Colin Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 Lets try this here, since this is the most appropriate topic. If no response, I can always post it somewhere else. Some of music sites offer multiple file formats and transmission speeds for downloading music files. Yet getting the exact music quality of a CD (which can be bad) costs almost as much as a used CD. This old PC doesnt write CDs a new one will. In the meantime, I would like to download a dozen different artists that I lost in the divorce. I wont be listening to them on my old CD player for awhile, only the little harmon/kardon PC loudspeakers. 1. So should I go for the cheapest format now, because my CD player wont read them anyway? 2. Or should I go for the best format always, because the sound is better, even on tinny PC loudspeakers? 3. Or is there a compromise, something that sounds almost as good as a CD, but costs a lot less (which I can buy the actual CD if I love it)? By the way, what do iPod type players do for a back-up? What happens when you lose 400 songs on your portable hard drive? Buy $400 again? thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvencius Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 If I had the option to do so, I'd download .wav files, since they're the most detailed. Even if you can't hear all the sound now, on a later system you may be able to pick out the details that get lost in a compressed version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meuge Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 MP3 at 320kbit or more, OGG and MPC at 256kbit or above... never use WMA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksonbart Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 Will share my experience, I usually use Wal-Mart for $.88 a song. I am using Music Match to maintain by song database on my PC. I also have recorded most of my CDs to MP3s for use with an Archios 20 gb player. I don't do the illegal download/swap thing. For downloads from Wal-Mart they are all in WMA format, so they can maintain a license. I think they limit you to how many times you can write it to a CD. To get by this simply record it to a CD (I usually wait until I can put a group together in a nice mix) and record the CD back to MP3s on your hard drive, obviously not a current option for you. The default recording quality from Wal-Mart is 160kps for the WAV. The best I can due with Music Match is 320 kbps using my CDs, which I have loaded most of them to my PC and MP3 player. In terms of back up, maintaining about 5600+ songs is a little over 17 gigs on my hard drive and my MP3 player. Hopefully I dont loose both at once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddvj Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Meuge, Why should one never use WMA? Jacksonbart, Wal-Mart.com does not use WAV format, it uses the aforementioned WMA (Windows Media Audio). If it was WAV, the files would be huge, and take a very long time to download. You would not be able to fit 5600 songs on your 20GB player (You could get maybe 30-50 CDs). In fact if you rip your CDs at 320kbps, I can't imagine you would fit anything close to 5600 songs in that amount of space. To answer the original questions: 1. What do you mean your CD player won't read them anyway?? If you burn them to CD, they will play. (An audio CD, not an MP3 CD) 2. Yes. Or at least what you can afford/feel comfortable paying. 3. The MP3's you're talking about buying sound almost as good as a CD. There are also subscription services, which allow you to listen to music without buying. iPod type players have software that goes on your computer. You download the music to your computer and transfer it to the iPod type player. The files stay on your computer as a backup. If you're wise (or some may say paranoid) you can also back it up to another computer, another harddrive, or some other storage device. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Shmoe Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 I'll probably get ripped for mentioning this BUT... why not just use WINMX & pick your own bitrate. If it's just to listen to on your PC... the quality is fine. Yes it's illegal but personally I don't have a problem with it. I do over & beyond my share of purchasing music. If it's something I really like, I end up buying it anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksonbart Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Toddvj You are correct, my typo I fixed above, Wal-mart uese WMA, not WAV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackarc Posted February 16, 2005 Share Posted February 16, 2005 I rip all my cds at 320kbps with the high and low pass filters disabled. I download however from MSN music, because at least to my ears, they sound the best and I can burn them to an audio CD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andronicus Dragon Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 I just encode with a lossless format using ape or tta encoders. That way it takes up much less room on my hard drives and I can pretty much do what I want with them after I decode them back to wav. With the cost of hard drives being so low it doesnt even pay to burn them off to dvdr anymore, I just pop a new 160 gig drive in the usb2 enclosure and start again. I am rambling tho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 Colin, if you pc isn't more than say six years old, spend $20 on a Lite-On 52x cd burner or another $10 for a dvd/cd/ burner, and rip away to your hearts content. Takes about five minutes to install and another five to load the software. Or better yet folks, Colin, post the cd's you need, and well all pitch in and burn those we have and send them to you. By the by, this is completly legal under the fair usage portion of the copyright law since you definetly qualify as a friend/Klipsch Forum family member. A divorce usually means hard times for awhile, so I, at least, am willing to help out with a few tunes----need any Blues? Bye the bye, and just so you understand, I'm notreally in favor of piracy, (again in Colin's case this does not apply) but I do burn cd's all the time and give them to friends. Why? To turn them on to a certain singer/group. If they like them and want more and ask me for more, I say, head to the store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddvj Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 Not that I really care about copyright laws, but where does it say that it is "completely legal under the fair usage portion of the copyright law" that you can copy and give away music to friends/family members? My understanding is that you can make a copy for your own personal use, but not to give away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega3002 Posted February 26, 2005 Share Posted February 26, 2005 I second Andronicus Dragon, but I compress all my audio with FLAC (do a google search). Its like APE but its just a matter of preference. As long as it is lossless. If you have the HD space for it then go with lossless so you won't have to rip cds multiple times for better quality. To give you a *VERY ROUGH* estimate you can probably fit 400-500 cds ripped to a lossless format onto a 160 GB hard drive. And always rip the cds using EAC (Exact Audio Copy), its the best program for doing just that. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay L Posted February 28, 2005 Share Posted February 28, 2005 i second the usage of FLAC, also .SHN is another great lossless format. i have a couple extra 200GB drives i store my music on. i also beleive EAC is the only program that rips cd's correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted March 2, 2005 Author Share Posted March 2, 2005 Oh gee, thanks Thebes, I will even pay the cost of the USPS media rate shipping! Will take everything by: Alison Krauss (without Union Station) Jack Johnson Kd lang (last 5, not country ones) Norah Jones Diana Krall Sade Cassandra Wilson Sarah McLachlin Fleetwood Mac Patricia Barber Sting Police Robert Palmer Springsteen Supertramp Richard Elliot Chuck Loeb Clarence Clemons Can you email the files, so I can rip them here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted March 2, 2005 Author Share Posted March 2, 2005 is there a wya to prevent RealPlayer from going online to download ads? Is there a way to automatically create CD labels? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddvj Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 ---------------- On 3/2/2005 5:25:14 PM Colin wrote: is there a wya to prevent RealPlayer from going online to download ads? ---------------- Yes, don't use it. Really, there is no reason to use Real Player except to play .rm files. There are plenty of bloat-free players, that don't cost anything, that can play music, and video. I can help you out with the Sarah McLachlan CDs. I also have some Sting/Police dts CDs if you can use them/have the decoder necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 Colin, I have many of what you want. I'll dig through my cd collection and PM you a list. It'll take some time to burn them for you (I have dial-up so emailing is out). Shippings on the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 Actually, Colin, and on second thought it does not help you out to keep my response to you private since others may have what you need . so here's what I've got: Fleetwood Mac "the Dance" The Best of Sting "Fields of Gold" Sting "Nothing Like the Sun" Diana Krall "The LOok of Love" SACD, not sure how well it will burn Sade: All of them including "Lovers Live" Pick three, then you can buy the rest as you wish Cassandra Wilson "New Moon Daughter" Srah McLachlan "The Freedom Sessions" Norah Jones "come Away With Me" also on SACD Jack Johnson "On and On" The Boss "Greatest Hits" got Born to Run but can't find it right now. KD Lang "Drag" That's it for cd, have others but they are on lp and need a lot more work to burn properly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted March 4, 2005 Author Share Posted March 4, 2005 Thaks, I am a open kinda guy, trying to see if my burned CDs will run on my old Rotel (so far, no). I will take: Fleetwood Mac "the Dance" The Best of Sting "Fields of Gold" Sting "Nothing Like the Sun" Sade: All of them except "Lovers Live" Cassandra Wilson "New Moon Daughter" Sarah McLachlan "The Freedom Sessions" definitly Jack Johnson "On and On" The Boss "Greatest Hits" anything CSNY (in that mood lately) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 Be patient but they are on the way! PM me your mailing address. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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