General ripping strategy question

[Magnus_CA]

Is secure mode necessary for a large percentage of a typical person's cd collection? I don't keep my cd's wrapped in individual pillows but I don't play hockey with them either. It's taking me just over 22 minutes to rip an hour and fifteen minute long cd in secure mode to flac.

Is AccurateRip and burstmode enough to ensure skip-free playback? Can't I (theoretically) go back and re-rip in Secure mode (or Ultra-secure mode) if the AccurateRip results don't match up?

[Magnus_CA]

Upon further investigation even burstmode is ALSO taking over 22 minutes! Perhaps this is induced by the flac encoding engine? Should I be looking into the beta version of Flac 1.2.1?

Shouldn't burst mode take a fraction of the time that secure mode would take to complete? Or does Secure mode take significantly take longer if it's trying to recover errors?

[LtData]

You could try the beta based on FLAC 1.2.0, yes. Also, what encoding settings are you using for FLAC? If you just rip to WAV, how long does it take? Again, is the drive an internal drive or an external drive?

[Magnus_CA]

You could try the beta based on FLAC 1.2.0, yes. Also, what encoding settings are you using for FLAC? If you just rip to WAV, how long does it take? Again, is the drive an internal drive or an external drive?

I haven't tried ripping to WAV...I'll have to try later tonight.

I'm using compression level 5.

[neilthecellist]

I haven't tried ripping to WAV...I'll have to try later tonight.

I'm using compression level 5.

Well, first off, what kind of processor / speed of processor do you have? Also, if I'm not mistaken, compression level 5 should take the longest (or is that level 1? correct me if i'm wrong)

[Launfal]

Well, first off, what kind of processor / speed of processor do you have? Also, if I'm not mistaken, compression level 5 should take the longest (or is that level 1? correct me if i'm wrong)

8 takes the longest. 0, the shortest. 5 is the default.

[Magnus_CA]

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

My PC is probably already due for an upgrade...

Athlon 64 3000+ 1.81 GHz
1 GB RAM
Sony CD-RW CRX230EE

It took 3 min 45 sec to process the same CD from above into an uncompressed WAV.

I also tried encoding the same set of flacs in burst mode with level 0 compression. It took 14 minutes.

It's really going to suck if I have to upgrade my processor to cut my ripping time...that's one expense I didn't account for.

[bhoar]

That athlon isn't old enough to be showing such a huge slowdown in FLAC encoding. FLAC isn't a particularly intensive codec. You've got enough RAM too. I wonder if something *else* is eating CPU on your machine that the codec is competing with.

-brendan

[LtData]

What about encoding to mp3 or WMA? What about another compressed lossless format, like Monkey's Audio or WavPack?

[Magnus_CA]

That athlon isn't old enough to be showing such a huge slowdown in FLAC encoding. FLAC isn't a particularly intensive codec. You've got enough RAM too. I wonder if something *else* is eating CPU on your machine that the codec is competing with.

-brendan

Just found out I can move up to a dual-core for $88. I think I might just try that.

[Magnus_CA]

What about encoding to mp3 or WMA? What about another compressed lossless format, like Monkey's Audio or WavPack?

I'll give it a try.

[Magnus_CA]

That athlon isn't old enough to be showing such a huge slowdown in FLAC encoding. FLAC isn't a particularly intensive codec. You've got enough RAM too. I wonder if something *else* is eating CPU on your machine that the codec is competing with.

-brendan

I'm pretty good about disabling backup programs so I'd be surprised if it was a system resources issue. I know stepping up to an Athlon X2 will help but it's weird the way it gets stuck at 99% and doesn't begin ripping the next song until a minute later. I would hate to have to reinstall XP to get the encoding time down.

[bhoar]

I'm pretty good about disabling backup programs so I'd be surprised if it was a system resources issue. I know stepping up to an Athlon X2 will help but it's weird the way it gets stuck at 99% and doesn't begin ripping the next song until a minute later. I would hate to have to reinstall XP to get the encoding time down.

I'd use the task manager, or better yet Process Explorer, to watch for high CPU or high IO rates by other processes during your rip sessions.

-brendan

[LtData]

To double-check, you are ripping to an internal hard drive, correct, NOT an external or network drive?

[Magnus_CA]

To double-check, you are ripping to an internal hard drive, correct, NOT an external or network drive?

I am ripping to a NAS.

[Magnus_CA]

You figured it out LtData. Ripping in burst mode to a local drive took 4 minutes. That's more like it!

Now back to my original question. What settings should I opt for for 98% of my collection if I'm going for Flac's? I assume I'm someone who would appreciate secure mode, so that answers that, but what about these settings...

After Encoding Verify Written Audio on or off?

AccurateRip on or off?

Clear Read cache with FUA on or off (the test says my drive supports it)?

C2 Error Pointers for Error Detection on or off (the test says my drive supports it)?

Anything else?

[Spoon]

AccurateRip on, FUA if your drive supports it, c2 pointers on.

[Magnus_CA]

Thanks Spoon. Last question...How about Ultra Secure Mode? Is it only necessary to enable this under certain conditions, or should I enable it for all my rips? Should I vary drive speed with each pass too?

[LtData]

I recommend enabling the option to vary the speed on each pass.
As for UltraSecure mode, that is up to you: are you ripping for an archive, which should use UltraSecure, or for a portable player, which doesn't necessarily need UltraSecure.