Ripping Music

[DaHoboFest]

OK, well, i was thinking of starting a cd collection and ripping them to my mp3.

How do i build a collection?

What software do i need to rip it to the computer, and then i need to be able to drag it into my mp3 explorer software.

How would i do this?

 

[hciman77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaHoboFest What software do i need to rip it to the computer

Plenty of free ripping/encoding software around i.e
Exact Audio Copy(EAC)
EZCD
Musicmatch (not sure if this is still free)

Install software, place Cd in CDROM drive - you do have a CDROM drive ? - software reads CD - often checking an online DB for CD details such as titles -you then tell it to rip and encode the tracks you want. The software will let you specify the bitrate and mode i.e Constant Bitrate or Variable Bitrate.

 

[PTheD]

I don't know about draging the MP3s into your MP3 explorer program, I would think that Windows Explorer could handle that, but I love the simplicity of iTunes for handaling my collection.

Install iTunes, give it access to the internet, insert CD, chose what format you want your riped tunes to be in (from like 32kbps to 320 kbps MP3 or AAC and even ALAC!) & rip them into your library, which iTunes will organise for you if you chose that option in the preferences. Gotta love minamalistic, takes all the hard work out of storing thousands of tracks!

 

[Cyclone]

Burn all of your CD's using EAC and LAME (here's a guide), then move/burn all of you music to one folder so that any program can organize it for you (itunes, wmp, foobar, jetaudio, etc).

 

[DaHoboFest]

is windows media any good?

 

[Cyclone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaHoboFest is windows media any good?

meh...not really good imo, i only use it for sync'ing with my micro and fixing tags on my music. if you really want a great player for audio and video try jetaudio. its by far my favorite player for pretty much anything (besides when i listen to music analytically, in that case i use foobar+kernal stream+EQ= fantastic sound).

Quote:

Originally Posted by PTheD I used it (WMP) a year or so ago and it was fine. The text in green on the black background threw me off a bit & I never liked its feauters.

You can change the colors of WMP... i have mine a bullet blue'ish silver with white text and it looks pretty good. but ya, the features on WMP are just kinda... average. with the exception being the syncronization ability, but that only applies to a few people who need it. If you use WMP its not like you will hate it, its fine and all but, its just not the best out there.

 

[PTheD]

I used it (WMP) a year or so ago and it was fine. The text in green on the black background threw me off a bit & I never liked its feauters. I find iTunes much more user friendly & WinAmp 5.03d to have superior features for advanced useres.

 

[DaHoboFest]

ok i started ripping at 320 kps, a little too big, so now im doing it at 192 i think. It goes to a folder in open mp3, and then i drag it in, works well.

 

[Asr]

I use Exact Audio Copy to rip and then CDex to encode. CDex will do both, but EAC is a better ripper, and CDex is essentially LAME.

If you plan on loading your MP3s onto a flash memory player, you might consider 160 kb/s, 192 kb/s will fill up faster than you can say "where did all my space go?"

 

[terrymx]

when you rip using variable bitrates (vbr) instead of constant bitrates (cbr), you get higher quality sound at the same bitrates and possibly save memory too.

 

[Cyclone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by terrymx when you rip using variable bitrates (vbr) instead of constant bitrates (cbr), you get higher quality sound at the same bitrates and possibly save memory too.

LAME at ABR (average bit rate) 160kbps = Fantastic sounding, small sized, mp3's

 

[PachmanP]

I strongly recommend using EAC for ripping because otherwise with good mp3/oggs/aac/etc's and good headphones (which I assume since you're here) you will probably be able to hear a fair amount junk (very nonscientific) from bad rips.

If you really wanna know how to do it right check outHydrogenAudio and you can find out just about everything you ever wanted to know about music compression.

Oh and just as a side note I recomend avoiding WMA and WMP just because there are better things out there that don't have the nasty microsoft DRM junk.