[JLM]

So whats the best source(s) for downloading music?

[JohnnyLightOn]

^ If I understand the question correctly, it's your own computer's CD or DVD drive, coupled with EAC (Exact Audio Copy) software that's properly set up, and your own CDs.  This is called "ripping."  In this case, you'd be ripping to FLAC compressed lossless files, or to WAV uncompressed lossless files.

It takes a few days of studying up on this stuff online to learn the process, but overall it's not complicated.

These types of lossless files are typically not downloaded for a fee from any of the services at present, AFAIK.  You can download these files from newsgroups, but those are illegal copies.

[JLM]

Sorry, allow me to clarify.  What are the best internet sites to download music from (digital format, good selection of music, and low cost with minimum strings).

thanks

[StevenACNJ]

Pay site - I have been using - www.buy.com.

Very nice selection of single songs & albums

Single song price ranges between $.79 & $.99.

A lot of singles are available as a 256K wma file.

[MttBsh]

I've been downloading some concert recordings from http://www.archive.org/ The archive contains 20,000 shows, mostly in FLAC format, some with CD quality sound. The best thing is, it's free!

Matt

[dsch04]

Ripping Song Bird CD (Cassidy Eva's) to WAV with about 450MB takes less than 3 minutes!  Isn't it cool?

CAUTION: That sounds to me like you're using EAC secure mode. It's slower, but guarantees that you get a bit-perfect copy of the audio.

I posted this summarising the recommended EAC settings.

R.

PS I suggest you add Squeezebox to the list of options in the "Now Playing" drop down!

[LymphNode]

So whats the best source(s) for downloading music?

google "Replay Music"

get a membership with a vendor that has an all-you-can eat personal use download deal.  stream and record an unlimited number of songs for the cost of the monthly membership.  the songs cannot be burned onto any media w/o paying the per-song charge, but they can be stored on your HD w/o any cost other than the monthly membership fee.  You could probably download most sites' entire catalogs in less than a few weeks.

take advantage of this while it lasts.

[LymphNode]

So whats the best source(s) for downloading music?

google "Replay Music"

get a membership with a vendor that has an all-you-can eat personal use download deal.  stream and record an unlimited number of songs for the cost of the monthly membership.  the songs cannot be burned onto any media w/o paying the per-song charge, but they can be stored on your HD w/o any cost other than the monthly membership fee.  You could probably download most sites' entire catalogs in less than a few weeks.

take advantage of this while it lasts.

[Paul_Bui]

Ripping Song Bird CD (Cassidy Eva's) to WAV with about 450MB takes less than 3 minutes!  Isn't it cool?

CAUTION: That sounds to me like you're using EAC secure mode. It's slower, but guarantees that you get a bit-perfect copy of the audio.

I posted this summarising the recommended EAC settings.

R.

PS I suggest you add Squeezebox to the list of options in the "Now Playing" drop down!

That's right, I'd rather go a bit slower and get the highest possible audio quality from the CDs.

What software that has the "Now Playing" drop down are you referring to?

[Paul_Bui]

Ripping Song Bird CD (Cassidy Eva's) to WAV with about 450MB takes less than 3 minutes!  Isn't it cool?

CAUTION: That sounds to me like you're using EAC secure mode. It's slower, but guarantees that you get a bit-perfect copy of the audio.

I posted this summarising the recommended EAC settings.

R.

PS I suggest you add Squeezebox to the list of options in the "Now Playing" drop down!

That's right, I'd rather go a bit slower and get the highest possible audio quality from the CDs.

What software that has the "Now Playing" drop down are you referring to?  Thanks Robin for pointing to the helpful post on how to use EAC/FLAC effectively.

[dsch04]

That's right, I'd rather go a bit slower and get the highest possible audio quality from the CDs.

What software that has the "Now Playing" drop down are you referring to?  Thanks Robin for pointing to the helpful post on how to use EAC/FLAC effectively.

When you post to this forum, underneath the edit box is a text field and a drop-down list with the label "Now Playing - what are you listening to right now? (optional)"

R.

[Paul_Bui]

OK got it.  Will do when The Red Wine mod SB2 arrives.

Thanks.

Following the tips of effective use of EAC, ripping CDs becomes MUCH slower.

[dsch04]

Following the tips of effective use of EAC, ripping CDs becomes MUCH slower.

That's right.

Secire mode is slower but ensures an accurate rip.

As you only rip once it's a worthwhile trade-off in my eyes.

R.

[Paul_Bui]

R.

For kicks I ripped a track or two in three modes:  Burst (fastest), Fast, and Secure (slowest).  Comparing them didn't show any difference, and that relieved me a bit; before reading your article I didn't pay attention to the settings so there are quite a number of CDs that got ripped in the Burst mode.

After getting the mod SB2 I will be experimenting more, listen to same tracks ripped in different modes, and find out how they are different.

[dsch04]

R.

For kicks I ripped a track or two in three modes:  Burst (fastest), Fast, and Secure (slowest).  Comparing them didn't show any difference, and that relieved me a bit; before reading your article I didn't pay attention to the settings so there are quite a number of CDs that got ripped in the Burst mode.

After getting the mod SB2 I will be experimenting more, listen to same tracks ripped in different modes, and find out how they are different.

Paul,

You're not guaranteed to get errors or differences if you use burst mode, but you won't know about it if you do.

Whereas with secure mode any problems reading the disc will be immediately apparent.

R.