The Official iTunes CD Audio Ripping Thread (Poll please)

[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

 

[WotDa]

I use mp3 for compatability with other stuff.

*Waits for the iTunes sucks mob*

 

[Will_3rd]

iTunes --> iTunes Lame Plugin

Usually encode using LAME VBR, sounds awesome

so that would be MP3 for numerous reasons

 

[AJUK]

I use mp3 for the same reason as WotDa stated.

 

[MagSafe]

I use iTunes default settings, MP3 at 128kb

 

[Deleted member 651465]

I use iTunes default settings, MP3 at 128kb

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

 

[MikeHowett]

I use Apple Lossless

 

[Doug]

I let iTunes do all the heavy lifting, AAC @ 256K.

 

[titchard]

I rip all of my CD's in Apple Lossless - Got a big hard drive and don't like the sound of compressed music.

Rich

 

[MagicBoy]

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...

 

[lemonkettaz]

just mp3... itunes

no less than 160kbps...

normally about 192kbps.

 

[MagSafe]

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*

I new someone would recommend a higher bit rate

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.

 

[Deleted member 651465]

... 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

 

[Alex_L]

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.

 

[MagSafe]

... 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

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).

 

[WotDa]

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).

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

Ps, <3 you Mac guys.

 

[Deleted member 651465]

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

Come listen to my home stereo and you'll soon hear the difference

 

[WotDa]

Come listen to my home stereo and you'll soon hear the difference

You live a bit far away though, I suspect not many of us have an interstellar space ship.

 

[Will_3rd]

Ps, <3 you Mac guys.

I heart you to!

 

[Fillado]

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

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.