Lossless CD Ripping

[Scratchy1215]

So i collected a bunch of CDs id like to use for when my headphones come but now im wondering, how should i rip these CDs? when i did it with just windows media player the tracks were 128bitrate(or so forget the actual number) so now im wondering is there a setting for higher or do i need special software or would itunes do it? 

 

Getting into audio is becoming more of a chore then actual enjoyment  :lol:

[T.Vengeance]

You could always just create a disk image and mount it. That way you have an exact copy of the disk.

[Scratchy1215]

You could always just create a disk image and mount it. That way you have an exact copy of the disk.

i want them on my pc so i can create a personal playlist

[Pomfinator]

Itunes will do it fine, when you import the CD's, make sure that you select Apple Lossless Encoder under "import using"

[Guest]

I would use Exact Audio Copy. It makes really nice lossless rips. If you want to use iTunes, go into the settings and change the import setting to Apple Lossless. Apple Lossless (or ALAC) is a very nice lossless codec, although its not very universal. Most things won't be able to play it (iTunes can and VLC can). However, once you have a lossless copy (ALAC or otherwise), you can transcode it to FLAC or to a PCM WAV file. Both are very universal formats. FLAC will have a much smaller file, but pretty much anything can play PCM WAV files. The nice thing about having the files lossless is that you can easily convert it to other lossless formats without loss.

[TW1ST3R]

You can use iTunes which will generate ALAC files as Pomfinator suggested.

 

WMP does have alternate settings which are capable of ripping lossless WAV or WMA files (don't remember which), which are larger in size and virtually the same quality as the CD source.  FLAC and ALAC are slightly smaller in comparison, and slightly (but next to unnoticeable to the majority of people) lower quality.  The difference is negligible hence still lossless.

 

You can also use EAC (Exact Audio Copy) which can generate FLAC files.  It is somewhat more tedious to set up, however I do prefer it over iTunes as I use that for my lossy formats which fit on my iPod, and I stick my FLAC files in Foobar2000 and my phone.

 

Also if you intend to listen to lossless though an Apple device, you will need to use ALAC, as iTunes does not support FLAC or any other lossless formats that I'm aware of (from memory it will accept WAV, however insists on converting it to an 'Apple' format before transferring it to a device).

 

Edit: forgot to mention that ripping to lossless takes considerably longer than ripping to AAC/MP3/etc.  Depending on the specs of the computer it can take up to 45 minutes for 1 CD.

[Guest]

I use Windows Media Player for maximum audiofeels. You just need to go into the rip settings to turn things up to the quality that you want. Tools > Options > Rip Music will get you to the format and quality selection controls. Or if you want to go full balls, I'm pretty sure that Foobar2000 can rip straight to FLAC.

[JR1911]

TW1ST3R, on 14 Dec 2014 - 07:38 AM, said:

Edit: forgot to mention that ripping to lossless takes considerably longer than ripping to AAC/MP3/etc.  Depending on the specs of the computer it can take up to 45 minutes for 1 CD.

 

I used dbPoweramp to rip my 100+ CD collection to FLAC level 8 and it didn't take more than a few minutes per CD. The ripping process itself took the most time while the encoding only took a few seconds per track and it was done while the next track was already being ripped. I do have a 4770K overclocked to 4.2GHz but I don't imagine the encoding would take very much longer on a slower CPU. Don't know how EAC rips CDs though, if it encodes the tracks as soon as they're been ripped or only after the entire disc has been ripped?

[TW1ST3R]

I used dbPoweramp to rip my 100+ CD collection to FLAC level 8 and it didn't take more than a few minutes per CD. The ripping process itself took the most time while the encoding only took a few seconds per track and it was done while the next track was already being ripped. I do have a 4770K overclocked to 4.2GHz but I don't imagine the encoding would take very much longer on a slower CPU. Don't know how EAC rips CDs though, if it encodes the tracks as soon as they're been ripped or only after the entire disc has been ripped?

The PC that I was using (where it was 45min) was using had an i3-530 so it was pretty craptastic in comparison to your 4770K.  I'll be able to judge the performance difference better once I've built my new PC this week (4690K) - I have a stack of CDs I couldn't be bothered ripping before.  The website states it can take anywhere from about 10 minutes to an hour depending on your hardware so I'm pretty sure I'll see a significant improvement.  I probably did overstate myself when I said significantly though... I guess most people have upgraded well beyond first generation bottom of the line i3 processors - sadly my last computer died on me before I got around to ripping my CDs to FLAC.

 

EAC is extremely thorough with the rip - it rips each track to WAV first, checking for CD errors and correcting for them against an online database and then encodes to FLAC before moving on to the next track.  The encoding itself takes significantly less time.  Someone who knows better can correct me though, this is just my narrow understanding of what the heck EAC does, I won't even pretend to understand the half of it, I just know it does what it does well and the end result sounds amazing.

 

I used to use dbPoweramp on my old PC which died to convert FLAC to mp3 - I loved how it could run 4 conversions simultaneously in a batch process.

 

Or if you want to go full balls, I'm pretty sure that Foobar2000 can rip straight to FLAC.

 

 

Probably can, I haven't tried it - I know it can convert FLAC to MP3 without any trouble.   I think I looked into it and it requires a plugin (I may be wrong) and I ended up just going for EAC because I heard excellent things and was chasing maximum quality.

 

Edit: nope, just had a look and it doesn't require one, it'll rip to FLAC if you tell it to.

[Scratchy1215]

just to reply to u all, i found how to use windows media player to change format to WAV and then lossless and now putting them in my old laptop hard drive

[NannerBeans]

I use exact audio copy.

[TW1ST3R]

snip

 

Just got my new computer set up.  Ripping takes about 15 minutes now.

 

Edit: a maximum of 15 minutes.

 

[Guest]

Just got my new computer set up.  Ripping takes about 15 minutes now.

 

 

Too bad it's not worth it.