[Sonic Atrocity]

So I have acquired some lossless music and am having a bit of trouble managing it. First being that it came in the Monkey's audio format (APE.), second being that it came with a CUE. file (which I am not familiar with at all yet) and third being that when I load it onto my Rockboxed Clip+ it is untagged. 
 
I have tried to convert the files to FLAC with xrecode II but then they don't play on my computer. But they play on Clip+ but of course remain untagged. 
 
I read about medieval cue splitter but I have concerns. On this page: http://www.medieval.it/cuesplitter-pc/menu-id-71.html it says "

	[size=11pt]Known bug: MPC engine can cause a bit of jitter at the beginning/end of tracks.[/size]		[size=20pt]Help![/size]
	[size=11pt]Limitations: MD5 checksum is not calculated for generated FLAC files.[/size]

Mind the "?HELP" to the side, I didn't mean for it to be there. I am concerned about this jitter and want nothing to do with it! 

 Also, on wikipedia I read that Monkey's audio  "main drawbacks are the fact that it employs a symmetric algorithm, meaning the decoding takes comparable resources to encoding, which makes it unsuitable for all but the fastest portable players (via Rockbox firmware),^[6] and that it has limited support on software platforms other than Windows; on other platforms only decoding is officially supported by third-party programs."
 
 
Ultimately, I want to convert these files to FLAC, have them tagged properly, not have them in one big file encompassing a whole album (but instead tracklisted in separate files (I believe that the CUE file has something to do with this)), and have no jitter or any other problems that could interfere with my listening experience. 
 
I am not meaning to pass the job of thinking onto my fellow head-fiers. I spent a good part of last night reading about this stuff and became very frustrated. Could someone please provide me with some advice/tips/instructions/information as to how I can achieve what I want? Any help is greatly appreciated. 
 
Thanks for reading and uber-happy listening!

 

[anetode]

Cue files weren't designed for 100% bit-perfect track-for-track precision. Medieval's CueSplitter is about as good as you can get for a quick approach with little harm. The "jitter" referred to in their FAQ has to do with minute fraction of a second gaps between songs. At least from my use over the past year or so and a hundred split albums, I've never heard CueSplitter to add any audible defect.
 
As for taggers, plain ol' Tag & Rename is one of the best. It can find album info through several different databases and all entry fields are accurately maintained across different tag formats (ID3/Ape/Vorbis).

 

[marc2003]

why medieval sucks: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=57563&st=0&p=683198&#entry683198

foobar2000 and cue tools can both split your files/cuesheets completely losslessly and transfer the tags into the newly created files.

http://foobar2000.org
http://www.cuetools.net/wiki/CUETools_Download

 

[anetode]

CueTools seems pretty nice, thanks for the link!

 

[HeatFan12]

I use CueTools, Medieval & Foobar for various cue operations.  CueTools is an awesome program and it's most often used.  I make wav cues for archiving and cd burning and it works perfect with Imgburn & Nero.
I had some ape files and they are very buggy with Rockbox (unplayable mostly).  All you do is split them, then make a wav cue and then convert to FLAC, ALAC or whatever you choose.  You can tag them before or after, up to you.  Cuetools does the rest.  Another great option I use w/ Cue Tools, is once you have the wav cue, you can do various things with it.  I split to single tracks (ALAC) (not Image & Cue) and set it to "artist and track" name only (no track number) and I use those files for a large "shuffle" library with any player.  I have various idevices and for me converting to apple lossless gives me flexibility to use with itouch, iphone, foobar, winamp etc...
 
 

 

[Sonic Atrocity]

http://www.head-fi.org/t/338351/separating-a-flac-cd-image
 
^^^^^^^^ In the thread above I asked
 
 "Does CUE Tools have the same issue with silent gaps in the beginning/end of songs? I listen to a lot of albums where such gaps would be of a real detriment to my listening experience. For example, Tool's Lateralus or Opeth's Still Life. I am currently trying to work with some FLAC file/cue sheet as well as ape/cuesheet stuff."

 

[HeatFan12]

If you have the ape cue already, it all depends on how it was ripped.  CueTools splits, converts etc. just like the original.  I'm a big Opeth, DT, trance etc. fan myself and gaps are a no-go for me.
Also, I use mostly CueTools but have been using Medieval for a long time and I've never had any problems with gaps etc..Everything is relevant from the original rip.  If the original rip is good, then all is well.

 

[Sonic Atrocity]

Quote:

If you have the ape cue already, it all depends on how it was ripped.  CueTools splits, converts etc. just like the original.  I'm a big Opeth, DT, trance etc. fan myself and gaps are a no-go for me.
Also, I use mostly CueTools but have been using Medieval for a long time and I've never had any problems with gaps etc..Everything is relevant from the original rip.  If the original rip is good, then all is well.

Forgive me for my lack of understanding, but I wonder now, what is all this talk about gaps? Why is it relevant? Why would people want to add/remove/alter gaps? Why not just leave the album as is?

 

[HeatFan12]

Quote:

Forgive me for my lack of understanding, but I wonder now, what is all this talk about gaps? Why is it relevant? Why would people want to add/remove/alter gaps? Why not just leave the album as is?

It's not about them wanting to add/remove them, but if the cd was ripped to cue incorrectly (wrong command on cd ripper, for example), then it would alter the finished product.  On that note, if the original cd was ripped correctly, you can split the tracks (for music players etc...some players don't play cues), then make a cue etc. and all will be well.  The point I was trying to make, if the cd was ripped correctly, then you have many options on what to do with said cue.  I keep a master wav cue (CueTools) and with it I can burn cds with said cue or split the tracks or basically do whatever my needs might be with that particular cd.
 
Take EAC, ripper of choice for many, myself included.  I have been using it for years.  It has so many options that it is worth investigating all of them so you can understand cues better.  I spent days a couple of years ago just experimenting with various rips, cues etc....My point again- once you rip a perfect cd, you have many options to go from there, but the key is to have your master rip perfect.
 
Don't know if you rip with EAC, but if you want to do some tests it will make you understand cues better.
 
Rip a cd with EAC...just basic rip-  Put cd in and hit the wav button to the left.  You will get a cd rip with split tracks...Then rip a cd using the various "action menu" commands with cues. 
 
 

 

 

[marc2003]

the link in my previous reply should have linked to a specific post rather than the whole thread. click it again and scroll to the very last post. that shows how someone used accuraterip and foo_bitcompare to make sure the new created files are bit for bit identical to the source material. that should remove any lingering doubts you may have.

also, i did use the word lossless in my post but it seems a) you didn't believe me or b) you don't understand what it means.

foo_bitcompare - http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_bitcompare
foo_verifier - http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_verifier (allows foobar to perform accuraterip lookups on separate lossless tracks - cue tools is better though)

 

[Sonic Atrocity]

FYI, I acquired these files in a legal download. Oh, and perhaps some miscommunication, Marc? I believe you! And I know what lossless means. I hope no harm is done!

 

[marc2003]

eh? i never questioned the source of your cue sheet/files. all i meant was that you can use these tools to verify the newly created split tracks against it. that is all.

 

[Sonic Atrocity]

Ahhh okay, fair enough. I was having a slow moment ahhahahaa. 

 

[Roseval]

Quote:

I have tried to convert the files to FLAC with xrecode II but then they don't play on my computer. But they play on Clip+ but of course remain untagged. 

 
You need a media player supporting FLAC.
MusicBee, Foobar or my personal preference J River Media Center do play FLAC (and a lot of other formats too)
 
The APE is not tagged.
The information about the tracks is in the CUE sheet.
What I do when converting APE to FLAC
In J River Media Center I select the CUE (not the FLAC) and convert it to FLAC.
This gives me 1 file per track tagged with the info from the CUE sheet.
dbPoweramp can do this probably too.
 
Gaps
To play gapless one need:
- file format supporting gapless playback like FLAC
- media player supporting gapless playback (see the ones mentioned above)
 

 

 

[Sonic Atrocity]

Hey, so not to be a bother but I can't find an instruction guide online for CUETools. So, I have a few questions. I loaded a large FLAC file (fyi it was Immortal's Pure Holocaust) into CUETools, I selected 'Tracks' in the 'Mode' section, I added no 'Extra' (ie: 'Pregap', 'Data track' or 'Offset'), I picked 'Lossless' in the Audio section and I picked FLAC, for the template (I am not quite sure what this is. I assume it has something to do with tagging?) I just left it as is, and then there is a section where I click an arrow and can choose either 'libFLAC', 'FLACCL', 'libFlake' (which should I choose?), and I have no idea what to do with the 0-8 meter below my encoder options. 
 
I checked the boxes for MusicBrainz, freedb and AccurateRip.
 
Would anyone mind giving me a quick crash course on this? All I want is to achieve complete fidelity and have nothing altered. I just want my tracks as they are on the album that way when listening it is no different than listening to the CD. Thank you!