Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Please Help me spend my money

Oops, yeah 11 MB. I should know that.. I've got a 1 GB shuffle!

Per the CD ripping. I have no experience with AAC so I can't yay or nay kcarlile's post. Though, he tends to know what he is talking about. I personally use a program called Exact Audio Copy with the LAME encoder (both free) to do VBR (variable bit rate) MP3 encoding of my CDs. ARS Technica has a handy (and I think readable) guide on doing this. But, again K is correct, iTunes is free and will be easier to use than the setup I just suggested. Less configuring and downloading.

just more food for thought.

-jr

No, I tend to sound like I know what I'm talking about. There's a difference!

iTunes is better with AAC than MP3 IMO.
That being said, Exact Audio Copy with the Lame encoder does MP3s better than iTunes and its MP3s at the same bit rate sound better than iTunes AACs (all in my opinion). However, iTunes is MUCH easier to use.
Coming from someone who has ripped over 20 GBs in the last week.

I love my new iMac!!!!!

thanks for the replies guys. Next question, do I have to have an Ipod to register or download iTunes? And Exact Audio Copy is free, so where do I find this free stuff? I think I'd be willing to learn how to use the Lame encoder if it is worth the sound quality.

This will all be done during my Christmas break, so when I'm not working I'll have nothing better to do!

Quick Answer, The new xbox 360 has a dvi output, you could purhcase a dvi to hdmi hook up and that would solve your problem instead of blowing more money. Although i know how tempting it is to blow money on new toys.

Thanks for the reply michael. I'm thinking your making more sense than I am. If I go that route, I don't "need" a new reciever then. I probably should start saving for graduation so that I don't have to move back in with my parents. But isn't that what Tax returns and my spring bonus are for? Oh geez, the logical side in me is saying to save my money for more 360 games and get a DVI/HDMI converter cable.

I'll throw another free one into the mix that uses LAME encoding: CDex. Free, pretty user friendly, free, not buggy in the least, and...oh, yeah...it's free.

I tried EAC and for some reason that I don't recall now I didn't like it very much. Someone please correct me, but does EAC connect to CDDB? Maybe that was it...

What is the problem with having DVI and using a cable to convert to HDMI to connect your video projector or TV, especially if the audio is going to be processed by the receiver/preamp?

It's all digital, right?

By default EAC connects to FreeDB. You can get EAC here and the LAME software here.
You will need to extract the lame software into it's own folder then tell EAC to use an external codec and tell it where that codec is located on your computer.

From within EAC you choose EAC, Compression Options. That should open a window called "Compression Options". There is a tab titled Exteranal Compression, click it if it is not already chosen. In the first dropdown menu choose LAME MP3 Encoder. Below that is a field called "Program, including path, used for compression". Click the Browse button to the right of that and find where you unzipped the LAME program (LAME.exe). You can (though not recommended) set some command line parameters in the "Additional command line options" field. Seriously, it's not recommended. The support for it is confusing and the presets you can choose are great. Personally I choose Variable Bit Rate 192 from the Bit Rate drop down menu and High Quality. Well, at least on my machine at work. I think I have it set a bit higher at home, but that's purely psychological. There is no discernable difference in sound quality. So, yeah, you can use some of the switches, but that's really for geeky tweakers (not the meth kind thank you very much!) who can't leave well enough alone.

-j