Best way to rip CD's

quote:

Originally posted by MontyMusic:
Excellent

They play as 'Quicktime movie files' in iTunes

Are they still FLAC files or have they been converted?

Thanks

They FLAC files stay the same. But it copies a WAV file somewhere and plays it. If you have 200GB of FLACs on a 750GB drive. You would fill up the drive if you put all of the FLACs in the library.

So it isnt really practical, and in no way different than batch converting to WAV then playing those in iTunes.

-p

If I only had a Mac, i would convert all of my FLACs to ALACs via dbPoweramp on a friends PC. Then use iTunes i guess.

Or try to get along with Songbird. It is ok for Mac given the limited options. but for PC i would look to dozens of other players before I would even consider Songbird.

a word to the wise.

Dont try to make FLAC and iTunes jive.
If you must use iTunes, use AIFF or ALAC.
Dont fret about the codec you rip to, you can always convert later.
DO rip with the most accuracy possible so use EAC, XLD or MAX.

this is what I have learned. As true yesterday as it is today.

Hi,

Sorry to say that , but I don't really agree about the supposed Wave conversion done by FLUKE.
MY TEST (basic): Just import a FLAC song in iTunes with FLUKE, then : "Right click + information" that song in iTunes and you will see that the file is still a .flac file.Am I missing something ?

Agree that SONGBIRD is very very basic and if you are in PC world , you should prefer something else (foobar?), for sure.On the MAC side, the situation is surprisingly very poor...

Keeping the songs in only one unique format then being able to be read them with several different solution is only possible (Lossless wyse) in FLAC.
All my songs are FLAC on a NAS, I listen to them trough a Squeezbox on my NAIM system (DAC), but I use exactly the same repository to listen to them on the MAC , (without any use of thee NAIM system).One file, one place,one format: FLAC.

Rgds

I really wish we could get a definitive answer from Naim as to why they have not implemented ALAC on their products.

I understand there may be licencing issues with Apple and perhaps they are closer to Apple than say their direct competitor(s) which may make it more (or perhaps less) awkward to resolve.

I'm just about to embark on a mass migration from CD to server based and this incompatibility will become a deal breaker when I choose a streamer later in the year.

I really need cross platform (iTunes/iPhone/streamer) support without lots of messing about.

The "issue" with ALAC is that this is a proprietary format....and therefore not a market STD.(It's a money question...)
Technically the ALAC is perfectly as good as the FLAC format.It is lossless...

FLAC is an OPEN solution and most of the HW/SW manufacturers do provide support of this format (it's free for them..)

If you want to rip only once 1000+ CDs, choose a format that everybody will handle.Now and in the future.

Remember the SONY story in video world...

Rgds
MA

Except that everybody can't use it [Native FLAC] and in particular the entire user base of iTunes, iPhones and iPods which is by far the most prolific.

I don't think the Betamax analogy holds true as Betamax never achived the market penetration that Apple has with the iPod nor is ALAC technically [at least to the end user] superior which Betamax was over VHS.

Naim is already licencing something from Apple in it's current products to give iPod compatibility so why not ALAC as well.

http://www.simplehelp.net/2008...lac-files-in-itunes/

I suspect Naim will eventually support ALAC and perhaps Linn will support WMA but who knows. At least Naim gives a way to rip to the format they prefer. I think anyone talking about best way to rip, doesn't have an HDX solution in the mix thereby making this portion of the discussion somewhat moot. The DAC doesn't decode formats. It's a DAC with a simple wave player for quick convenience only.

Who cares!???!?

If your player of choice wont play the files you made simply convert to another codec. It is as easy as pie.

With some programs you can do it in batches.

This of course begs the question, why did you rip to a format your player doesn't handle?

If you ripped everything to FLAC and then for some reason bought a Mac and demand to use those FLACs with itunes. You are simply SOL.

There are viable options for every codec out there. The obvious tough one is playing FLAC on a Mac. But Songbird and Play are passable.

But people bitching about a Mac not supporting a competing open source codec, or a windows based machine (HDX) not supporting ALAC, is pointless. Convert and enjoy.

dbPoweramp Batch Converter is your best friend.

quote:

Originally posted by John Bailey:
Except that everybody can't use it [Native FLAC] and in particular the entire user base of iTunes, iPhones and iPods which is by far the most prolific.

I don't think the Betamax analogy holds true as Betamax never achived the market penetration that Apple has with the iPod nor is ALAC technically [at least to the end user] superior which Betamax was over VHS.

Naim is already licencing something from Apple in it's current products to give iPod compatibility so why not ALAC as well.

Hi John,

Yes, why not...
But don't you think that Apple will ever "upgrade" their products to FLAC capabilities ? Who knows....:-)
That could be "the other solution", and commercially it can help them to conquer some more market shares...(if they even need it..)
I am a MAC/IPHONE/IPOD user and that will be very nice....Now that DRMs are out on the store...

As said previously , I managed to have the MAC able to play FLAC (even if I am using NAS/SQUEEZE to feed the Naim DAC), and for our iPhones and iPods we just convert what we need to MP3 format in iTunes.We still consider these devices as "Mass Music Carrier", and 320k MP3 will do the job.

You are 99% correct about the fact that Betamax analogy is a bit different, I agree.Previous market penetration is always a big piece in such a game...

Rgds
MA

quote:

Originally posted by pcstockton:

This of course begs the question, why did you rip to a format your player doesn't handle?

If you ripped everything to FLAC and then for some reason bought a Mac and demand to use those FLACs with itunes. You are simply SOL.

Actually my point begs the question why I would want to buy a streamer which doesn't handle the formats ive already ripped to.

I rip everything to ALAC because it is the one format which works painlessly on my Mac/iTunes/iPhone without having to do batch conversions.

I don't mind converting downloaded FLAC files to ALAC as it is pretty simple but I do mind having to convert files to another format every time I want to play the music on a different platform.

Paying hansomly for additional inconvenience is not really a sound idea.

Have you considered that there may be others in the household who might not be particularly interested in high end audio but want to access the same library?

quote:

Originally posted by John Bailey:
Have you considered that there may be others in the household who might not be particularly interested in high end audio but want to access the same library?

Yes,there was some....they are gone now...

More seriously:

I started the ripping process a long time ago with FLAC , so exactly according to your rule I stayed with FLAC when the MAC/iPhones/iPods arrived there...(yes I am a switcher...)

To be honest, I am not really using iTunes for High Quality music, just for Radio Hits/Top50/Etc...the kind of music you throw on an iPod just for a while...And that kind of music reside on each machine's disks.

So the question don't really exist on my side: The REAL&GREAT music is FLAC, reside on the NAS (running squeeze server) , is RAID protected (Don't want to rip twice the same bench of CDs)and travels at Gigabit speed on the internal copper network, this configuration is for me the necessary prereq for correctly feeding the DAC and 282/250 with good data, trying to reach sound perfection (at least CD quality).And it works.
The MAC is only used to help control the system (Squeeze server client).Nothing else.
Then the format of the file is not an issue on the Mac (in the config I am using for sure).

You may agree, as I do, on the fact that different people, different usages, different solutions...everybody happy.


Best Regards
MA

MA

I do think that Apple will eventually provide FLAC support but to be honest I would rather Naim (like others) provided ALAC support. Apple has a much larger interest to protect.

Personally I think it is in Apple's interest to grant free licence to companies like Naim who occupy a market segment that Apple themselves will never occupy whilst at the same time giving ALAC high end credentials.

My setup is similar to yours (or will be) - Raid based NAS running UPnP to a streamer (currently using Macbook Pro and Airtunes into a Supernait).

The NAS comes with an iTunes server built in so I figure I can maintain the library using one mac running iTunes and still have the flexibility of other macs pulling files off the server if required.

The reason I don't want to do conversions all the time is that iPhone's have fairly small capacity so I regularly change the music on the playlist I have set up for the iPhone. At the moment I just edit the playlist, sync and everything integrates perfectly with no fuss.

quote:

Originally posted by John Bailey:
Personally I think it is in Apple's interest to grant free licence to companies like Naim

I am not sure that "Free" is a known word Apple side...

My NAS system has also an iTunes server embedded but I am not using it...there is a real "Squeezebox server" running in it and I am not even using UPnP or DLNA for music .I do use them for pics or films .But that's another story...

BTW, What's your NAS Brandt/Ref ? Music only ?

Agree on the fact that managing music so often on iPhone or iPod must not be painful at all...

BR
MA

Netgear ReadyNAS NVX.

It's not been delivered yet though. The supplier/courier seem to have lost it

quote:

Originally posted by John Bailey:

Actually my point begs the question why I would want to buy a streamer which doesn't handle the formats ive already ripped to.


Have you considered that there may be others in the household who might not be particularly interested in high end audio but want to access the same library?

ALAC ubiquity is thin. Do yourself a favor now and covert to something with a little more support out there. AIFF, FLAC, WAV even....

Whats the big problem with converting it all in one go?

If the streamer/dac you want is worth it, I cant see how a one-time conversion is a deal breaker.

Mac developed it, it is redundant, and for whatever reason, rarely used by anyone outside of the Apple family. Sorry. I dont know what to say. This is not going to change.


You dont have to convert everytime you want to listen. You can convert it all to AIFF (is that cool on the machines you want to use?), or FLAC, or WAV or... or anything. You only need one thing to make it VERY easy, access to a PC and dbPoweramp. Otherwise there are 100s of programs out there to help you convert.

Does AIFF work on a Uniti or HDX?

Can't see so from the spec sheet.

for now it appears you are "limited" to:
MP3, AAC (up to 320 kbps, CBR/VBR)
Apple Lossless (from iPod)
Windows Media–formatted content (up to 320 kbps)
WAV, FLAC, OGG Vorbis

Convert to FLAC.
For playback on your Mac roll with Songbird and its iPhone app.

Well i'm giving Songbird a test run now.

Seems quite good if a bit slow compared to iTunes.

One thing I have found (on the Linn forum) is that Linns support for ALAC is 16 bit and based on reversed engineered code. 24 bit is Apple only.

So it looks like unless someone is prepared to pay for a licence from Apple (should they offer it) then hi-res 24/96 is off the cards using ALAC with a high quality streamer. If Apple supported FLAC then of course all this problem would go away.

Looks like I will have to try and use FLAC somehow.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by John Bailey:
Well i'm giving Songbird a test run now.

Seems quite good if a bit slow compared to iTunes.

One thing I have found (on the Linn forum) is that Linns support for ALAC is 16 bit and based on reversed engineered code. 24 bit is Apple only.

So it looks like unless someone is prepared to pay for a licence from Apple (should they offer it) then hi-res 24/96 is off the cards using ALAC with a high quality streamer. If Apple supported FLAC then of course all this problem would go away.

Looks like I will have to try and use FLAC somehow.[/QUOTE

db power/ripnas and use flac .results very good and secure

>16 bit and based on reversed engineered code. 24 bit is Apple only.

24 bit open source decoders are available now (we funded the development of it).

ALAC does not need a license from Apple, unless you wanted to use their code. I am unaware of any Patents hold on ALAC which could be enforced to shut 3rd parties out from ALAC, many in the know state that ALAC is similar to FLACs compression techniques.

quote:

Originally posted by John Bailey:
Netgear ReadyNAS NVX.

It's not been delivered yet though. The supplier/courier seem to have lost it

I had a look to the specs,but still not clear for me: Does it have an embedded Squeezebox Server(I mean with code running on Netgear SVR) ?
They says it can "stream" to SQ....that means using UPnP or DNLA...???

On mine the SQ code is running on the server itself and I access the server with a browser from any PC/MAC/IPHONE.That's cool...

With all the traffic generated by people ordering on the NET , getting (safely) your goods in time is becoming more and more difficult and uncertain, same thing there...

Cross your fingers...
(and a little candle to say"Mr Postman ! It's there !" may help...)

Rgds
MA

MA,

I think that Twonky Media Server will run on it - I've seen posts from someone who has just installed it in the last few days and reckons the performance is incredible compared to his previous server.

I'm experimenting with the ripping capabilities of Songbook for the mac at the moment and quite like what I see.

You tried it?

quote:

Originally posted by John Bailey:
MA,

I think that Twonky Media Server will run on it - I've seen posts from someone who has just installed it in the last few days and reckons the performance is incredible compared to his previous server.

I'm experimenting with the ripping capabilities of Songbook for the mac at the moment and quite like what I see.

You tried it?

John, You mean "songBIRD " I assume ?
(As far as I know,Songbook is just for getting lyrics, am I wrong? )
I have installed Songbird and I like the interface (which is very Close to iTunes interface we have to admit...)but I don't use it to import media.

To rip the CDs, I am using XLD (and sometimes MAX to add spécific Tags or Cover).

Theses 2 tools (XLD+MAX) allow me to do 100% of the Job.

XLD is BitPerfect and that's a main value.

Process: I just insert the CD in the Mac, XLD open automatically, analyse the CD, connect Freedb, and I start ripping directly on the NAS (in a "Buffer Directory"). Very easy and quick (very close to what an HDX can do).I just have, at the end of the rip, to manually organise the ripped CDs on the NAS (Genre/Artist/Album).


Rgds
MA

No - SongBook for the Mac by Bookshelf Apps.

It's not free, is really also a control point for various players - but it does include a nice ripper.