Ripping Storing Advice Please

rtate · « **on:** 12 Apr 2009, 05:42 pm »

I would like to begin to rip my CD library to my PC external HD so that I can listen through my SB3 remotely and through my usb dac at my PC
All of the music currently on my PC is mp3 or wma
My Son uses Itunes for his ipod and I read that there is compatibility issues with flac and itunes.
I have not used my SB yet but assumed that I have to use SqueezeCenter as the player.
DO I need to have 2 players? Can they both use 1 single library or do I need different libraries for each one?

So where do I start. Is there any "how-to's" on ripping and storing the music as well as optimum settings for the ripper and player?
I would like to use flac to rip but I'm not sure if it's the right or best choice.
I have several questions, but I'm sure most of them have been asked/answered several times over.
I just need a good starting point

BradJudy · « **Reply #1 on:** 13 Apr 2009, 12:59 am »

You do need SqueezeCenter for the SB and you will need another program to sync up the iPod (there are other options than iTunes, but SqueezeCenter won't do it).

While you don't need two separate libraries for two players in general, if you want your SB library to be FLAC, you'll also have to rip MP3 or AAC for the iPod (niether iTunes nor the iPod support FLAC). You can use a program like DBPowerAmp (not free, but a nice ripper) to rip to both FLAC and MP3 at the same time. DBPowerAmp is pretty well set up "out of the box" for ripping and is pretty easy to use.

After ripping new music, you'll have to have both SqueezeCenter and iTunes rescan their respective music directories to see the new albums.

stereocilia · « **Reply #2 on:** 13 Apr 2009, 01:47 am »

I recently decided to move away from using apple lossless and I now use flac. A fellow AC'er suggested software called dBpoweramp for ripping, and I've been very happy with it, even if it isn't as slick as iTunes.

I still have to figure out an easy way to use an iPod and a Squeezebox, but my initial thought is that I can use the batch converter in dBpoweramp to take the flac files my wife wants on her iPod and convert them to mp3. I've heard that it is possible to get an iPod to play flac files, but apparently you have to void the iPod warranty and replace the iPod's operating system. I'm not sure I would go that far, but you might want to. I think the software is called Rockbox.

richidoo · « **Reply #3 on:** 13 Apr 2009, 03:13 am »

Squeezebox will play Apple lossless, and dbPoweramp will rip it. Sync to ipod with iTunes or I prefer Anapod. Learn to adjust dbpoweramp ripping settings to achieve bit perfect rip, it is not set by default.

Rashiki · « **Reply #4 on:** 13 Apr 2009, 05:44 am »

I use EAC to rip all of my CDs to flac for the squeezebox. I keep all of the music sorted into folders for artist and album. For my iPod, I wrote a perl script that uses lame to make a MP3 copies in a parallel set of folders. For example, I'll have music/flac/Muse/Absolution/01-Intro.flac and /music/mp3/Muse/Absolution/01-Intro.mp3. I then import the MP3 files to iTunes and use it to copy the songs to the iPod.

-Rob

rtate · « **Reply #5 on:** 13 Apr 2009, 10:53 am »

What is the difference or pros/cons between "EAC" and "FLAC"

If I have a library for Lossless and another for mp3 will the SB see both libraries at simultaneously or will I have to flip back and forth??

cityjim · « **Reply #6 on:** 13 Apr 2009, 11:36 am »

EAC is exact audio copy . Rips an original music CD into another format .

FLAC is lossless compression (good compression) . No musical bits are lost in the compression process and or if decoded back to wave . "Lossless" so CD encoded to FLAC , decoded back to wave then burned to CD (.CDA) keeps the original fidelity in tact .

MP3 is lossy compression . Musical bits are discarded . You are actually listening to a poorer sounding replica of the original CD . You will hear things like missing bass response and shrill highs . Just not listenable to for hours on end . So basically you can't enjoy it which is what music is all about . What I say is MP3 ..... not on my system .

And if you download with torrent applications and such , you don't know if they were once MP3 then converted to FLAC or what format it originally was . I have been downloading FLAC tracks and notice very poor sound on a lot of the internet downloads . I converted the downloaded FLAC files to wave (.wav) then to CD (.CDA) files and listen to on CD-RW disks . Once the CD has been encoded to MP3 , the original purity is lost . So you take a CD and rip to MP3 , then back to CD , you lose fidelity . It is not the same "original" CD anymore . Now you have sh_t .

Best to rip your original CD's with FLAC .

cityjim

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #7 on:** 13 Apr 2009, 11:55 am »

Also check into RAID for your library. Just in case.

Mine:
EAC ripped FLAC files are stored on an extrernal USB RAID HDD for the SB3. Good stuff. aa

Bob

sabes · « **Reply #8 on:** 13 Apr 2009, 12:04 pm »

Quote from: stereocilia on 13 Apr 2009, 01:47 am

I recently decided to move away from using apple lossless and I now use flac. A fellow AC'er suggested software called dBpoweramp for ripping, and I've been very happy with it, even if it isn't as slick as iTunes.

I still have to figure out an easy way to use an iPod and a Squeezebox, but my initial thought is that I can use the batch converter in dBpoweramp to take the flac files my wife wants on her iPod and convert them to mp3. I've heard that it is possible to get an iPod to play flac files, but apparently you have to void the iPod warranty and replace the iPod's operating system. I'm not sure I would go that far, but you might want to. I think the software is called Rockbox.

just curious as to why you decided to move away from apple lossless?

mcgsxr · « **Reply #9 on:** 13 Apr 2009, 12:17 pm »

I use EAC to rip to FLAC, and park in folders.

For the music my wife wants on her Creative Stone Plus (admittedly a very minor percentage of the whole collection) I use Mediamonkey to batch rip from FLAC to MP3.

I don't have MP3 copies of all my music, I just don't need it.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #10 on:** 13 Apr 2009, 12:20 pm »

MediaMonkey is nice to have. It has the ability to convert your FLAC tunes to a CD in a format for listening in the car.

Bob

rtate · « **Reply #11 on:** 13 Apr 2009, 02:21 pm »

So , EAC is the tool/program I use to rip the cd and then I use FLAC to compress the file I just created??

Bob in St. Louis: What is "RAID"

Bigfish · « **Reply #12 on:** 13 Apr 2009, 02:28 pm »

Quote

So , EAC is the tool/program I use to rip the cd and then I use FLAC to compress the file I just created??

When you use EAC to rip your music you will need to select the type of file you want to save the music in. If you want to compress the music to save file space then you want to select file type .flac. I would recommend compression 5 or 6. If you want to save the music in the same form it is on a CD then save it as .wav.

Ken

TomS · « **Reply #13 on:** 13 Apr 2009, 02:36 pm »

Quote from: rtate on 13 Apr 2009, 02:21 pm

So , EAC is the tool/program I use to rip the cd and then I use FLAC to compress the file I just created??

Bob in St. Louis: What is "RAID"

RAID = Redundent Array of Inexpensive Disks. It provides a variety of configurations to avoid loss of data if one or more disks crashes, at the cost of using a little more space, which is cheap. Basically multiple disks with a controller and software to manage it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redundant_array_of_independent_disks

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #14 on:** 13 Apr 2009, 02:38 pm »

Yes.

EAC (Exact Audio Copy), does just that...It makes an exact copy of your audio.

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codecs) is the format (the "language", like mp3, wma jpeg, etc...).

RAID (redundant array of independent disks) Has many different "colors". The one that I use is called RAID1.
It uses two harddrives. After ripping the music (via EAC), the songs are written to BOTH of the drives. This way if (when is more accurate) the harddrive fails/crashes, you throw it away, buy another one, then the RAID software writes your entire library from the single remaining good drive to the new blank drive.
> HERE< is a Wiki on all the various forms of RAID. Some get pretty fancy and high tech, but those are mainly used for SUPER vital information.

I have a little aluminum box that connects to my PC via a USB cable. It's about the size of a cigar box. This little box contains two 1.5Terrabite Seagate harddrives in it. My collection is duplicated on both drives. RAID1 is called "mirroring", or "redundancy".

The cool thing about it, is that you can unplug the unit, take it over to a buddies house and listen to all your music on his system. Makes it much easier than carrying a few thousand albums.

Bob

rtate · « **Reply #15 on:** 13 Apr 2009, 02:57 pm »

Do I need to implement Raid before I begin to rip my cd's or is this someting that I can add later on as me library becomes bigger>

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #16 on:** 13 Apr 2009, 02:59 pm »

You can add it later without a problem.

Bob

Rashiki · « **Reply #17 on:** 13 Apr 2009, 05:02 pm »

Quote from: rtate on 13 Apr 2009, 10:53 am

If I have a library for Lossless and another for mp3 will the SB see both libraries at simultaneously or will I have to flip back and forth??

You can have it see both if you want, or you can have it only see one. When you set up SqueezeCenter, you tell it where your music folder is stored. If you have it point to the top level folder where both your flac and MP3 files are stored, it will see both. If you tell it just where your flac folder is stored, it will only see the flac files. This assumes you have your music arranged into parallel trees (e.g. /music/flac/artist/... and /music/mp3/artist/...). If your music is arranged by artist/album with MP3 and flac folders, you may have more trouble keeping the libraries apart (e.g. /music/artist/album/mp3 /music/artist/album/flac).

In my opinion, if all of your music is stored as flac, there's no reason for SqueezeCenter to see the MP3 files. I only keep the MP3 files for my iPod.

-Rob

Rashiki · « **Reply #18 on:** 13 Apr 2009, 05:06 pm »

Quote from: rtate on 13 Apr 2009, 02:57 pm

Do I need to implement Raid before I begin to rip my cd's or is this someting that I can add later on as me library becomes bigger>

You should have backups. RAID is just one approach to backups.

I keep all of my CDs in storage, so in the worst case I could always re-rip them all. I also have a couple of external drives which I use as backups. I just copy all of the files to the external drives every once in a while.

-Rob

stereocilia · « **Reply #19 on:** 14 Apr 2009, 01:10 am »

Quote from: sabes on 13 Apr 2009, 12:04 pm

Quote from: stereocilia on 13 Apr 2009, 01:47 am
I recently decided to move away from using apple lossless and I now use flac. A fellow AC'er suggested software called dBpoweramp for ripping, and I've been very happy with it, even if it isn't as slick as iTunes.

I still have to figure out an easy way to use an iPod and a Squeezebox, but my initial thought is that I can use the batch converter in dBpoweramp to take the flac files my wife wants on her iPod and convert them to mp3. I've heard that it is possible to get an iPod to play flac files, but apparently you have to void the iPod warranty and replace the iPod's operating system. I'm not sure I would go that far, but you might want to. I think the software is called Rockbox.

just curious as to why you decided to move away from apple lossless?

Good question. It wasn't until after I had ripped a bunch of cds that I realized that when apple lossless is played through a squeezebox it will not allow a fast-forward function. I almost never fast-forward, but it is still annoying that couldn't if I wanted to. I don't know if it's a hardware, software, or licensing issue, but in any case I took that as a sign that I should try to use an encoding format that would submit to my will, instead of the other way around. Basically, since Apple owns apple lossless, I didn't want to be constrained to how Apple might limit its use.