[Russellc]

Ok, I have my first player, MusicBee up and running, have learned that it can be pointed to a NAS system to play what is on there.  I have 3 more questions: These same questions can apply to all other players as well.

1. Can I burn what I have on MusicBee (or whatever player) to the NAS or must I re-rip it all to the NAS?

2. If I get a new computer, can I transfer the whole MusicBee and music (or whatever player) on my current computer to said new computer, or must I download the player to new computer and then re rip all the CDs to it?

3. Can I burn what is on my MusicBee (or whatever player ) to a CD blank?

Yes, I am really new to all this computer music stuff!

Thanks,

Russellc

[randytsuch]

I've never used musicbee, but in general, when you rip a CD, it saves each song to a file.  I'm guessing musicbee would give you an option to what kind of file type you want to save to.  I would also guess that you're using the musicbee default, whatever that is.

You should use a lossless file type (as opposed to something like mp3, which is lossy).
Most people use wav or flac

wav is uncompressed, and lossless, and results in the largest files.

flac is lossless, and you can specify how much compression, from 0 to 9 I think.  0 is no compression.
These days, disk space is cheap, so I would rip to flac with no compression, or wav.

Once ripped, you can convert from wav to flac and vice versa.

And you can copy these files to a NAS, different PC, a DAP or anywhere else.  So once you rip a CD, and you have the files, you don't have to rip it again.

For compatibility, if you're burning files to a CD, I would use wav files.  I'm not sure if all cd players will play flac files.
Oh, wav files are what is actually on the cd in the first place.

Randy

[srb]

Some people will tell you that WAV sounds better than AIFF or vice-versa, but my subjective listening tests find that to be false, as well as the simple technical fact that they are both bit for bit identical uncompressed linear PCM files.

They only differ in byte storage order (least significant, most significant bits) and the file header.  When you simply drag files off of a CD audio disc on a computer (versus a ripping program), the files are AIFF on a Mac and WAV on a PC.

AIFF allows for the storage of metadata tags and standard WAV does not.  Most music player software allow you to store metadata tags for WAV files, but store them in an external database.  When these WAV files are read by another music player program, the tags are not available.

I prefer AIFF for metadata tag capability, although WAV has better universal compatibility.  But because the music players I use (J River Media Center, MusicBee, iTunes) support AIFF/AIF, it doesn't bother me that foobar and Windows Media Player do not, as I am not particularly fond of their interfaces anyway.

Steve

[Vincent Kars]

1: if you rip a CD or download audio, it is all about files. We think it is audio but our computers see them as what they are: files.
Hens they can be transferred to a NAS, backed up, etc.


2: This works like any other application.
Yhe audio files and the library (the database) can be transferred.
The program most of the time must be installed anew.

3: Yes

[Vincent Kars]

They only differ in byte storage order (least significant, most significant bits)

That is a bit dated. At the time Apple was using the Power PC, AIFF was big endian.
After changing to Intel, AIFF changes to little endian.

[srb]

That is a bit dated. At the time Apple was using the Power PC, AIFF was big endian.
After changing to Intel, AIFF changes to little endian.

Even better.  All the more reason for WAV and AIFF to sound exactly the same, only differing in file header and metadata.

Steve