the format's algorithm in shrinking down the data that will ultimately be streamed at 128 kbps determines how much memory the file will take up.
I also question doubled size of AAC files. If anyone can find any more concise numbers or better explain the differences between file sizes, please post a comment.
Just to clarify - While you can move files to any number of Microsoft-licensed devices under Napster's rental model, how does the CD burning work? I mean, you can burn CDs from the music you purchase at Napster, but can you burn CDs from the rental model? Also, does Napster CD burning work the same was as iTunes (as far as limiting the burning ofa single playlist which is easy to get around by recreating or making slight changes) or does it limit the number of times a song can ever be recorded?
Roger: Your questions are answered in Napster v. iTunes: By the Numbers (Part 3).
Commenting by HaloScan
