Ripping my CD collection... what bit rate and codec shall I use?

Sumanji

Sumanji

Sumanji

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Hey guys,

Just about to start ripping my entire CD collection onto my PC so I can slap it onto my new iPod. A bit confused about what format etc. I should use...

I'm guessing MP3 is de facto so I should stick with that, but what bit rate and other settings should I use? I'm going to use WMP11 which offers 120kbps through to 320kbps. I'm thinking maybe 192 or 256 would be a god compromise?

Also, is there any software you would recommend other than WMP for this task?

Cheers,

Suman
 
flac, use EAC. With flac encoder. Then batch convert the lot for your ipod, keeping both, one for high quality for Hi-Fi/PC use then MP3 for portable.

dbpoweramp for doing the flac-mp3 copy.
 
That sounds like a lot of work... and probably takes up a lot of space? How many MB does a FLAC copy take up?

Might be easier to keep the CD's for home use and just rip direct to MP3 for the iPod?

Cheers,

Suman
 
About 400MB per album. But then you've got high quality DRM free copy on your HD so never need to rip them again, and if you damage your CD's have a backup. Considering the price of HD now storing music in flac isn't a problem. How many albums do you own?
 
what is it now, £60 for 500gb? dont be so cheap :p

average size for an album in flac is about 300-400mb. say 3 albums/gb. thats 1500 albums on a £60 drive.

if you want to store music on the pc, do it right the first time - store it in a lossless format such as flac. you should never have to re-rip them then.

i wouldnt (and dont) personally convert the lot to mp3 for an ipod unless you absolutely HAVE to have your entire collection on there. i just convert an album as i put it on my player. i also use foobar to conver to LAME mp3 but thats just a personal choice - it so easy to just right click > convert to mp3 using my music player of choice:) but whatever software you do use, as long as its set up correctly to use the LAME encoder is going to beat the spots off software like WMP or musicmatch:)
 
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Flac. Any decent bit of streaming kit will support Flac so you could stream it anywhere.
Resample as necessary to mp3.

Buy a big HDD. ;)
 
EAC + FLAC = :)

use this guide for setting up EAC + flac
http://jiggafellz.isa-geek.net/jigg...e-to-secure-cd-ripping-with-exact-audio-copy/

then use dBpoweramp/foobar to convert to MP3 V0 (variable ~240kbps) for your iPod

Lame-chart-2.png
 
I play all my music wirelessly around the house using a Logitech Transporter and Squeezebox3. Everything is encoded as FLAC, I could never go back to CDs now!

I can even stream my music to my work PC across the interwibble.
 
Hi Suman,
I'm another one using lossless flac. The ripping and tagging is something you'll only want to do once, so for the cost of extra storage it's worth taking the future-proof flac route and not wishing you'd started off with a different bit-rate, etc.
Once you've got your library in flac you can make an mp3 version, and if you ever decide you want a different bitrate you can reencode them. (Also, don't forget about backup when deciding on how to store it all!)

It might be worth having a look at MediaMonkey which can convert to mp3 on the fly as it syncs files to you ipod/whatever. (NB I think there may problems with it working with the iphone/itouch at the moment).

Mattross,
What do you reckon to the transporter? I've got a couple of squeezeboxes round the house and have been toying with a better dac on the main hifi. I'd be interested to hear how much difference you think there is between the SB3 and transporter.

BRs
 
Sumanji,

Along with other posters in this thread, i'd definately recommend flac as it is completely undegraded sound quality. Whenever you like you can convert the flacs to any bitrate mp3 for a portable player for example. If you ripped your cds to, let's say 320kbps mp3 then decided you wanted a lower bitrate for whatever reason, converting from 320 to that lower bitrate will result in far worse sound quality than re-encoding the flac directly to that lower bitrate.

I would strongly recommend the following guide to setting up EAC:

http://xs.vc/eac/

Once you've set it up, which just requires flicking through that guide and following the simple directions, you'll never need to do it again and ripping is a doddle.

:)
 
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