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Topic: Advice: Lossless Format & Manager (Read 3366 times) previous topic - next topic
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Advice: Lossless Format & Manager

Hi!

Currently I have all my MP3s in iTunes for my iPod Nano, but unfortunately I am not happy with the sound quality of my iPod, but now I'm more or less stuck with it. However, I plan to make an investment (both monetary and in time) to create a lossless digital copy of my entire music library (about 400 albums, 500 CDs). Since the largest collection of audiophiles on the planet lingers on these pages, I hoped you could help me choose the right tools to do it. Basically, I want to know your opinions / experiences with software:

1. What is the best lossless format (e.g. with regards to cross-platform portability)? So far, I have read that FLAC seems to be the "standard".
2. What is the best option to rip CDs securely? I know about EAC and dBPowerAmp, and I'm leaning towards dBPowerAmp, because of the good integration with automatic tagging and correcting mistakes in tags. I use both Windows 7 and Linux, so anything that goes on any of those platforms is OK with me. Just nothing that has LED fruit on some side. Paying for software is no issue, though, so that should not be a reason against e.g. dBPowerAmp.
3. Are there good programmes that embed high-quality album art automatically? Does dBPowerAmp do that, too?
4. When all the music is ripped and tagged, what would be the best manager for these files, especially with regards to plug-ins, ease of use, and compatibility with PMPs? Also for support of non-Latin characters (Japanese, Korean, Russian) is important.

Any direction you can give me would be very much appreciated! Thanks already.

Advice: Lossless Format & Manager

Reply #1 –
1) there is no best, there is only best for you. The wiki has some good articles explaining the differences/pros/cons of various file formats, I suggest you start there.

2) both are good options, eac is free, and dbpoweramp is not. Myself I use dbpoweramp r14 reference. dbpa also includes generally high quality/accuracy metadata via amg etc.

3) as mentioned above, dbpa does provide metadata and art. Myself I use musicbrainz picard tagger, tags/embeds art from amazon, and uses last.fm tags as genre.

4) I use mediamonkey for all other library management, syncing to devices, and playback. Foobar2k also has some useful functions that I use occasionally (bit comparison, checking files for errors, and checking accurate rip).

Advice: Lossless Format & Manager

Reply #2 –
Q. 4. I don't use foobar2k myself, but you should consider it very seriously. IME, it's not the easiest program to pick up and use, but it does so much and, people report, is easy once learned. Definitely one of the very few to consider for serious use on Windows.

I'm kind of curious about what is unsatisfactory with the sound of your iPod. They measure very well, and most people seem to be happy, given the right headphones. What is it exactly that is the problem? A lossless archive is a Good Thing, but it may not fix your perceived problem.

Are you intending to play lossless files on an iPod? If so, you are pretty much stuck with ALAC, AFAIK.

Advice: Lossless Format & Manager

Reply #3 –
Quote from: astrotrain on
... Since the largest collection of audiophiles on the planet lingers on these pages...


Only the ones with brains.     

Now to the topic. Have you considered using apple lossless?

It is already included in iTunes and is supported in the iPod nano (depending on the generation.)

dBPoweramp supports ripping and converting to apple lossless if you download a plug in.

You could convert on the fly from apple lossless to AAC 128 kbps when loading music to your nano (again it depends on the generation.)

dbPowerAmp with accurate rip is a good option for ripping.

Advice: Lossless Format & Manager

Reply #4 –
FLAC is the de facto standard, but if you use Apple products it might not be the most convenient choice, since they like to push their own standards. My guess is they also don't want to support formats that are popular on p2p, since their own competing store and close ties with the industry.

Advice: Lossless Format & Manager

Reply #5 –
Another option for rippers is CUERipper, a part of CUETools.  Not sure if it does foreign characters but it does have the capacity to repair minor defects if a CD is in the CUETools database.

Advice: Lossless Format & Manager

Reply #6 –
Quote from: astrotrain on
1. What is the best lossless format (e.g. with regards to cross-platform portability)?
Apple lossless if you plan on using iTunes, otherwise I would use flac.

Quote from: astrotrain on
2. What is the best option to rip CDs securely?
There really is not best regarding secure ripping, dBpoweramp, EAC and foobar2000 are all mature options that have AccurateRip support.  CUERipper is an option, but it is not mature; it is largely untested in the public forum and may have limited hardware support. I found it to be quite slow when I tried it.  Any ripper (secure or othersise) can be used in conjunction with CUETools to get AR verification and access to the CTDB, really; though a secure ripper can help in getting accurate copies, of course.  Other secure rippers I have not mentioned include Easy CD-DA Extractor, PlexTools and CDex (IIRC, CDex's ability to work with a wide variety of caching drives is questionable since it uses an old version of cdparanoia).  These are all Windows-based, of course.  Linux users have a variety of cdparanoia options.  Apple users have Rip, XLD and other cdparnoia-based options.

Quote from: astrotrain on
dBPowerAmp, because of the good integration with automatic tagging and correcting mistakes in tags.
This is a unique feature that does set dBpoweramp apart from other ripping programs.

Quote from: astrotrain on
Just nothing that has LED fruit on some side.
Is this a swipe at Apple?  If so then I suppose you should go with flac.

Quote from: astrotrain on
Are there good programmes that embed high-quality album art automatically?
dBpoweramp, iTunes, EAC with REACT, undoubtedly others that I have not listed so far.

Advice: Lossless Format & Manager

Reply #7 –
astrotrain, you can check the popularity of the media players/organizers in the recent poll.
Looking on the number of answers, it seems that it is not very representative, though.

Advice: Lossless Format & Manager

Reply #8 –
Thanks for all your answers! I'm sure I'll check some of these out.

Right now, I'm staying with my iPod and iTunes for my MP3 collection (it took quite a while), but I intend to migrate to FLAC (or some other lossless format) for preservation of my collection but also in the hope to buy a FLAC-compatible PMP some day. Ideas? Cowon?

The problem with my iPod Nano is that some songs have clipping (without any EQ on) and it really bugs me. I have tried using Sound Check or iVolume which uses ReplayGain, and I even tested with MP3Gain, but still it seems to clip. Even the songs I have downloaded from the iTunes store, and they vary from acoustic ones to metal. I've put some of these songs on my Samsung Galaxy (i7500) phone and it plays them even at high volumes perfectly. Either my Samsung Galaxy is a sound wonder, or the Nano is just not built for music, in which case it's just a flashy device with a nice UI, but I did not buy an iPod just to marvel at Apple's design. I'm just very unhappy with the quality. By the way, I have Sony MDR-EX500LP in-ear phones, which I find have a very good and balanced sound. I even tried the headphones I got with my Samsung Galaxy and even they have clipping on my iPod, so I'm betting it's not the earphones, as these work perfectly on my phone. In iTunes there is no problem with clipping (even with EQ on) and in other media players (Winamp, WMP) there is no sign of clipping either. It's really just the iPod Nano. I have tested other Nanos - same problem. I have my volume dial up to about 50%-60%, which I think it should be able to handle. Anyone any ideas?

Thanks again!!!