Newbie questions: Converting from FLAC, drive cache and uncompressed rip

[sirscribe]

I'm currently ripping my CD collection to FLAC (so I can get rid of the discs) and then convert the FLAC files to AAC or MP3 later when I need to. I'm a newbie and followed Spoon's guide and successfully ripped my first CD. I have just a few questions--hoping someone can answer:

• After running the test to detect cache, it appears my dvd drive (I’m using the factory drive on my laptop, which is probably about 5-7 years old) doesn’t cache (I'm getting a message that indicates there is no cache). Is that possible?
• After one has ripped CDs to FLAC using DSP effect ReplayGain, set to “Track, Album & iTunes Album Normalization”, should you also apply the DSP ReplayGain effect again when converting FLAC files to another format like AAC or MP3? It seems to me that once the effect is applied during the rip to FLAC, you wouldn’t have to do it again down the road.
• Is there any reason one would want to rip to completely uncompressed format?

[Dat Ei]

Re: Newbie questions: Converting from FLAC, drive cache and uncompressed rip

• Is there any reason one would want to rip to completely uncompressed format?

No, not really. The flac compression is a lossless compression like zip. It has no effect of the audio quality. A higher compression rate produces slightly smaller file sizes, but takes more calculation time. So the default compression (5) is absolutely ok and a good compromise of file size and calculation speed.


Dat Ei

[garym]

Re: Newbie questions: Converting from FLAC, drive cache and uncompressed rip

No, not really.

I agree with Dat Ei, except I'd change the "No, not really" to simply "No".

Regarding the ReplayGain DSP. One could simply keep the original RG tags when converting and not reanalyze the newly created AAC or mp3 files. However, my preference is to tell the converter to replace old RG tags with newly created RG tags for the mp3 files I create from my FLACs (that is, add the RG DSP to the "converter" options when converting FLAC to AAC or mp3). RG values are very similar, but not exactly the same.

also, note there is no reason to select "Track, Album, & itunes normalization" when creating the FLAC files. itunes can't read FLAC files. I just select "Track & Album". Then when doing the conversion to AAC or mp3, I select, "Track, Album & itunes Album Normalization".

Also, it is certainly possible that your drive doesn't cache. But I recall that Spoon has said that entering a cache value of 1024KB is a no-brainer to deal with any possible cache issues. That's what I do.

[Spoon]

Re: Newbie questions: Converting from FLAC, drive cache and uncompressed rip

It is possible your drive does not cache, however there is little downside leaving the cache value as 1024KB

[sirscribe]

Re: Newbie questions: Converting from FLAC, drive cache and uncompressed rip

Thanks for the answers everyone!