I finally got my 250gb Western Digital external drive hooked up to my pc (formated with HFS+ using MacDrive). I networked it over to my powerbook and I want to start copying my cds over. Alot of them are in good condition but some are scratched. I plan to fix this with some wax/polish (I forgot the name) that was suggested. When I used my pc I used to use a program called ExactAudioCopy and had very good results with its quality. I was wondering if I should use it again or should I use iTunes? The next question is should i use mp3, aac, or apple loseless?. I would like to not have to do this in the near future. I could always rip to loseless than convert to aac or something to keep a local copy on my powerbook. Thanks!
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iPod Time to start ripping
- Thread starter dummptyhummpty
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Spaceboy464 said:
Yep. Which is what I do. I I keep two libraries one lossless on one internal 320gb drive for the home stereo. The other is 256AAC on another drive for the Shuffle.
http://www.dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/ituneslibrarymanager.php
It's been ages since I tried to revive my scratched CD's, but I want to say the product people recommend is Brasso. I tried with less than stellar results (read: if they were scratched, they never ripped very well in the end, especially in secure mode).
I'm in the same boat as you, however, since I just bought my macbook pro last night and I plan to rip more stuff (from friends, etc) when I travel. I'll be interested to see what sorts of programs are out there for OSX which are similar in functionality to EAC. In EAC I used the LAME codec and --apx settings, and I've been pleased with that. I'm sure there are better lossless/lossy codecs out there, but for my own personal use MP3 is still king.
I'm in the same boat as you, however, since I just bought my macbook pro last night and I plan to rip more stuff (from friends, etc) when I travel. I'll be interested to see what sorts of programs are out there for OSX which are similar in functionality to EAC. In EAC I used the LAME codec and --apx settings, and I've been pleased with that. I'm sure there are better lossless/lossy codecs out there, but for my own personal use MP3 is still king.
If you've got the space to burn then go with Apple Lossless or even AIFF, You'll get the best quality (though remember those files are huge). I personally rip all my stuff as AAC with tweaked settings (the default AAC is like 128 and I use 196 or something like that). I wouldn't recommend MP3s unless you need PC compatibility. The codec is pretty old and lossy. A high-quality AAC will sound good enough for most non-audiophile ears and takes up way less space than Apple Lossless or AIFF.
As for the importing question, if you rip them directly in iTunes it fills in the id tags for you which is essential.
As for the importing question, if you rip them directly in iTunes it fills in the id tags for you which is essential.
I ripped all my older CDs into archival FLAC+CUE using EAC and also generated 128 kbps AACs for my iPod(s) by mounting the FLAC+CUE as a virtual CD, so iTunes did all the usual tagging, but was looking at an image generated using EAC. The FLAC+CUE images allowed my to archive my 650+ CD collection on about 50 DVD+Rs. For more recent unscratched CDs I've just ripped them using iTunes with error correction on.
I plan to continue using EAC where needed since I can through Boot Camp or Darwine... There really is no OSX equivalent, cdparanoia doesn't quite cut it...
B
I plan to continue using EAC where needed since I can through Boot Camp or Darwine... There really is no OSX equivalent, cdparanoia doesn't quite cut it...
B
The cue files are tiny, and the average compression ratio I got for the FLACs was somewhere in the 55% to 60% of the total size as WAV/AIFF so they end up being ~200-400MB depending on how much audio is on the CD.Spaceboy464 said:
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balamw said:
Thanks. I think I will do like you. I will use EAC to make Flac files on my external HD. Then on the powerbook I will rip from the flac to aac. When I need to remotely access the aac files (throughout the house) I can just share my Ituens library, or if there is enough space on the external hd put the files on there.
In August 2005 when I got my iBook, I ripped all of my CDs in 160 AAC. In the past month though I deleted that library and reripped my 50 CD's in 192 MP3. Why you ask? The car I am buying has a 6 disc CD player with MP3 reading ability. Thus I have my entire collection now in MP3 format so I can burn hundreds of songs on a CD and use it in my car.
I haven't. I've been told that you can with Toast though, ....NicP said:
I was hoping there was an easy way to convert to a .DMG, but it doesn't seem like Audio CDs are supported.
B
I have to say, I ripped over 1,000 CDs into Apple Lossless using iTunes, and I am quite please with the results. Should I not be?
This is one of the arguements for having a lossless archive even if you do find your lossy format of choice to be transparent. With a lossless backup, you can always go back in and create a new lossy library with relative ease.
bodeh6 said:
This is one of the arguements for having a lossless archive even if you do find your lossy format of choice to be transparent. With a lossless backup, you can always go back in and create a new lossy library with relative ease.