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Lossless / FLAC / for dummies?


oldmako

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I've got a One TB external and a couple hundred CDs. I am planning on buying the Squeezeox Touch in the near future. I'd like to reburn all my discs to improve the quality / size of the files. When I burn on Itunes I have the "Streaming Buffer Size" set to "Large". Certainly there is a hell of al lot more to it than that, or is there? Any info on where to start would be appreciated. Thanks.

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If you want lossless, your options would be FLAC or Apple lossless (m4a). It is the exact bit-for-bit copy of the CD. The squeezebox supports both but with Apple lossless, you can't fast forward within a track, with FLAC you can. I have a mixture of both on my server and really don't pay attention to what format is it.

To rip from iTunes to Apple Lossless, just select "Apple Lossless Encoder" in the Import Settings under the General Tab. Then just insert you CD and import.

To rip to FLAC, I use Foobar 2000. You can just right click on the track list and convert to FLAC.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

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If you want lossless, your options would be FLAC or Apple lossless (m4a). It is the exact bit-for-bit copy of the CD. The squeezebox supports both but with Apple lossless, you can't fast forward within a track, with FLAC you can. I have a mixture of both on my server and really don't pay attention to what format is it.

To rip from iTunes to Apple Lossless, just select "Apple Lossless Encoder" in the Import Settings under the General Tab. Then just insert you CD and import.

To rip to FLAC, I use Foobar 2000. You can just right click on the track list and convert to FLAC.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

I used WinAmp to rip my CD to the hard drive, used FLAC also. Foobar is just as good or better than Winamp from what i've read.

You don't need to get tangled up in Itunes unless you just want to....

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I use dbPoweramp to rip and convert my cd's. I have them in .flac for bit perferct audio in my HTPC and in high quality mp3 for my laptop and phone. No, it is not a free progra, but very much well worth it.

Run some searches in Google for bit perfect audio and you should find more than enough information. Personally, I hate iTunes, but I know some folks love the ease of use.

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ITunes is what I have used on my last 3 machines, and it's what I am used to. But, I am not all that enamored with it. It has a difficult time with Classical Music for example, and tends to leave tunes in odd spots. I find this very frustrating. That being said, I travel for work and love the simplicity of the iPod. I use it in my car and on my boat. It's convenience is hard to overlook. If I am able to improve its sound quality then that will be a big plus as well.

Thanks to all who offered info. Off to do some more reading.

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iTunes is just one player of many, but it can be somewhat limiting in the content and what you can do with it. I have been using JRMedia Center for my HTPC software and for my laptop. It loads and syncs my Droid X phone as well as provide mp3 and flac play capability among many others.

I finallly got rid of my iPhone since ATT service was horrible. Since then, iTunes disappeared from my computers. I understand, however if you use an iPod etc.

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I use Exact Audio Copy to rip my cd's to flac

Ditto. EAC is a great program. I use Media Monkey to catalog and play my files (around 11,500 tracks). Media Monkey is capable of ripping using FLAC but does not do as good a job as EAC, there are occasional skips. EAC takes a little longer to rip a CD but it lives up to its' name

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Anyone use WAV format here? - This is truly a bit for bit copy and involves no compression. It does take more space, but disk is very cheap today and getting cheaper.

I don't. WAV is no different from Flac or Apple Lossless in terms of their ability to make an exact copy of the original. All three formats all are lossless. I see no advantage in using WAV in terms of the sound quality. You can convert FLAC and Apple Losoess back to WAV and it would be exactly the same as if you rip directly from CD and WAV.

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I do. I started to rip all my cd's to WAV and now I'm going back thru and ripping them to FLAC. In the end I will have WAV and FLAC files, might be over doing it but it doesn't matter.

I still have about 150- 200 cd's to rip into WAV format, that will be the entire collection, and I just started on the FLAC part. I hope to be done this year........ hope to at least.....

James

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I do. I started to rip all my cd's to WAV and now I'm going back thru and ripping them to FLAC. In the end I will have WAV and FLAC files, might be over doing it but it doesn't matter.

I still have about 150- 200 cd's to rip into WAV format, that will be the entire collection, and I just started on the FLAC part. I hope to be done this year........ hope to at least.....

James

So, what is your opinion on what the difference is? - There has been discussion on conversion when playing back FLAC that is not needed on WAV ---

Why would you want both formats?

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So, what is your opinion on what the difference is?

I really haven't had too much time listen to both. As I stated I just started re-ripping my cd's to FLAC, so I only have a hand full at the moment. I'll try this week to listen to a few cd's in both formats and get back to you.

There has been discussion on conversion when playing back FLAC that is not needed on WAV

I play my music thru Winamp and I don't think there is any conversion that is needed to play FLAC files. I purchased a 4 gb Sansa Clip +, plus a 8 gb micro sd card for it, and RockBoxed it, FLAC and WAV files can also be played on that. Unless I am missing something that these players are doing that I don't know about, there is no conversion needed.

Why would you want both formats?

Well truth be told I started to rip in WAV format then I was almost done, 150-200 cd's left, and notice that FLAC files wouldn't take up as much room as WV files so that is what started my re-ripping journey. Since I have the WAV files no need to get rid of them.

I currently have a 1TB External HD and that should be almost full when I'm done, as I also have photographs on the HD. I will then get another external HD and copy this one so I will have identical drives. One will get used and one will not and both will get updated as needed.

James

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I think an exact copy is an exact copy. After that there are other things to ponder -

Does the player you use tag the way you like and if you want to move to another player are the file formats and tag(s) portable.

Conversion of your digital signal back to analog. The sound card and dac probably make more difference than say FLAC versus lossless.

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As far as the technical aspects go, the two formats (FLAC and Apple Lossless) are nearly identical. Where they differ is in terms of their licensing. While FLAC is an free and open standard, Apple's codec is free (as in beer) but still proprietary. Apple may be the current top dog (and enjoy massive market penetration with their devices and software), but it is almost granted that they won't always be -- that is just the nature of business.



I know there will be those that disagree, but as for myself I would NEVER store my data in a format that I couldn't guarantee would be available to read (and convert to something else, if needed) in the future. For the codecs from Apple no such guarantee exist, but for FLAC the tools to do so are licensed under the GPL which ensures that they always will be free and open.



I'll get off my Open Source zealot box now :)


cheers.

ryanc


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I know there will be those that disagree, but as for myself I would NEVER store my data in a format that I couldn't guarantee would be available to read (and convert to something else, if needed) in the future. For the codecs from Apple no such guarantee exist, but for FLAC the tools to do so are licensed under the GPL which ensures that they always will be free and open.

As long as one owns a computer (Apple or PC), and a copy of iTunes, then one would be able to convert that Apple Lossless into nearly any format they choose, or it could be burned to CD.
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As long as one owns a computer (Apple or PC), and a copy of iTunes, then one would be able to convert that Apple Lossless into nearly any format they choose, or it could be burned to CD.

For now, yes, but there is no guarantee that you will be able to in the future. For example, how many of you have tried to open an older document in a recent version of Microsoft Word? The software is the same, in name, but has changed so much over the years that backwards-compatibility is broken. For-profit companies and groups have no obligation to maintain said backwards-compatibility, only what will drive more revenue.

My intention here was not to stir up trouble, but I do feel oblidged to let others know what they are getting into when they decide to go with an encoder or a piece of software that isn't open -- I've personally been burned a few times already. The ripping-your-music-to-digital era isn't really that old yet we've already seen some formats come and go: DivX, ATRAC, Real, to name a few -- you can still view/listen to these, but the software and hardware to do so is getting harder and harder to find.

My point is, file formats are abandoned for whatever reason and when companies do so they also abandon the tools to support them. Don't get yourself into the same situation that I've found myself in twice in the last 9 years. Re-ripping and/or converting a large library is a painful and tedious process

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