Ripping CD's

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BVCP206
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Ripping CD's

Post by BVCP206 »

Just looking for a bit of advice. I'm currently in the process of ripping all my CD's to an external hard drive (long process!) and not sure which file format to save them as, ripper software defaults to mp3 but it does give an option to change this. Any help appreciated.

Mod edit: Moved topic to Other. Sure it is music related but the main intention is something technical ;)
'Remember, change is not good'
beaker73
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Re: Ripping CD's

Post by beaker73 »

Rip 'm to flac, that way you keep the sound quality of the cd's. There's a thread on a another forum with a lot of info about this topic: http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/r ... on.319928/
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NightWash
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Re: Ripping CD's

Post by NightWash »

Flac maybe a better choice since it only compresses but doesn't spoil the sound by reduction (lossless). However the resulting files are much bigger.
If you want a format with an open license, OGG maybe interesting. But mp3 will compress/reduce better.

Keep in mind that some players have also problems with playing other formats than mp3. Going for 320 variable bit size maybe the best for quality and size. Try playing around a bit, listen to what you just ripped and compare. And read the documentation of the devices you are using for playing the stuff. PCs won't have trouble with most formats, your CD player might.

However i am sure there will be other opinions here, so wait a day ;)
olan
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Re: Ripping CD's

Post by olan »

I originally started doing this job with exact audio copy years ago. EAC is free to download (http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/) and is my default ripper when all else fails, but is really slow. FLAC is the way to go as it is lossless and easy to associate artwork and metadata to.

Now I use a Vortexbox, which takes the pain and hassle out of ripping, tagging and sorting out artwork. This is similar to what I usehttp://www.vortexbox.co.uk/VB_Essential ... 16227.aspx. The kids and I took about five weeks to rip 2000 odd CDs to the machine. We simply left a pile of CDs next to the machine and let the kids get on with it (in return for suitable payment). You can set it up to mirror the FLACs to MP3, but we don't bother. It also works as a NAS drive, or you can play from it via usb to a suitable DAC. The Vortexbox is a stone cold bargain for what it does and is idiot-proof (as evidenced by my having had three trouble free years using mine.

If you have FLACs you can batch convert to MP3 using something like dbpoweramp. If you have MP3s you can covert to FLAC or WAV, but the converted files will be lossy (i.e. the data has been compressed).

I also use MP3tag (http://www.mp3tag.de/en/) to sort out the metadata on files as every now and then the vortexbox can't find the data for a disc (Nearly every CD issued by The Heads needs to have track names and artwork done by hand).

Ripping is a dull job, but it only needs doing once. FLAC (or ALAC if you are Apple oriented) is the way to go, and then downsample or batch conver to MP3. Get it right the first time or you get to re-rip your entire library.
BVCP206
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Re: Ripping CD's

Post by BVCP206 »

Thanks for the help everybody much appreciated you have given me some ideas :D
'Remember, change is not good'
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