[ncage1974]

Hey guys i've finally got to start to ripping my old CDs. I have read up a little bit about it and apparently the best thing to do is the RIP to FLAC (or other loseless format) and then convert them to whatever format you need mp3/wma/aac/ect... OK i'm using EAC to convert to FLAC. I've tried to search and apparently there is no good way to convert FLAC to MP3 using EAC. I will be using this stuff primarily on my ZuneHD 32GB but will also be streaming it around my house.

Questions:

1) Does it matter really what program you use to convert the FLAC files to MP3 (CDEX,foobar2000,ect..) just as long as you use the LAME encoder? I think the hard part was done by EAC when i convert the CDs to FLAC and there won't be any quality difference but i want to be sure.

2) I'm thinking on converting the FLAC to VBR wma instead since the devices i want to play these files on accept wma and probably will be a little bit smaller since wma has better compression i believe. The question is will the quality still be the same? I believe my device also would play AAC if AAC would be better. I want to fit as many songs i can on my zunehd.
--I have just upgraded my headphones to UE 10s. Hopefully the blow me away. The best pair of headphones ive ever had is a pair of Grado 80s

3) OK i know the LAME encoder is the best for MP3s but if you recommend going with either WMA/AAC above then what would you recommend for a good encoder? Still use LAME or something else?

4) OK now bitrate. I've heard that if you have use VBR and 192 it will be hard to distinguish between the CD and the mp3 file. Is this the bitrate you guys would recommend or maybe 256? What if i go with WMA/AAC?

thanks,
Ncage

 

[KGM11]

Quote:

apparently the best thing to do is the RIP to FLAC (or other loseless format) and then convert them to whatever format you need mp3/wma/aac/ect...

You can go to MP3 directly if that's all you want. The point of creating and keeping lossless FLAC files is never having to rip your CDs again (since swapping around the discs and waiting for your optical drive is probably the most time consuming part of the whole process). So if you decide one day to switch to a different compression level or format for your lossy files, you can just re-encode a new set from the FLAC files instead of having to deal with all those physical CDs again.
Quote:

I've tried to search and apparently there is no good way to convert FLAC to MP3 using EAC

There are add-ons for EAC which let you encode to multiple formats when ripping. For existing files just use something like foobar2000 instead.

Quote:

1) Does it matter really what program you use to convert the FLAC files to MP3 (CDEX,foobar2000,ect..) just as long as you use the LAME encoder? I think the hard part was done by EAC when i convert the CDs to FLAC and there won't be any quality difference but i want to be sure.

Not as far as audio quality is concerned, but there can/will be differences in metadata handling (tags, cover art, etc.).

Quote:

2) I'm thinking on converting the FLAC to VBR wma instead since the devices i want to play these files on accept wma and probably will be a little bit smaller since wma has better compression i believe. The question is will the quality still be the same? I believe my device also would play AAC if AAC would be better. I want to fit as many songs i can on my zunehd.

AAC is probably the most efficient/modern choice if your devices support it. Quality depends on the encoder and quality setting used.

Quote:

3) OK i know the LAME encoder is the best for MP3s but if you recommend going with either WMA/AAC above then what would you recommend for a good encoder? Still use LAME or something else?

For MP3, use a stable LAME version and look into the -V presets.
For AAC, try Nero's encoder in VBR mode (-q, relevant links here)
Encode some sample tracks, listen and decide yourself.

Quote:

4) OK now bitrate. I've heard that if you have use VBR and 192 it will be hard to distinguish between the CD and the mp3 file. Is this the bitrate you guys would recommend or maybe 256? What if i go with WMA/AAC?

Forget bitrates, use quality-based settings like mentioned above.

 

[ncage1974]

thanks for the wonderful response. You answered a lot of my questions. Ya i'm doing the unthinkable and throwing my actual CDs in the trash. I have to much junk around the house that i just don't use anymore. Thats why i'm using FLAC because i won't be able to rerip them

. Ya i guess i correctly said "what bitrate". I know you can't really call vbr a 192 bit rate or anything like that but i was talking about ~xxxx bitrate. I know a lot of you in these forums have done a lot more critical listening then and know better than i do. Thats why i was asking what bitrate to use or i should have been asking what "V-Number" to use. Like i said i'm playing this stuff through a ZuneHD + UE TripleFi 10 (on the way). I might at some point get an amp but not sure about it at this point. Not to much concerned with cover art, tagging,ect...because the zune software takes care of that for me nicely.

I only have 32GB on this thing (biggest one they make) and i also listen to a lot of podcast so i'm trying get these things as small as possible...thats why i asked about AAC/WMA but of course quality trumps everything else.

 

[gilency]

If you decide to throw away your CD's you could sell them or give them away to headfiers instead, with the added bonus of creating less trash.

I have converted all of my CD's to apple losseless and very happy about not having to change CD's anymore, but I would not dare throwing them away just yet.....

 

[Ham Sandwich]

There's a number of ways you can go. All depends on what you find convenient and your level of computer skills.

What you want to try to avoid is ending up with two or more separate libraries. For example, a FLAC library and a separate MP3 (or other lossy) library. Management becomes more difficult when you have to manually make updates or changes in two separate areas (for example when updating tags or adding cover art).

A more ideal arrangement is to have the FLAC library as your primary listening library. Do all of your file management, tagging, cover art updates, and such on your FLAC library. Then use software that can transcode the FLAC files to a lossy format of choice on the fly when syncing the portable. You never have to manage the lossy files manually. The software that syncs the portable does that for you.

I use J River Media Center which does that kind of management for me. My main listening library is FLAC. My iPod gets synced with MP3 (LAME -V0) with the MP3 files created as needed and all managed by J River Media Center. Media Monkey has similar capabilities. There are other media players and syncing tools that can do that as well.

I don't know of similar software that can do that with a Zune though. The Zune can only be synced with the Zune software and I'm not very familiar with the capabilities of the Zune software.