Questions?

[Jimx]

I'm seriously thinking about purchasing this product on its merits alone, but I have a few questions - mostly on self-reassurance - before I take the dip.


1. Is the CD Ripper better then other software when ripping to WAV for example - if so, why?


2. Is WAV the best lossless format to rip to (for archiving) i.e is it the closest to the original in every way?


3. What is the best secure illustration - walk through - to achieve the best results for archiving.


As you can see my main goal is to get the best genuine results that will give me piece of mind further down the road - rather then going back resulting in a cerebral aneurysm :D




Yes, I am a complete novice so thank you for your time and patience.



Kind regards, Jimx

[EliC]

Re: Questions?

I'm seriously thinking about purchasing this product on its merits alone, but I have a few questions - mostly on self-reassurance - before I take the dip.


1. Is the CD Ripper better then other software when ripping to WAV for example - if so, why?

Yes, of course this is an opinion. Since you want to archive I would recommend the reference version with secure ripping. The secure ripper in combination with drives that support C2 error detection (most modern drives) is very fast, secure and reliable. Its the fastest secure ripper out there.

is [wav] the closest to the original in every way?

no, wav IS the same same as the original. no difference as long as a rip is accurate/secure. dBpoweramp also has the best support for accuraterip and offers the best metadata available with PerfectMeta.

2. Is WAV the best lossless format to rip to (for archiving) i.e

No. I suggest FLAC. It is ~ half the size of wav and is also exactly the same as the original, with better tagging support.

3. What is the best secure illustration - walk through - to achieve the best results for archiving.

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/cd-ripper-setup-guide.htm

How many discs are you ripping?

[Jimx]

Re: Questions?

Yes, of course this is an opinion. Since you want to archive I would recommend the reference version with secure ripping. The secure ripper in combination with drives that support C2 error detection (most modern drives) is very fast, secure and reliable. Its the fastest secure ripper out there.




no, wav IS the same same as the original. no difference as long as a rip is accurate/secure. dBpoweramp also has the best support for accuraterip and offers the best metadata available with PerfectMeta.



No. I suggest FLAC. It is ~ half the size of wav and is also exactly the same as the original, with better tagging support.

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/cd-ripper-setup-guide.htm

How many discs are you ripping?

I see - so FLAC is a preferred method to WAV with your indication of "tagging support" - - but is one superior in quality or, is it just for size management?

How many discs are you ripping?

150 at present.

I wonder - will my drive last :D



Well thank you for your initial time EliC :smile2:

[EliC]

Re: Questions?

Both FLAC and wav (and all other lossless formats) have exactly the same quality as the original. FLAC will be close to about 1/2 the size of wav and supports tagging. wav does not support tagging.

[Jimx]

Re: Questions?

That's clear as day, thanks!


Apparently WMP and my portable media player (Sony NWZ-S639F) doesn't support FLAC - and doesn't look anyway promising in the perceivable future :(



Just a few more questions before I take the stabilizers off :D


1. What Media player best compliments dbpoweramp, in your opinion?

2. If saving all files to FLAC for the purpose of archiving and tagging: whats the best format I can then convert to with sound quality in-mind - in order to play them back on a device that doesn't support FLAC?

3. In Winamp as a test and I've noticed in the file location specifically the bit rate - is different: 1,411 kbps) - compere that to Winamps file info - Average bitrate: 583 kbps) why do you think that is?


When using Media Center 14 it however plays the file in WAV.


Thanks again for your time, Jimx

[Teknojnky]

Re: Questions?

As already stated, all Lossless codecs are exactly the same quality wise.

The differences occur mostly in software/hardware support and compression vs speed of encoding.

FLAC is generally the most widely used outside of windows media player and itunes.

Since neither itunes or WMP offer very good support for flac, if you use either of those you may want to use WMA Lossless (windows media player) or Apple Lossless/ALAC (itunes).

wave files are pretty much universal, but are extremely wasteful of space, and lack a consistent metadata standard (or at least not all programs can read/write wave metadata to other programs).

for more info on lossless in general, please read the link below

http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison

the other common ripper which is compared to dbpa is eac, which is free but may not be as easy to figure out/use depending on your knowledge/experience.

[sredmyer]

Re: Questions?

1. What Media player best compliments dbpoweramp, in your opinion?

The answer to this question depends on whether you are talking about portable media players (ie. iPod, Zune, etc.) or a media player to be used with your home audio system. In the case of the former lossless formats are usually not used (though most portable players do support some type of lossless format) simply because of the space requirements. In the case of the later what format you choose (as others have stated) will be based on the player you player you plan to use. If you will simply be playing the media via your PC and only have WMP installed then I would go with its native format (WMA) which has a lossless version. However doing so will limit your playback options (without conversion) in the future should you decide to change players. I personally use flac files stored on a NAS and the SqueezeBox to stream the audio to my home entertainment center. The lossless compression of flac along with the excelent tagging support is why I chose it.

hope this helps

[Porcus]

Re: Questions?

Jimx, on your first questions:


1) Assuming you use MS-Windows, then you should use nothing but EAC or dBpoweramp, because you want AccurateRip.
Most in this forum would be biased towards dBpoweramp, and I am no exception. There are a couple of things that EAC does better (if you want images with cuesheets, for example -- and the ever-annoying pre-emphasis thing).

But you do not only want a rock-solid rip, you also want metadata (unless you really enjoy punching them yourself), and dBpoweramp's support is superior.


2) There is no reason to use .wav.
- Sonically, lossless is lossless and are all the same (as long as the file format supports the sounds you want to put into it -- I believe that the now-obsolete Shorten format did never support more than 16 bits, for example).

- But different lossless formats have different features. I recommend FLAC (open, has great tagging support including ReplayGain, is fairly efficient storage-wise while still decoding very fast, blah blah blah) -- unless you insist on using iTunes. Windows Media Player requires some plugin, see http://flac.sourceforge.net/download.html .

- Notice however that audio formats do not hold e.g. data tracks, which some CDs have. I do not think there exists a "CD image" format which stores "everything off a music CD".




Your second:

1) Player? Independently of ripper, I use foobar2000. Free, minimalistic in its basic version but highly skinnable and configurable (on their forum, you can find all bells & whistle) -- and supports bit-perfect output if you like. And ReplayGain.

2, 3) The bitrate difference is simply because FLAC (and most if not all other lossless formats) store the same bits more efficient than WAV.

2) For playback on a device that does not support FLAC, I would recommend transcoding on-the-fly; rather than having an mp3 copy (assuming the player only supports mp3) which you copy to your player, you choose files to convert with your player as target folder. Then your computer will have to do the encoding every time, but given that writing to these devices aren't too quick, the delay can't be _that_ bad.

(Be sure to uncheck any "delete original" -- or rather, set them read-only as Administrator.)

[Jimx]

Re: Questions?

Thanks guys for your input - much appreciated


Well now! I see many recommend FLAC as a lossless format of choice - however most of what I use on a daily bases doesn't support this format ..tis a bugger indeed and not one I want to pick over :D I'm simply using WMP - well - because - that's what I am use to. I have tried WMA -Lossless but don't particular like its compatibility, and its rather on the big side, I guess - although I must admit storage space is not an issue for me but rather lossless and compatibility i.e portable device - for example.

So I ask what do you think of Wave-Mp3) - it's still lossless only compressed - right?
As for the size its not bad at all.

[garym]

Re: Questions?

Is WAV-MP3 another format (hybrid lossless????). If so, I suspect this has even less compatibility than FLAC. And you probably should expand the scope of your thinking here (to the extent it makes sense for your uses). Many moons ago I had this perspective that I needed to choose the "one" best format for my use. Realizing that this wasn't really what I needed opened my head for a much better approach. The most time consuming aspect of creating your music collection from CDs is the ripping/tagging process. You only want to do this ONCE! This is why having a lossless (e.g., FLAC) format initially is a good answer. Rip only once and make sure your tags are what you want. Then you are free to create any other format you might want for any possible use without needing to go through the very time consuming ripping process. If 5 years from now, there is a very efficient codec (and "better") for use on the equivalent of an IPOD or car player, etc., I can simply pull up my FLAC files, make a few clicks of the mouse, go away for overnight (or even a day or two), and return to find a set of new files. I've ripped at least 6,000 CDs and I never want to do that again!

To say all this much shorter: Think in terms of a lossless format as your permanent archive and then any other format for use in various settings. Getting away from the idea of needing your files in a SINGLE format will expand your options considerably.

[Spoon]

Re: Questions?

Wav-mp3 is 100% lossy

[Jimx]

Re: Questions?

Wav-mp3 is 100% lossy

Oh I see ..bummer!

[Jimx]

Re: Questions?

Is WAV-MP3 another format (hybrid lossless????). If so, I suspect this has even less compatibility than FLAC. And you probably should expand the scope of your thinking here (to the extent it makes sense for your uses). Many moons ago I had this perspective that I needed to choose the "one" best format for my use. Realizing that this wasn't really what I needed opened my head for a much better approach. The most time consuming aspect of creating your music collection from CDs is the ripping/tagging process. You only want to do this ONCE! This is why having a lossless (e.g., FLAC) format initially is a good answer. Rip only once and make sure your tags are what you want. Then you are free to create any other format you might want for any possible use without needing to go through the very time consuming ripping process. If 5 years from now, there is a very efficient codec (and "better") for use on the equivalent of an IPOD or car player, etc., I can simply pull up my FLAC files, make a few clicks of the mouse, go away for overnight (or even a day or two), and return to find a set of new files. I've ripped at least 6,000 CDs and I never want to do that again!

To say all this much shorter: Think in terms of a lossless format as your permanent archive and then any other format for use in various settings. Getting away from the idea of needing your files in a SINGLE format will expand your options considerably.

Good points

Many moons ago I had this perspective I needed to choose the "one" best format for my use.

Yes, I think my mind is caught in that trap - momentarily mind :D as I think I'm coming around to this way of thinking.

[sredmyer]

Re: Questions?

Thanks guys for your input - much appreciated


Well now! I see many recommend FLAC as a lossless format of choice - however most of what I use on a daily bases doesn't support this format ..tis a bugger indeed and not one I want to pick over :D I'm simply using WMP - well - because - that's what I am use to. I have tried WMA -Lossless but don't particular like its compatibility, and its rather on the big side, I guess - although I must admit storage space is not an issue for me but rather lossless and compatibility i.e portable device - for example.

So I ask what do you think of Wave-Mp3) - it's still lossless only compressed - right?
As for the size its not bad at all.

If you are stuck with WMP as your player, you can still use flac files you simply have to add the codec for flac. Here is the link to the flac development site. They have information on setting up WMP to play flac files.

http://flac.sourceforge.net/documentation_tasks.html

Hope this helps

[Jimx]

Re: Questions?

If you are stuck with WMP as your player, you can still use flac files you simply have to add the codec for flac. Here is the link to the flac development site. They have information on setting up WMP to play flac files.

http://flac.sourceforge.net/documentation_tasks.html

Hope this helps

Yes, thanks sredmyer for your help, but I'm seriously considering moving to another media player? as I believe I shouldn't have to implement support into WMP - as I'm sure you'll agree Microsoft should have done this in the first place. Full support should be mandatory in this day and age but alas, mere words - dribble to the uninitiated.