Why do I want dBpowerAMP?

[Special Ed]

I heard good things about dbpowerAMP, but I am still trying to figure out if I need it.

My goal is to rip my entire cd collection of about 300 cds to high quality m3a files.

Currently I have itunes which will let me do this. And I have the full version of Nero 8 which probably would let me rip to m3a files if I could figure out how/where to rip cds in the convoluted program...

What advantage does dBpowerAMP offer me over the options I currently have?

[bhoar]

Re: Why do I want dBpowerAMP?

I heard good things about dbpowerAMP, but I am still trying to figure out if I need it.

My goal is to rip my entire cd collection of about 300 cds to high quality m3a files.

Currently I have itunes which will let me do this. And I have the full version of Nero 8 which probably would let me rip to m3a files if I could figure out how/where to rip cds in the convoluted program...

What advantage does dBpowerAMP offer me over the options I currently have?

iTunes can do the job.

dbpoweramp supports two things that make me believe it is a better solution, however:

1. A comprehensive secure-ripping architecture that works hand in hand with with AccurateRip to both extract the best-quality possible from the audio discs you have as well as to let you know when they may need cleaning/resurfacing/replacement.

2. In the alpha versions of R13 Reference, there is built in support for multi-drive/multi-disc parallel ripping, allowing you to load more than one disc at a time to extract. This can save you time if your computer has more than one optical drive (or if you have additional external USB/Firewire/SATA-connected drives). Plus, the batch ripper will also be including support for changers and robots, if you have any available (it already includes the baxter/minicubis units).

-brendan

[Special Ed]

Re: Why do I want dBpowerAMP?

I do have two drives. So that could be an advantage. Is the overall ripping faster than iTunes? It sounds like rip the quality might be a bit better everything else being equal.

One thing I may want to do is rip everything to flac, then do a mass conversion of all flac files to M4As for use on portables. Is this possible/easy with dbpoweramp?

[xoas]

Re: Why do I want dBpowerAMP?

One thing I may want to do is rip everything to flac, then do a mass conversion of all flac files to M4As for use on portables. Is this possible/easy with dbpoweramp?

Yes. dBpowerAMP supports batch conversions but it also has the capability to rip to two different formats at once meaning that you can rip a CD to FLAC and m4a at the same time. dBpowerAMP also supports a wider variety of formats than most similar programs.

Best wishes,
Bill

[bhoar]

Re: Why do I want dBpowerAMP?

iTunes supports two modes, a standard ("burst") rip mode and a more intensive "use error correction" rip mode which I'd compare to dbpoweramp's "secure" mode, but believe is less thorough/less optimized.

- I suspect that both iTunes and dbpoweramp will rip at about the same speed in standard/burst mode.

- In error correction/secure mode, if your discs are in very good condition, I suspect dbpoweramp will be faster in secure mode once you get AccurateRip set up.

- In error correction/secure mode, if your discs are in mediocre condition, I suspect iTunes will be faster, but more likely to include damaged sections of audio.

Also consider that iTunes is pretty much set-and-go. dbpoweramp will take some additional time to configure and plan your strategy. But remember, you can use more than one drive at a time with dbpa.

While I know it is capable of the conversion, I haven't used dbpoweramp's batch conversion features yet. Someone else will have to comment on the ease of use.

-brendan

[Special Ed]

Re: Why do I want dBpowerAMP?

One more question. I have all my cds encoded as 192 kbps MP3s, I want to re-encode them as 320 M3As. I did a test with iTunes and one cd and it automatically replaced the previous rip with the higher quality rip, it was a piece of cake.

Can I update my iTunes library as easily with dBpowerAMP?

[xoas]

Re: Why do I want dBpowerAMP?

Are you talking about creating archive enhanced .m3u playlist files (.m3a)?

If you are talking about these, dBpowerAMP Music Converter (dMC) does not have the capability to create this type of file.

If you were talking about converting to .m4a files (which is what I had originally assumed) dMC can manage that. As to whether it is better than iTunes for that, I would have to rely upon the considerations posted by Brendan previously (since I have not worked with iTunes and because I have found Brendan's contributions to be reliable).

Regardless of what you are converting these 192 kbs mp3 disks to, I would wonder why you want to convert to 320 kbs. First, the 192 kbs files are really their own best copy. They have already lost audio iinformation from their original source. Nothing can restore that quality. If whatever purpose you need these .m3a/.m4a files can be met by the original .mp3 files, they are the best match of quality and file size you will have available. If you convert them to another lossy format, even the best formats at the highest quality, you will lose some more audio information. And at higher quality settings you are increasing file size. Converting to a lossless format would preserve the quality of the 192 kbs mp3 (it can't add to it) but you will have far larger file sizes.

If, on the other hand, you need to convert to a different lossy format (assuming that re-ripping from original source is not a good option), then the question would be to find the right bitrate to make a copy in the new format that sounds identical to the 192 kbs at the lowest bitrate. My bet is that a bitrate of 192 kbs to maybe 220 kbs will probably sound as good as your 320 kbs files and would, over a large number of files save a lot of space. This is something you could experiment with (using a sample of files with different audio characteristics to assure your settings will work well for all the different audio qualities that your files possess.

Hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Bill

[Special Ed]

Re: Why do I want dBpowerAMP?

About a year or two ago I converted my entire cd collection to 192 MP3s. Now I am thinking of reripping all my cds to 320 M3As because I am told the quality is much better and while they take up more space the 20 or 25 gig more I would need is not and issue. Maybe I am crazy reripping everything for a mythical quality gain, I don't know.

I am just looking for the least painless way to do this. I like the idea of converting my cds to flac and m4as at the same time. The first time I did it was a month project. I would rip 5-10 cds a day and eventually did them all. With the flac copy I could then move to any other compressed format easily with a mass conversion.

My iTunes question was when I reripped one cd as a test, iTunes asked would I like to replace the current cd in my library with the new cd so it was all automatic.

Not a big deal. I could rip everything and then delete the mp3s and move the M3As over and rebuild the iTunes library.

[xoas]

Re: Why do I want dBpowerAMP?

If you are re-ripping from the original audio CDs what you say about ripping them from original audio CD to higher bitrate .m3a IS undoubtably a good idea. If you are upconverting from the 192 kbs bitrate files, that is certainly OK but it won't be higher quality than the original 192 kbs mp3 (which was my point). Still I'm sure that a 320 m3a copy is more faithful to the 192 kbs mp3 than a 192 m3a copy would be (whether you can tell the difference or not).

dMC allows you an option (with the registered version or with an active trial version with the Power Pack) to delete source files after conversion if you like (still won't create m3a files as far as I know however).

dMC will allow you to rip to FLAC and to m4a in a single operation using the multi-encoder utility codec. With respect to ease of use, I would urge you to review Bendan's earlier post. I have found his input to generally be very on target and having no experience with iTunes myself I cannot otherwise comment on the respective ease of use issues. If you are happy with iTunes and familiar with it and if it does all that you want, you might well want to stick with it.

Best wishes,
Bill