What file format for digial ripping ?

[steveinspain]

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..

[Alex_UK]

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.

[Stratmangler]

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 ?

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.

[steveinspain]

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..!

[Stratmangler]

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.

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.

[steveinspain]

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..

[electric beach]

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?

[Stratmangler]

Can I not simply rip with Windows Media player.....

Get behind me Satan !!!

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.

[electric beach]

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.

[Stratmangler]

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?

Correct.

What do I use if I do want to rip to WAV?

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.

Playback is on PS3, which does not support FLAC, so needs converting to WAV? How and with what?

I'm not familiar with PS3. Sorry - can't comment.
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