iPod owners....how much memory for classical music?

[fortyfeetunder]

I am exploring the possibility of buying an iPod to play my classical stuff and workout tunes....but I wanted to get an idea of how much memory some symphonies would take up on one. Let's say I wanted to do the Beethoven symphonies...what would I be looking at for memory space?

This will decide if I go 20GB or 40GB....

Thanks in advance!

[toddaa]

1. Depends on compression

I don't know what the MP3 playback requirements of iPod are, but if you want decent quality sound, you're going to have to go with a VBR bit rate averaging a minimum of 160k. My Nomad Zen 20GB player holds about 300 CD length albums at a VBR compression of 180K. That's about 70mb for a 60 minute recording. Unfortunately, that's about a 5th of my collection but with judicious selection, I can keep my most listened to recordings with me at all times. Keep in mind that my collection is 90% jazz, which has a different audio footprint than symphonic music. My Cecil Taylor and the Italian Instabile Orchestra recording The Owner of the River Bank clocks in at 1 hour and requires 72m for storage. Because the dynamics of the music are probably as wide as your average Beethoven symphony, that's going to give you a pretty good measuring stick to go by.