Looking for recommendations for new tools and format
Reply #3 – 2006-12-28 10:25:01
Unfortunately there's virtually nothing out there that supports absolutely everything, so complex needs such as yours will always require more than one program/package/family. Sounds like you need a lot of flexibility.For these reasons and others, I figured I'd ask the folks here what a good answer might be? I'm looking to use a format that serves an a good archive backup of my large CD collection. I don't want to rip to MP3 and forever be stuck with a library of less-than-optimal music. Should I desire to go back to full fidelity, I'd like that option. I'd like a solution that works with a decent array of hardware and software. Hardware support for lossless audio is currently led by FLAC, but even that's not anywhere near universal. As such, it's probably best to use a combined solution of sorts - rip to MP3 (most flexible) for playback, and tuck the FLAC files away as backups until you get hardware that can play them. Use EAC to do the ripping.I like syncing my library to the 3 or 4 different players we have in the house, all with different formats and quality levels (however, this too is buggy in db). I like that it so easily converts anything to anything. Tall order, buddy. Most software I know of assumes you're using only one player, and so you'd have to change the settings every time you connected a different one of your players. Not to mention that few such software packages properly support a wide variety of players either. You'll probably end up using something different for each one depending on the manufacturer, etc.Lastly, is anyone aware of a really impressive playlist editor? I have several thousand songs (and I've yet to rip entire CD's as for now I've stuck just with the songs I care about most) and I'd like to be able to quickly and easily create an array of playlists for every occasion (APE format even limits me there). I'd like to be able to have any song belong to many types but without my having to manually place it in 100 different lists. It'd be great to be able to take a single song and define its types in one pass (it's upbeat, dance, rock, happy, My Favorite, Wife's Favorite, etc.) and then just create the lists based on those tags. Windows Media Player 11 and MediaMonkey both allow automatic playlist generation. WMP's implementation is faster, but MM supports more formats natively.