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Peter - we seem to approach things from a different angle - I am trying to do the worst ones first, before I get my Sonos, as then I will want to play !
I am going to do a batch more today if there is time and treat myself to some fast-rippin' after a few more slow ones - my 'Word' magazine cover-mounts are the ones I want to get sorted most as there is so much that gets forgotten about so quickly..
Not that I am in any way being a fanboy, but itunes ripped my collection of 2,200 CDs and I can honestly say I did not have a single problem disc. Of course, this is to Apples own AAC/ALAC codecs, so might explain it.
Ah, but did you do secure rips ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex_UK
Up until today I would have very strongly advised anyone ripping a CD collection to HDD to rip to FLAC, as it's supported more widely than ALAC, because FLAC does not require licensing.
Today I checked the settings in my Squeezebox Server client, to find that it now supports ALAC natively.
In the recent past there used to be a server side conversion from ALAC to FLAC. I can almost guarantee that this ability to handle ALAC natively is down to reverse engineering - I can't see Logitech investing money needlessly on an open source software project.
The upshot of this is that it is now of no consequence to me whether a file is FLAC or ALAC, either will do.
What's more I can't hear any audible differences between the two file types either.
For what it is worth, my hard-to-rip cd's are either copies made on a pc, badly scratched or compilations that require me to find and copy artwork in. It is amazing just how much faster it is when the software is correctly set up............
Thanks to Hamish's guide I am now ripping a cd in 3-4 minutes, secure, at the best compression level, and am into the 'B's already (got a couple of hundred compilations that will slow me down slightly though..)
Jeff Beck - Blow by blow coming up next..!
I've had copied CD's that have literally become unplayable because the disc has simply deteriorated over time. If I remember correctly the brand of CD-R was Emtec.Quote:
Originally Posted by steveinspain
Jeff Beck is probably my most favourite guitarist ever - seen him live a couple of times and I still can't believe how he manages to pull the sounds and notes out of a guitar that he can. Truly amazing player.
Chris - I used mo make compilation cd's for a bunch of friends on an almost weekly basis - it was a way to expose each other to new music, and resulted in us all buying so much music - I also spent hours making covers too. Sadly, most if them are unplayable, and as the software only works with XP I may need to set up a computer especailly with XP so I can then burn new copies and then rip them. Tracks were cross-faded, chosen with such care and then they just fade away. Its a real bummer. The coverwork is still fine, and tells so much the story of my life as it was then. Another job for when I have the time and money...
Never seen Jeff Beck, but 'Blow by Blow' is one of my all time favourites. I discovered it at about the same time as I discovered amphetamines, and it accompanied my morning 'snifter' many many times in the late '70's..
Wooooh, slow down boys!
Sorry to drumb the thread down but I'm just making my first experiments with quality disc copying to HDD. I think I understand that a lot of the discussion above relates to the need for a fully organised collection with cover art, etc.
At this stage I would just like to get a couple of basics right, to rip with a laptop to an external hard drive then play from that via PS3:
1. What / Why / why not rip to WAV? Is the use of FLAC mainly for storage and compression reasons. I'm not talking about a great number of CDs.
2. Can I not simply rip with Windows Media player, or is that the most basic heresy? :lol:
Get behind me Satan !!!Quote:
Originally Posted by electric beach
Some kind of lossless compression is preferred, as you'll find that all sorts of information can be tagged onto the files.
WAV does not have a commonly accepted tagging standard - you may well be able to tag with a WAV tagging capable program, but whether or not media players can read them is another matter.
If you want to rip to FLAC then use EAC - Exact Audio Copy - it's free, and it will securely (ie. error free) rip your CD's.
If you want to rip to ALAC (Apple Lossless) then you'll need to use iTunes, which you can also set up to rip securely.
Stay away from lossy codecs such as mp3 - they are the work of the Devil !
All of the above file types are read by Foobar2000, which is a pretty well bare bones media player - it's quite popular because it requires next to nothing in system resources. I use it myself.
Hopefully I've managed to guide you towards the right path;)
If you have questions please do not hesitate to ask.
Well that was relatively painless Chris. Thanks. :)
Use FLAC because of tagging info but not WMP to rip because it will not rip error free?
What do I use if I do want to rip to WAV?
Playback is on PS3, which does not support FLAC, so needs converting to WAV? How and with what?
I don't really care about playback on the laptop or other portable device, only the home system.
Correct.Quote:
Originally Posted by electric beach
EAC - it rips to WAV before any FLAC compression is applied. You have the option to simply rip to WAV and have done with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by electric beach
I'm not familiar with PS3. Sorry - can't comment.Quote:
Originally Posted by electric beach
However, if at some point later in time you decide to move your music files onto another device that can support FLAC then you can convert the files later on
Playback is on PS3, which does not support FLAC, so needs converting to WAV? How and with what?
Hi Steve,
Download PS3 media server and it will do it for you.
Ian.
OK, time to 'fess up here.
I had actually ripped my entire collection of 3000 or so cd's to WAV before I discovered that tags, which I hadn't realized were so important were not supported, so am now re-ripping them all. Having followed Hamish's link on how to set up dbPoweamp I am now ripping securely, with all album art. I cannot check yet if it will work with my Sonos as I don't have it yet, but have checked with my man who tells me it is all fine. Currently up to the 'L's so going well. I take great pleasure removing the WAV file each time a cd is ripped to flac - gives me an enormous sense of well being as well as helps pass the time between cd's.
Surely there must be an easier way! If you've got the 3000 CDs already ripped, is it not possible to use a batch process to get this sorted, and the tags put in? I can't believe it's not feasible - rather than doing another 3000 or so rips.Quote:
Originally Posted by steveinspain
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian Walker
Thanks Ian.
I was going to ask you about your own set-up, process and the downloading again but thought I'd just start with a simple comparison of a quality file against CD through the PS3 in the context of my system. Already a WAV file ripped with WMP (sorry!) is a little better, whereas the same CD played through the PS3 is definately worse than through the Consonance transport, both through the Brasso Dac; obviously it's not the optical versus coax link.
I'll get the EAC and wring it out with that Mr Mangler! ;)
Well if you are working with Linux, if I remember correctly, you can consider a utility that will auto tag each file. I think I used for bulk updating was QTag; however there are several and it quick - I tagged approx 15K songs in a short time. There are several similar utilities.
Also you could consider ffmpeg to convert all to FLAC from WAV if that is the sound quality you are working with. It converts video formats as well.
Hi Steve
The simplest way to set up EAC is by using The Wizard.
After setting things up there, click on EAC in the top left hand corner, the click on EAC Options. Under the Filename tab put the following character chain into the left hand box %A\%C\%N - %T.
Under the Directories tab you enter the location where you'd like to send the files.
That's about it really.
One last thing - if you use The Wizard at some point you'll get asked to enter an email address - do it, as it allows you access to the AccurateRip database, so you can get an idea as to how accurate your rip is - the higher the number the more entries in the database correspond to your rip.
I have not been spammed as a result of this - I think it's fairly safe to assume that you will not be.
If you're wondering what the character string means it is this.
Create Artist Folder.
Create Album Folder
Track number, space, hyphen, space, Track Title
With the character stream in place then all of these commands automatically execute and organise your music for you - minimal input is required.