The Official iTunes CD Audio Ripping Thread (Poll please)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 651465
  • Start date Start date

Deleted member 651465

Deleted member 651465

Hey all,

Bored at home and I was just wondering; what quality settings (and indeed what encoder) you all use for your ripping duties

Personally, I have always gone for a minimum of 192kbps AAC for my choice as it's a good balance of quality and filesize.

If I could rip my whole library (over 1000 CDs) to lossless then I would, but storage is slender on the iPod for that sort of punishment ;)

So.. post away.



*Mods could you add a poll to this please with the options;

AAC
AIFF
Apple Lossless
MP3
WAV
Other.. including LAME etc
 
Last edited by a moderator:
iTunes --> iTunes Lame Plugin :D

Usually encode using LAME VBR, sounds awesome :cool:

so that would be MP3 for numerous reasons
 
MagSafe said:
I use iTunes default settings, MP3 at 128kb :)
Click to expand...
May I suggest upping the quality to a minimum of 192 if anything.

Not sure about you, but being an audiophile I can hear a 128kbps mp3 everytime! *sick face*

LAME is a good encoder (tested it loads, never installed it on my MBP though), but for the sake of complications I will add "other" to the OP ;)
 
AAC 192Kbps.

Better sounding than 128Kbps. Apple lossless is another leap in quality (but eats HDD space and iPod battery!). MP3 quality sucks unless you rip at 320Kbps.

Whatever happened to the Yamaha VQF standard? It rocked even at low bit rates...
 
EVH said:
May I suggest upping the quality to a minimum of 192 if anything.

Not sure about you, but being an audiophile I can hear a 128kbps mp3 everytime! *sick face*
Click to expand...

I new someone would recommend a higher bit rate :p

I tried listening to higher quality bitrate music when i got my iPod Hi-Fi a year or so ago and i just couldn't tell the different, maybe its my hearing but the default settings always sound fantastic to me even at really high volumes.
 
... maybe it is your hearing, but I'd argue it's also the fact your listening through the Apple Hi-Fi ;)

I do use sound systems for a living, and I've grown to 'hear' compressed music, MP3 is just so obvious to me I cringe when DJs bring iPods/laptops with horribly compressed music.

@Mike Howlett.. I'd use Lossless if the MBP didn't have a 160GB limit
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I rip to FLAC for storage as its open source

Then convert to high-bitrate AAC

Finally import into itunes for putting on my ipod.
 
EVH said:
... maybe it is your hearing, but I'd argue it's also the fact your listening through the Apple Hi-Fi ;)

I do use sound systems for a living, and I've grown to 'hear' compressed music, MP3 is just so obvious to me I cringe when DJs bring iPods/laptops with horribly compressed music.

@Mike Howlett.. I'd use Lossless if the MBP didn't have a 160GB limit
Click to expand...

Oh come on ... whats wrong with the Apple Hi-Fi? Its a fine piece of kit! :)

To be honest i don't think i've listened to non-compressed music in over 5 years, maybe more, so i suppose i've just gotten used to it. Besides listening to CD's in the car, before I got iPod integration fitted, i've been ripping my CD's onto my computer for years now. Nowadays i just download albums from iTunes and listen to them every and anywhere on my iPod and they always sounds brilliant.

Oh, and surely my hearing can't be that bad, i'm only 21 and haven't been to that many live gigs (i think).
 
MagSafe said:
Oh, and surely my hearing can't be that bad, i'm only 21 and haven't been to that many live gigs (i think).
Click to expand...


Listen to your iPod loud sometimes? Thats just as bad, or so they say... :o

Ps, <3 you Mac guys. :p
 
MagSafe said:
Oh come on ... whats wrong with the Apple Hi-Fi? Its a fine piece of kit! :)
Click to expand...
Come listen to my home stereo and you'll soon hear the difference ;)
 
320Kbps MP3

I use iTunes if i'm on my Mac, CDex + Lame if i'm on my Windows computer.

iTunes on Mac still annoys me in that it won't write the damn ID3 Tags to the actual file when ripping so I have to do it manually after - very annoying :mad:

While I do find AAC sounds better at the lower bitrates (128Kbps) and is technically a better codec, I much prefer the peace of mind that I know WHATEVER I play my music on it will always play and be of the highest quality (that MP3 allows) :)

As for the lossless codecs there isn't a predominant standard that everything uses so I wouldn't really touch any of them.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom