I now have a larger HD; should I change the bit rate? - Page 2 - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

TheMarchingMule · 06-15-2008, 07:08 PM

Originally Posted by Nocturnal310

unless u have a very good soundcard or Headphones...320kbps is good enough.

try converting 2 similar songs into 320 & Lossless ..then try listening and telling the difference...if u cant then 320kbps mp3 is good for u.

advantage of mp3 files is that they can be easily used on lot of platforms & players

You should really stop "recommending" things to anybody.

To the OP: Rip lossless no matter what, because at least you will have a 1:1 copy of the CD in case something happens to it, and from there you can use foobar2000 to convert the lossless files into whatever format suits you best.

ZAWARUDO · 06-15-2008, 07:50 PM

Rip to FLAC not ALAC. stay away from apple's proprietary locked in codecs. I just hope you are using EAC or another secure ripper to rip your collection rather than itunes which is most definitely not secure.

cconnaker · 06-15-2008, 07:56 PM

Originally Posted by ZAWARUDO

I just hope you are using EAC or another secure ripper to rip your collection rather than itunes which is most definitely not secure.

Hi ZAWARUDO - I am very interested in your statement above. Can you elaborate a little more on why you suggest iTunes is not secure? I am well aware that iTunes does not provide the feedback that other applications do, but with error correction enabled and the correct settings in other places iTunes is just as good as the others in my opinion.

I really am interested to hear where you are coming from on this one.

gilency · 06-15-2008, 10:38 PM

Originally Posted by ZAWARUDO

Rip to FLAC not ALAC. stay away from apple's proprietary locked in codecs. I just hope you are using EAC or another secure ripper to rip your collection rather than itunes which is most definitely not secure.

Thats funny, we have 6 computers at home, all of them running iTunes and haven't had any problems for years, as well as many of my son's friends at their college.
Some people are against certain manufacturers for whatever reason and thats fine, since there are many., but they are not for me anyway
I have not problem whatsoever using ALAC since is so easy to use and don't have to worry about using different programs.

Hookem · 06-16-2008, 12:36 AM

Yeah I am still up in the air about all this business.

Had all my stuff ripped as 192kbs WMA's using WMP 11 with XP Media Edition.

Nice to have my computer connected to my TV and being able to use the Microsoft remote to access all my stuff.

Bought some Audioengine A5's and they turned my whole world upside down.

Decided to re-rip everything in FLAC...What a pain...Starting ripping all the stuff I listen to all the time as 320kbs MP3's in WMP 11.

Been running through ripping stuff as FLAC's...Now I am fighting with myself about all that business.

Thinking I am just going to rip everything as WAV's...I can tell the difference between 320kbs MP3's and FLAC's.

But for archival purposes I am leaning towards just ripping everything as WAV's.

No dog and pony show, pulling teeth, converting, yadda, yadda...WAV's...Supposed to be about as close to the original CD as possible.

Been trying to find out if there are players like Foobar, WinAmp that do a more precise job of ripping WAV's.

But since I am running a PC with XP Media Edition it only makes sense to me to stay with Windows Media Player 11...I like the look of it way more than Foobar, Winamp, or iTunes.

I have 2 500gig HD's just for music...Time to go buy a 3rd...Fry's is selling them for 89 bones these days...750gig for 119 duckies.

So for me anyway...I feel ripping everything as WAV's is the way to go...Sounds as good as the CD to my ears anyway, works seamlessly with the player of my choice with all the album information shown...Throw in the Media Player remote control and it just seems like the way to go.

Steve The Egg · 06-16-2008, 01:14 AM

Rip lossless and convert for players. That's what I do!

kwitel · 06-16-2008, 01:36 AM

I appreciate all the input guys.
It seems like switching to ALAC is the way to go.

When many of you refer to "converting the songs to play on portable players"-what exactly does that mean?

I thought I can play ALAC files on my IPOD?

kwitel · 06-16-2008, 01:38 AM

I appreciate all the input guys.
It seems like switching to ALAC is the way to go.

When many of you refer to "converting the songs to play on portable players"-what exactly does that mean?

I thought I can play ALAC files on my IPOD?

Edit: And one more thing...I thought ALAC was still somewhat compressed even thought its a perfect replica of a CD (some algorithmic thing). if that is the case, why are the files still so large? (2-3 times 256/320)

gilency · 06-16-2008, 03:57 AM

Originally Posted by TheMarchingMule

To the OP: Rip lossless no matter what, because at least you will have a 1:1 copy of the CD in case something happens to it, and from there you can use foobar2000 to convert the lossless files into whatever format suits you best.

Couldn't agree more. Basically you are ''immortalizing" your CD collection.

Originally Posted by kwitel

I appreciate all the input guys.
It seems like switching to ALAC is the way to go.

When many of you refer to "converting the songs to play on portable players"-what exactly does that mean?

I thought I can play ALAC files on my IPOD?

Yes you can. I am listening to an ALAC ripped Brandenburg Concerto in my iPod Nano as i Type. If you dont have enough memory in your iPod, you can convert the ALAC file to MP3 or AAC format, but NEVER get rid of your original/lossless/ALACfiles

Nocturnal310 · 06-16-2008, 05:08 AM

ALAC seems better than FLAC then...

any softwares to Rip files into ALAC?