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...
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.
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.
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
In my car and garage, I use 256kbps MP3s.
Bren R.
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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...
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.
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.
So when you say lossless, are you saying WMA lossless, or is there an mp3 lossless format?
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.
When I want the music on my computer to sound better, I change the file extensions from .mp3 to .omg!!
The exclamation marks are essential.
Well...there is a .ogg music format.
FLAC!
I use EAC with the accurate rip plugin and encode to FLAC. It's lossless, has decent compression, and the tagging capabilities are endless. In the last year I've ripped all my CDs to FLAC. I use a squeezebox in my stereo only set-up, and I play the FLACs directly from my HTPC on my hometheater system.
I would also recommend FLAC. I've also used 320 VBR mp3 encoding for my mp3 player/car.
What is wrong with WMA Lossless, seems like everyone mentions FLAC. Is it some beef with the evil empire or what? Most portable music players support wma, as do most DVD/CD players, and HTPC's running Windows is a no brainer. It is pretty simple to pop the cd in and let the latest media player do its thing.
Also, with the introduction to a few websites now offering lossless formats (MusicGiants) also in WMA, seems like a viable solution.
I don't think there's anything wrong with WMA lossless. Everyone's just trying to be cool. Of course, every time they say FLAC, I think of the duck from the AFLAC commercials.
sirquack,
FLAC is more recognized and universal as a lossless format than any other format of lossless. Often times, devices will support WMA, but not WMA lossless. If a device supports a lossless format, in more cases than one, it's going to be FLAC.
Randy, there's nothing wrong with WMA. I use FLAC because it's open source and just makes it simpler if I use my files with my Linux boxes.
Just to add to the discussion, WMA Lossless is fine but has some inherent risks IMO. Remember, it is a "Windows" thing. And yes a lot of players support WMA, but not "lossless" WMA.
FLAC is open source, free from any form of Microsoft future control, and much more robust.
Also, if you're primary concern is portability, car audio, garage etc etc, then go with what makes you comfortable. But if you are thinking critical listening and future proofing, FLAC is the only way to go. It can always be converted to any other format and you still have the original exact audio file. WMA is just too risky, some day the evil empire might just make all the rules!
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Remember, it is a "Windows" thing.
Ooh, not Windows... *gasp* *strangles myself with my iPod headphone cable until the iLife runs out of iMe, and my face turns the same ironic shade of purple as my kitchy t-shirt* 
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Free from any form of Microsoft future control
This is true. Same can be said of any manufacturers proprietary format... Apple, Windows, or Sony's wonderous ATRAC3 (you named your format so it sounds like 8-track... what were you thinking?!?)
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WMA is just too risky, some day the evil empire might just make all the rules!
And if they do, the ones that have playable WMA files will be laughing at those with 10s of gigs of useless FLACs.
Fearmongerers - 0 <***> Bren - 1
Bren R.
That's really an interesting position to take. You defend Windows (presumably because it's ubiquitous), but you denigrate the iPod (presumably because it's ubiquitous). Fascinating, Jim.
Not that the iPod has anything at all to do with FLAC. AFAIK, you can't even use FLAC on an iPod.
Nah, just a poke at fearmongering or fanatical supporters.
If he'd have been saying "Chevy is the best... Fords explode... remember the Pinto?" I'd have said "Remember GM saddle tanks?"
Good to keep perspective.
Bren R.
It's but a flesh wound. Carry on.
So, if I decided to use WMA lossless for my HTPC drives, is it pretty easy to convert those to WMA or MP3 (128kbps) for a portable player, for example.? I suppose you would have to use the software that came with the mp3 player?
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Nah, just a poke at fearmongering or fanatical supporters.
OK OK, it was meant much more tounge and cheek than maybe it came across....(evil empire)....maybe one or two of these wold have helped.. 
I've used all the formats out there at one time or another. Also use Microsoft on most of my PC's, and Apple, I've even had several Linux boxes over the years. As I said, WMA is fine. And side by side to FLAC, WMA Lossless sounds identical. However if some day we find that WMA only works on certain companie's machines, or DRM is put in place with it, then I would rather have FLAC. There's a reason for Open Source and I'm much more comfortable with it. Maybe it's the anarchist in me!
Either way is personal choice that folks need to research and find out for themselves.
As for converting to MP3 from WMA, there's tons of software out there to do it, as is with FLAC. There's really no need for lossless in comparison to a 256 MP3 when it comes to car audio, portable or any other non critical listening. Use the format that works best for you and your situation.
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I'd have said "Remember GM saddle tanks?"
you mean the ones that NBC faked the fire on national tv.
sorry to drift off topic, i just hadda get my 2cents in.
and yes gm did offer coupons on new vehicles to owners of those vehicles. mine never exploded, either the truck nor the coupon 
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OK OK, it was meant much more tounge and cheek than maybe it came across....(evil empire)....maybe one or two of these wold have helped
Mine too, that was just farting around, if I'd have meant it, I would have bulldogged you a lot more and used the word "Hitler."
Bren R.
I really like Easy CD-DA Extractor for all of my ripping and conversion. It's really handy, and I've never had a problem ripping anything.
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I suppose you would have to use the software that came with the mp3 player?
If your portable player is supported by WMP, then you can set it up so that it will automatically convert the lossless or even higher bitrate WMAs down to whatever you want. It will then do this all in one step, converting and then transferring to your player. Makes it pretty seamless.
Does anyone use Audiograbber for ripping to MP3? I've been using it for well over a year now with great results. The price is nice too - free...
Audiograbber Also, does anyone know the bitrate iTunes uses on their downloaded music? I created a CD for the first time today of iTunes music and the sound was decent through the Axioms. From the file size I'm guessing 320?
EDIT: Never mind; 128k, I just figured it out.
I used AudioGrabber for a time. I don't remember why I went on to Easy CD-DA Extractor, but I think I must have had trouble with some CDs. That site mentions AudioCatalyst, and that's what I used before AudioGrabber. I really liked that, so I was disappointed Xing didn't update it.
And the 128k iTunes bitrate is one reason I really don't like buying music through them. I really wish high-resolution multi-channel audio downloads were more common. I'd even pay a reasonable premium.
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Does anyone use Audiograbber for ripping to MP3? I've been using it for well over a year now with great results. The price is nice too - free...
Audiograbber
Another user of Audiograbber...very simple. When I don't necessarily want to rip to mp3, I prefer Exact Audio Copy