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ripping cd's question....
#157486 02/03/07 02:47 PM
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Ok, since I built a HTPC some time ago, I thought I would start ripping some of my cd's to the hard drive. In addition, for a back up, I was thinking about buying one of those portable hard drives with USB interface so I could also take my music with me easily.

What format do you guys rip your music for best quality. I've downloaded mp3's before at 128kbps. Or, would it be better to use some type of lossless format?

Any help would be appreciated...


M80s VP180 4xM22ow 4xM3ic EP600 2xEP350
AnthemAVM60 Outlaw7700 EmoA500 Epson5040UB FluanceRT85


Re: ripping cd's question....
SirQuack #157487 02/03/07 03:08 PM
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I'm sure it's not as cheap as internal drives, but the external USB drive would be handy for that- and they are getting pretty reasonable.

For best quality I guess lossless is the only way to go, although I've never done it. I still pull out the actual CD and load it in the player when I want to listen to it on the M80s. Everywhere else (car, portable-player, computer) my 128kbps WMAs fit the bill, although I've been running those for about 7 years or so. 128 WMA/MP3 is not good enough for serious listening on your Axioms. But on other smaller systems it doesn't seem to matter that much. If I were doing it over today, I would highly consider something lossless or a higher bitrate (256 or higher).

Bottom line is you've probably got to find 2 or 3 test songs you like and sample them in just about every format available- then listen, listen, and listen some more. Find what sounds best to you and if it is doable, go for it.


-Dave

M80s VP150 QS8s EP500s
ravenmanor.com/cinema/
Re: ripping cd's question....
SirQuack #157488 02/03/07 04:03 PM
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I've ripped my music collection in lossless WMA. It lets me stream to my Xbox 360 now, and it's a common enough format that I'm not so worried that I might have to re-rip my entire music collection again later. Of course, I've only recently begun ripping them and including the album covers, so if I start streaming to a device that can extract that coolness, it will only work with a small percentage of my collection.

Re: ripping cd's question....
SirQuack #157489 02/03/07 04:32 PM
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think of it as a zipfile for audio.
http://flac.sourceforge.net/

concernign the external drives with enclosures.
I would check the warranty.
I purchased one and the warranty was only 1 year while comparable drives from the same man. were 3 years. the drive was sealed inside the enclosure also. I think this was WD as I returned the unit and bought another internal drive.

hth

randy


Axiom M80, Ep600, Qs8, VP150, Crown XLI 2500 , DBX Driverack PA2, Focusrite Scarlet 2i4
Re: ripping cd's question....
SirQuack #157490 02/03/07 09:27 PM
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In my car and garage, I use 256kbps MP3s.

Bren R.

Re: ripping cd's question....
SirQuack #157491 02/03/07 10:07 PM
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Quote:

Ok, since I built a HTPC some time ago, I thought I would start ripping some of my cd's to the hard drive. In addition, for a back up, I was thinking about buying one of those portable hard drives with USB interface so I could also take my music with me easily.

What format do you guys rip your music for best quality. I've downloaded mp3's before at 128kbps. Or, would it be better to use some type of lossless format?

Any help would be appreciated...




128 bit MP3 is said to be about equivalent to FM radio so the higher you can go the better, as Brenr said 256 is resaonable.


Jason
M80 v2
VP160 v3
QS8 v2
PB13 Ultra
Denon 3808
Samsung 85" Q70
Re: ripping cd's question....
jakewash #157492 02/03/07 11:28 PM
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320 Kb/s VBR (variable bit rate) is what I use for my MP3 player. For complex areas of the song it will bump up the bit rate, for less complex areas of the song it will bump down the bit rate.

I use lossless on my main computer hooked up to my Axioms.

I had a thread about this earlier...but I'll merge some of the content in here. Basically, what you lose (mostly) when you use lesser quality MP3's is the crisp high end. Since treble sound has more information (high frequency) it takes up more space.

If you are going to devote a 80GB or 120 GB hard drive entirely to music, I would go for a lossless audio format.

To give you an idea, each song is about 20 MB if done in a lossless format. If you have an 80 GB hard drive, you could fit about 4000 songs.

Depending on your music collection and hard drive, that could all change. I like having the lossless format because they really have a crisp high end. If I really listen to acoustical recordings there is a noticeable difference between a lossless file and a compressed file.

It's all up to you. From what I've read, most people can't tell the difference after about 256 Kb/s.



M22s|VP100|QS4s|HSU STF2
Re: ripping cd's question....
danmagicman7 #157493 02/04/07 01:27 AM
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So when you say lossless, are you saying WMA lossless, or is there an mp3 lossless format?


M80s VP180 4xM22ow 4xM3ic EP600 2xEP350
AnthemAVM60 Outlaw7700 EmoA500 Epson5040UB FluanceRT85


Re: ripping cd's question....
SirQuack #157494 02/04/07 03:25 AM
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FLAC


-Dave

M80s VP150 QS8s EP500s
ravenmanor.com/cinema/
Re: ripping cd's question....
SirQuack #157495 02/04/07 06:04 AM
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MP3 is a lossy format. WMA is also a lossy format.

WMA lossless is different from plain WMA, it has a different extension and everything. FLAC, APE, WMA Lossless and Apple Lossless are other lossless music formats.



M22s|VP100|QS4s|HSU STF2
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