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hey everybody! i am a noob preparing to rip a huge cd collection and i am trying to go down the right path from the start so i dont have to re-rip thousands of cds later. my plan is to rip the cds to a lossless format and maintain a seperate folder for syncing lossy tracks to my portable player, a creative zen vision w60.
i have been spending time in various forums trying my best to learn as much as i can. i posted my need for advice in another forum and the majority of the response suggested that i should use db (since it was said is easier for noobs than EAC) to rip to FLAC and use the converter to create the lossy files, so i headed over here, downloaded db and have been testing some rips and conversions. so far seems to work great although i still dont understand some of the settings and how to optimize for my needs. my questions may seem basic for most of you here but like i said im new to this so thanks in advance for your advice and patience!
Ripping:
1. does it make any quality difference whether i rip from cd or dvd drive? both are stock with my dell. is it worthwhile to invest in a higher quality drive, such as the plextors?
2. since its all lossless does it matter what compression level i choose?
3. i checked the "verify after encoding" option and the "display information and errors" options. is that the best setup?
4. what are the icons and numbers in the status column after ripping, such as confidence 12?
5. i just want accurate rips and high quality files. ive never used any dsp effects. are these mostly bells and whistles or should i be using some of these for my basic needs?
Converting:
when converting the lossless flac files to a seperate lossy library to sync to my portable device i still need a high quality file since i often plug into audio gear and do not listen through headphones. ive done some listening tests to find what seems best for me and the best compromise for my needs (file size vs sound quality) seems to be wma vbr quality 98 (@370 Kbps) or wma cbr @ 320 Kbps. questions:
6. since i know nothing about sample rates, should this always be set to the default 44 Khz?
7. should i select the "2 pass encoding" option (which seems to take longer)? is this recommended for a higher quality conversion?
8. for comparison purposes, how can i convert the same file to different quality levels? it seems to only cancel or overwrite even when i try changing the name?
9. should i be using any of the dsp effects for my basic needs?
Playback:
10. i can't seem to play the lossless flac files from my external drive because if I point my audio player (Windows Media Player 11) to monitor that drive, it will add the lossless files to the WMP library and attempt to sync them to my portable device along with the converted lossy versions. any ideas?
again, thanks to all of you who have helped me get here. music has been a big part of my life for a lot of years and getting this right is important to me. thanks again and next time i see you the drinks are on me!
i have been spending time in various forums trying my best to learn as much as i can. i posted my need for advice in another forum and the majority of the response suggested that i should use db (since it was said is easier for noobs than EAC) to rip to FLAC and use the converter to create the lossy files, so i headed over here, downloaded db and have been testing some rips and conversions. so far seems to work great although i still dont understand some of the settings and how to optimize for my needs. my questions may seem basic for most of you here but like i said im new to this so thanks in advance for your advice and patience!
Ripping:
1. does it make any quality difference whether i rip from cd or dvd drive? both are stock with my dell. is it worthwhile to invest in a higher quality drive, such as the plextors?
2. since its all lossless does it matter what compression level i choose?
3. i checked the "verify after encoding" option and the "display information and errors" options. is that the best setup?
4. what are the icons and numbers in the status column after ripping, such as confidence 12?
5. i just want accurate rips and high quality files. ive never used any dsp effects. are these mostly bells and whistles or should i be using some of these for my basic needs?
Converting:
when converting the lossless flac files to a seperate lossy library to sync to my portable device i still need a high quality file since i often plug into audio gear and do not listen through headphones. ive done some listening tests to find what seems best for me and the best compromise for my needs (file size vs sound quality) seems to be wma vbr quality 98 (@370 Kbps) or wma cbr @ 320 Kbps. questions:
6. since i know nothing about sample rates, should this always be set to the default 44 Khz?
7. should i select the "2 pass encoding" option (which seems to take longer)? is this recommended for a higher quality conversion?
8. for comparison purposes, how can i convert the same file to different quality levels? it seems to only cancel or overwrite even when i try changing the name?
9. should i be using any of the dsp effects for my basic needs?
Playback:
10. i can't seem to play the lossless flac files from my external drive because if I point my audio player (Windows Media Player 11) to monitor that drive, it will add the lossless files to the WMP library and attempt to sync them to my portable device along with the converted lossy versions. any ideas?
again, thanks to all of you who have helped me get here. music has been a big part of my life for a lot of years and getting this right is important to me. thanks again and next time i see you the drinks are on me!
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