iTunes ripping - static bursts

Posted by: winkyincanada on 29 December 2014

I am getting occassional bursts of digital hash (static) on certain iTunes rips. It sounds a bit like a bad scratch on an LP but slightly longer in duration. Perhaps a 1/10th of a second but quite loud. Occurs perhaps 5 -10 times per CD. I am ripping to ALAC with iTunes error correction enabled. The issue does not repeat identically if the disc is re-ripped (will occur at different times), but is definitely in the ripped file as it always occurs at the same time in any particular rip on playback. I am pretty sure this has only come up in the last 20-or-so albums. For a while I thought it was a playback glitch so was trying to ignore it, hoping it would go away with an update, but I have now established it is in the iTunes ripping. Any ideas?

 

Until I figure it out I've switched to XLD and ripping to AIFF with the "perfect rip" verification. Not as convenient for sure, but it would be extremely inconvenient to have to re-rip a large number of faulty albums if I don't take immediate action. Fortunately, I haven't archived the last 30-or-so CDs yet, so can easily re-rip those as required when I notice the glitch.

 

 

Posted on: 29 December 2014 by karlosTT

I have experienced this before with ALAC, and no longer use it.  Converting the rogue ALAC files to flac fixed them (though obviously not with iTunes, which won't play flac)......

Posted on: 29 December 2014 by winkyincanada
Originally Posted by karlosTT:

I have experienced this before with ALAC, and no longer use it.  Converting the rogue ALAC files to flac fixed them (though obviously not with iTunes, which won't play flac)......

Thanks. I might shift to AIFF. I can do that for new rips in iTunes, thus avoiding the XLD clunkiness.

 

I can also use XLD to batch convert, but the vast majority of my records are ALAC so it would use quite a bit more space to do them all. I might do the most recent 30 or so where I've noticed the issue.

 

Just to be clear, converting the files solved the issue without you having to re-rip?

Posted on: 29 December 2014 by karlosTT

Strange as it seems Winky, simply converting them did fix the problem.  Can't imagine why it would, but suggest to try for yourself and see if it works -  then no need to re-rip.

 

In my case, I can't even be sure whether it was an iTunes rip that caused the problem in the first place, as its a while back and I don't recall how I came by those alac files.  Possibly its just an issue with the alac codec itself, I really don't know.

 

Ideally I still prefer to rip with iTunes, as I find Gracenote the most reliable metadata source.  Ripping straight to AIFF may prevent the problem.....

Posted on: 30 December 2014 by winkyincanada
Originally Posted by karlosTT:

Strange as it seems Winky, simply converting them did fix the problem.  Can't imagine why it would, but suggest to try for yourself and see if it works -  then no need to re-rip.

 

In my case, I can't even be sure whether it was an iTunes rip that caused the problem in the first place, as its a while back and I don't recall how I came by those alac files.  Possibly its just an issue with the alac codec itself, I really don't know.

 

Ideally I still prefer to rip with iTunes, as I find Gracenote the most reliable metadata source.  Ripping straight to AIFF may prevent the problem.....

Thanks Karlos.

Posted on: 30 December 2014 by winkyincanada
Originally Posted by winkyincanada:
Originally Posted by karlosTT:

Strange as it seems Winky, simply converting them did fix the problem.  Can't imagine why it would, but suggest to try for yourself and see if it works -  then no need to re-rip.

 

In my case, I can't even be sure whether it was an iTunes rip that caused the problem in the first place, as its a while back and I don't recall how I came by those alac files.  Possibly its just an issue with the alac codec itself, I really don't know.

 

Ideally I still prefer to rip with iTunes, as I find Gracenote the most reliable metadata source.  Ripping straight to AIFF may prevent the problem.....

Thanks Karlos.

Update. just tried converting to AIFF and it made no difference. Identical static was still there. Looks like I'm stuck with re-ripping all the faulty discs to AIFF directly and see if that works.

Posted on: 30 December 2014 by Lunicycle

You may want to try the beta of dbpoweramp for mac? I think it may be in breach of rules to post link here but Google is your friend. I, like many others, find the functionality and quality of rips way ahead of anything with the added bonus of occasionally finding an unmarked and unexpected HDCD (Joni Mitchell, Elvis Costello, The Band, Travelling Wilburys) that once set up it detects and decodes properly. I only use Win version but maybe others have tried beta?