[Closed] Ripping CDs: Which format?

Depends what your devices will play back and how much effort you wish to go to for a correct rip/future compatibility.

AAC VBR 160 or 256 ripped using iTunes will almost certainly sound perfectly good. Very very difficult to ABX from the source for me. In other words perceived to be identical to the original. It will also play back on most devices, and will continue to do so as so many people have AAC (from the iTunes store).

Or if you want to put more effort in, you can use EAC in secure mode with AccurateRip enabled. Then encode to FLAC and add replaygain with FB2k and transcode to AAC or MP3 for portability. This is what I do, as I'm a geek, but to be honest even for me it is a tedious process.

And there was me thinking WMP 320 would suffice.

Thanks, I'll look into EAC.

I assume you only encode to the portable format only when transferring to the portable device?

I use DBPoweramp to rip to both MP3 and FLAC at the same time (though to different folders) The MP3 is to copy to my phone or any other device where space is a consideration.

The reason I have a FLAC copy is because I want a lossless copy just in case I ever need to encode to some other format than MP3 and I never ever, ever want to have to rip my CDs again.

I think a high bit rate mp3 covers it (196 to 320 kb/s)

If you feel the need for further angst you can now google which codec

I once tried something trendy like Ogg Vorbis and regretted it as your then tied into players that support the format

EAC is worth using, not just for the accuraterip stuff but because it can run separate rip/encode queues. When I was doing mine I'd just take a pile of CDs to the computer and just keep feeding it one every 30s. Some software always wants to rip a track, encode a track, rip a track, etc which takes ages.

Variable bitrate MP3 is more than good enough for my ears, and works with everything. The LAME encoder with the standard preset will make MP3s with an average bitrate of about 180kbps. Do the FLAC encoding then re-encoding thing if you really want but I couldn't be bothered and it would just be wasted space for me.

I did my original rip as .wav files so that i had something as close to a master copy as possible and the difference between a 2TB drive and 3TB drive is the cost of a couple of CD's. Once you have the files on a hard drive the transcoding to whatever format you need to suit your particular devices is an easy thing to do. Ripping the CD's is a tiresome and soul destroying task that you really only want to do once.

You can play the wav files directly from audio station although I don't think you'll have any cover art. For a couple of years I didn't bother with keeping another format aside from .wav as everything worked fine, I was using iTunes which stores its cover art in a separate file.

More recently I've transcoded the original files to a couple of different formats to suit different media players/devices and to retain cover art but if I had to pick I'd probably settle on FLAC as the best all round format for quality and compatibility.

I don't bother keeping a low quality version of everything. I let iTunes handle the transcoding for portables as part of the process of moving the files onto the device.

Probably best to do a small (half a dozen?) batch of CD's first so you can get everything set up how you want it before you go through your whole collection.

Just tried EAC: Couldn't get it to wrk without errors, despite following wiki instructions. I think this is mainly to do with the additional command line options. I tried copy and pasting the suggested settings but it came up with an error saying they aren't recognised.
Dbpoweramp: Ripped smoothly but playback pauses every 10 seconds (approx.) - could this be my router (Netgear N150)?

Can anyone suggest any settings for either of these?

mikey74 - Member

Just tried EAC: Couldn't get it to wrk without errors, despite following wiki instructions. I think this is mainly to do with the additional command line options. I tried copy and pasting the suggested settings but it came up with an error saying they aren't recognised.
Dbpoweramp: Ripped smoothly but playback pauses every 10 seconds (approx.) - could this be my router (Netgear N150)?

Can anyone suggest any settings for either of these?

Download and install FLAC

Then follow this:
http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=EAC_Configuration_Wizard

During the encoder bit of the wizard, choose FLAC and keep the defaults. You don't need to change the command line strings.

I still get the "external compressor error" message.

Scratch that!! I've just fixed it: It was a network error. All I did was map a network drive to the folder on my NAS and the error doesn't appear any more.

Ahhhh!! Now I've successfully ripped the CD, it won't play without pausing every 5 seconds: However, it plays fine on my android phone. Both using Synology Audio Station.

AAC VBR 160 or 256 ripped using iTunes will almost certainly sound perfectly good. Very very difficult to ABX from the source for me. In other words perceived to be identical to the original. It will also play back on most devices, and will continue to do so as so many people have AAC (from the iTunes store).

Cheers. I've got the FLAC files to play OK now (it was to do with transcoding settings), but I'm still not convinced FLAC is worth the bother.

retro83 - can you expand on how you do this with EAC? I know it's a powerful tool but it's not the most user friendly thing I've ever seen.

you can use EAC in secure mode with AccurateRip enabled. Then encode to FLAC and add replaygain with FB2k and transcode to AAC or MP3 for portability

I use FLAC files on the main system but also want an mp3 copy for portable devices.

Anyone who wants a digital music player, that has huge capacity, and will play pretty much any music file might be interested in this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/FiiO-X5-MP3-Player-DAC-Black/dp/B00I4Q9S32
Especially now the iPod Classic is no longer available. Not clear from the page, but it'll take 2x128Gb MicroSDXC cards, giving 256Gb, and future firmware upgrades indicate that it'll take 256 and 512Gb cards, as and when availability and, more important price make them usable. A 1.24Tb capacity player is appealing...
It's a DAC, as well, BTW.

I agree with all of the above.

I also think that you can hear the differences in ripping/codec ect as your system gets louder and better quality shiz.

Make sure you rip them to lossless definitely (FLAC!) , you will regret it later if you don't

Does anyone use a ZoneRipper Max? Now I've entered 2009 by buying an Apple TV yesterday, I'm tempted to go NAS with the 1500+ CDs sitting in the lounge currently. I don't have the patience to sit and do it all manually, and the ripping NAS solution might work... Any thoughts?

If you don't have the patience, send them to this lot:

https://www.ripcaster.co.uk/node/6

They'll rip them for you, at a cost, of course. Might be cheaper than buying a ripping NAS though.

I use DB Poweramp and rip to lossless FLAC. I've A to B'd lossless FLAC against the native wav file on a good system and can't hear any difference. When I transfer tracks to my phone I use DB Batch Converter and transcode them to variable bit rate OGG Vorbis to save a bit of space.

Mmmm... that Fiio player looks very interesting. Good to see a manufacturer stepping up to provide a portable player for those of us who want to choose what to listen to after we've gone out.

BTW, I used ripcaster last year. There is a cost involved but it was worth it not to have to spend forever feeding CDs into a laptop.

The DS Audio app lets you stream your lossless files to your device from your synology NAS. But having said that, I'd go along with what folks have suggested: rip to FLAC and AAC or MP3. Personally though, if I have a cd to rip these days I just use iTunes with its max bit rate and VBR for AAC.

What [url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/ripping-cds-which-format#post-6575994 ]Rubber_Buccaneer[/url] said.

+1 DB Poweramp.

DB Poweramp is £26; EAC is free: Is there any advantage to using the former over the latter?

DB Poweramp is £26; EAC is free: Is there any advantage to using the former over the latter?

DB Poweramp just works perfectly, and very easy to customise. I tried all the free stuff before this and it was well worth the payment. But then, my HiFi system cost well over £10K, so £26 is back pocket change by comparison 😀

Like he ^ says. DB Poweramp is just easier, slicker and faster than EAC

Fair enough. I have the free trial at the moment so I'll give it a whirl and see how it compares.