CD ripping - star rating

[hifi2019]

Hi All
I am currently ripping my CD collection to wav uncompressed using the paid R16 reference version and have ripped around 300 CDs. I observed that the rating column is always empty and have uploaded a screenshot below of the latest ripping. I am confused what this actually means as I figured that I could actually click and rate each track from 1-5 stars after ripping is complete. After ripping each CD, when I right click on an individual ripped wav track, the rating field is blank under audio properties. I have browsed the forum and learnt that the metadata providers provide this star rating. What exactly does this mean. I've also checked the settings under CD ripper options > metadata & ID Tag > options > write ID tags > rating is checked! should I ignore this field and continue ripping or is there something i'm doing wrong? FMs please advise.

[Spoon]

Re: CD ripping - star rating

You would have to set the star rating before ripping.

[hifi2019]

Re: CD ripping - star rating

You would have to set the star rating before ripping.

Can you please elaborate what you meant by setting the star rating before ripping.

[Spoon]

Re: CD ripping - star rating

The rating is stored in the ID Tags, just like the artist name, if you change the artist name after ripping the changes are not saved to the files. Before ripping click the rating stars to change to the values you want.

[hifi2019]

Re: CD ripping - star rating

Sorry for being a pita but I am clearly not understanding this whole concept of star rating. I have not edited any metadata tags post-ripping. For that matter, I have barely edited the metadata for a few CDs pre-ripping either. What purpose does it serve the user to manually rate each audio track? I have not fiddled around with the star rating for around 300 odd CDs as I somehow assumed that this field was automatically set by the software specific to each CD. Obviously I cannot re-rip 300 CDs in wav to my local hdd and add a star rating. Does this parameter matter in the long run? @spoon please suggest what is the best way going forward.

[hifi2019]

Re: CD ripping - star rating

The rating is stored in the ID Tags, just like the artist name, if you change the artist name after ripping the changes are not saved to the files. Before ripping click the rating stars to change to the values you want.

I replied to your post but it mysteriously disappeared so am posting again. I am more confused now by this concept of star rating. Pre-ripping, I have not edited the metadata which is automatically added by the metadata provider(s). If I have edited any track info on account of spelling errors by the providers, it is always done pre-ripping. Also, post-ripping I have not edited the metadata at all. I have not fiddled with star rating as I do not understand the purpose of this field. Since you have advised that pre-ripping, I have to choose the star rating for each track from 1-5 to a value of my choice, it is obviously not possible to go back and re-rip 300 CDs to wav to my local hdd just to add a star rating. Even if I do start adding a star rating to CDs ripped henceforth, what criteria must I use to select a rating for each track? please advise what is the way going forward or should I just ignore the star rating i.e. leave it blank as I have done till now and continue ripping the remaining CDs?

[Spoon]

Re: CD ripping - star rating

If you have no use for it, then you do not need to set the rating. It is a preference rating that certain players might use (they tend to have ratings internal to the player).

[hifi2019]

Re: CD ripping - star rating

If you have no use for it, then you do not need to set the rating. It is a preference rating that certain players might use (they tend to have ratings internal to the player).

Currently I am ripping my CDs to wav to local hdd on pc which will then be copied to an external portable hdd or ssd. The external drive will be connected to a media player and output to the stereo amp for playback on home setup. I am assuming that an external media player won't need or rely on star ratings. Having said that I might alternatively connect the pc via usb dac to stereo amplifier for playback of wav files. I could use either the win10 wmp or vlc to playback wav files without a hitch. I suppose the question arises if I intend to use a specialist media player like J river or monkey media or roon, will these softwares need the wav files to have a star rating?

[Dat Ei]

Re: CD ripping - star rating

Why do you want to rip to wave instead of a different lossless codec that has a better tag support like flac? It is easy to convert from flac to wave afterwards if you need wave at some point, but it is a difficult way to add missing tags to your files afterwards.


Dat Ei

[hifi2019]

Re: CD ripping - star rating

Why do you want to rip to wave instead of a different lossless codec that has a better tag support like flac? It is easy to convert from flac to wave afterwards if you need wave at some point, but it is a difficult way to add missing tags to your files afterwards.


Dat Ei

Without derailing the original purpose of this thread which primarily questions the necessity/logic of having a star rating for each ripped audio CD track and certainly not wanting to restart a flac vs wav war in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, I've chosen wav uncompressed despite the highly debated metadata tagging effectiveness, file size inefficiency etc because to my ordinary ears there was something missing in the sound even with the newly introduced flac uncompressed codec ! Wav always felt fuller, complete, lively and engaging. So, for the time being I'm sticking to good old wav assuming that a basic media player will play these tagged files easily and effortlessly without having to re-rip the entire CD collection to flac or convert wav to flac. I'll cross the bridge when I get to it. Anyways, thanks for the suggestion.