Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler OT: Best way to convert CD's to mp3?

Just started rippin'...

Using CDex directly from CD to mp3.

Here's how I configured CDex...let me know if I should change anything...

On the encoder tab...

Thread Priority "Normal"
Encoder "Lame MP3 Encoder (version 1.30, engine 3.92 MMX)
Encoder Options
Version - MPEG I
Bitrate Min - 320kbs
Mode - Stereo
Quality - Very High Quality (q=0)
"On-the-fly MP3 Encoding" is checked
VBR Method - Disabled
Output Samplerate - 44100

Sound right? It's all pretty much Greek to me.

So far so good...the only thing disapointing is the time it takes to rip. It's averaging about 10-15 minutes per disc or about 25% of the disc's real time.

I have always used Music Match. I've been using it for years and find it to be very good.

Shag

Spiff,

Part of the reason for the long rip-times is the high bitrate you appear to be using. You may want to sample the different bitrates to see where your sweet-spot is. You may find that you might not hear a difference at a lower bitrate. It all depends where your comfort zone is.

On my old computer it took me about 15 mins per cd, my settings are the same on both computers so im not sure what contributes to the faster ripping. But i am looking at my settings and i have quality set to normal. I think the mp3's im getting are good quality.

I've tried other programs, but I prefer EAC (Exact Audio Copy) for ripping CD's. It's got tons of options, but it also has a "wizard" which can make the setup painless.

I have tried 320 and 128 settings on MP3s for taking with me (on a Sony PDA) and no matter which headphones I use they sound about the same.

Is there no point in ripping at 320 if you are going to try to squeeze the tunes through sub $100 headphones?

I am using Sony MDR-EX51LP Fontopia Headphones and Sennheiser PX100s - both supposedly pretty good for under $100 headphones. I can't see spending $200 or more on headphones that go outside and may get busted.

I like the fantopias better because they block out outside noise and they are smaller, but the Sennheisers are probably better inside.

edit--
Headphones may be the bottleneck of maybe it is my ears. I should compare them on my home system, duh!

Hi Don,

I think Craig's concern (which I share) is optimizing quality so that you can use ripped-to-MP3 audio as a primary source in the home listening environment also.

I'd agree with your assessment, though. For mobile use (in the car, or through headphones), I was not disappointed by the 128 bitrate. I have decent Sony noise-canceling headphones, and a pair of older (but expensive when I bought them) Koss also. Those tracks also sound fine through my Cambridge computer speakers. However, when I listen to them through the main M60 system, I am not satisfied.

I like Musicmatch fine, and am open to the other software alternatives suggested. My strategic direction now is that, if I am going to spend the time to rip and re-rip a large part of my CD collection, I want the resulting files to provide multimedia service for all of my listening devices.

I would be very interested to hear if your impressions of the 128 files are similar to mine. Maybe it's just me.

Also remember the quality of playback also has A LOT to do with the device decoding the PCM stream.

You can rip a high quality MP3 and it will sound like doodoo if you play it back on a cheap device with cheap DAC's....it will sound bad. Play it back on a good device with good DAC's and it will sound great.

I use the DAC's on my pre/pro.....sounds great!

Excellent point, Curtis. Thank you very much for helping me keep an eye on ALL of the links in the chain.