produce exact copy of audio cd

[nachmandahadiat]

Hello.

There's a few audio CDs I'd like to duplicate as exactly as possible. Importing them losslessly into iTunes seems to be an option (it does, I assume, decode Apple Lossless Encodings back into the original .aiff, when writing an audio cd, doesn't it? But what's the advantage over importing the tracks as .aiff files straight away?). Toast 10 Titanium offers to copy discs. Does it actually? Wouldn't that be the best and most simple way? Or does Toast somehow modify the data? Or are there better options than either of these?

Thanks a lot

 

[Julien]

There are many ways to duplicate a CD exactly, not jut as much as possible. The 3 easiest ways is by just using iTunes. AIFF (OS X) and WAV (Windows) will make an exact uncompressed copy. The best way (to save space) is ALAC. This will give you a compressed (about 50%) copy that is decoded back 100% bit for bit identical the original (CD).

Now some will say you need to spend money or use certain programs that are more accurate. However you can't get more than 100% accurate and iTunes will get you 100% accuracy <99.9% of the time.

 

[DeltaMac]

… and iTunes will get you 100% accuracy <99.9% of the time.

How much less than 99.9% would that be?

I expect that you really meant ">99.9% of the time."

 

[nachmandahadiat]

I own Toast 10 though. Any known disadvantages in using that?

(And as for the "as exactly as possible": To my understanding, writing data to any storage media still is a mechanical process prone to some mistakes. And from what I read, writing a cd isn't that trivial a thing, some cd manufacturers offer more reliable cd-r than others etc.)

 

[Destroysall]

Toast should be fine. Another software to try is XLD (X Lossless Decoder). It's free and many use it for it's AccurateRip function.

 

[Julien]

How much less than 99.9% would that be?

I expect that you really meant ">99.9% of the time."

99.899969989299632% to be more exact.

 

[ChrisA]

I own Toast 10 though. Any known disadvantages in using that?

(And as for the "as exactly as possible": To my understanding, writing data to any storage media still is a mechanical process prone to some mistakes. And from what I read, writing a cd isn't that trivial a thing, some cd manufacturers offer more reliable cd-r than others etc.)

No. A verified digital copy is dead-on perfect. It is not just "close".


OK, an error can happen but CD data has error correction and detection. It is kind of like a checksum but more sophisticated. So if a copy error is made it will be detected during the verification process. Then even if not detected (unlikely) it will limey still play just find because there is redundant data on the CD and the player will recreate the correct numbers

CDs were designed so they would still play OK even with a few small scratches the data are redundant. It works kind of like this: Write a 16 x 16 squares array of numbers, then computer the sum of each of the columns and each of the rows. You have 32 extra numbers to store of the CD but now you can remove any of them and later figure out what it must have been. CD players all to this kind of computation, looking for missing or corrupted data.


So bottom line is that the copy is dead-on perfect and if not the error is detected and you make a second copy.

 

[rhett7660]

Are you looking to burn a cd or import the files to play via software on a computer?