jhp96001

I am looking for comments/feedback/advice for the best possible ripping setup for the following situation:

• Huge network attached storage
• Several windows computers in the house on the network (one Win MCE)
• 1 Apple Nano 4gig (whatever formats that contains)
• 1 Creative Nomad Muvo2 4gig (MP3 and AAC?)
• Xbox 360 connected to main room A/V
• Main room A/V 5.1 connected to 1080p TV
• Several albums purchased from I-tunes
• Of course, a bazillion music cd's
• A wife that wants to do I-tunes music purchasing 'cause its easy
• Me who wants to buy lossless music and never have to re-rip my collection ever ever again
• Desire for 1 library
• Desire for ubiquitous access to my music from a player while I run, from any PC on my home network, and from A/V devices

So I could FLAC encode all my cd's so I would never have to do that again. I'm wondering if I could live with apple lossless, though, given the situation?

Does EAC have a codec for apple lossless? or is that just in I-tunes? Is there a good guide out there for this?

I would need to convert the FLAC to something that the 2 portables could play. Or I should I give in to Mr Job's desires and purchase myself an IPod?

My network has a slim server, an ITunes server, and an UPNP AV steamer. I would eventually add TV to the mix, but I'll start with music. I do have an xbox360 on the network and a media center edition PC.

How about this? I FLAC using EAC to a server location. I batch convert to MP3 for portables in a different directory on the server. I point the media center pc to the flac and install the codec thats out there for WM11 to do that. I play that on the xbox on the A/V in the living room. I sync the 2 portables to the MP3's.

But then what do I do with the current and future I-tunes purchases? Do I convert those to MP3? Is there any place to purchase lossless music on the net besides from a shiny disc in the mail?

Also, if anyone reads this far, there used to be a great link on the net that walked through EAC/LAME/FLAC encoding, but my link to that is dead and several of the links in this forum are dead. Any pointers to a quality guide for that?

Thanks in advance for tips or solutions anyone has found.

wyhiwyg

So I could FLAC encode all my cd's so I would never have to do that again. I'm wondering if I could live with apple lossless, though, given the situation?

YES! I would stick with FLAC. Apple Lossless is proprietary. FLAC is open sourced, cross platform, free, and no chance for DRM .


I would need to convert the FLAC to something that the 2 portables could play.

Yep, but transcoding on a modern computer is faster than having to rerip CDs. And with FLAC, you have a perfect backup, unlike if you rip to MP3s.

You may want to check out Rockbox. It is unofficial firmware for several MP3 players (including some iPoos) that can play FLAC files. I've never used it, though, but it is something I will keep in mind when I buy another MP3 player.

Mike_A

http://jiggafellz.isa-geek.net/eac/

Here's that guide my love. I second sticking with FLAC. I also second batch conversion to mp3 and highly recommend dbPowerAmp for the task. However, I quickly delete anything that I have in FLAC once I've transferred to the "portables". {Seeing as how I'm so damn rich, like you, my "portable" is an mp3 CD. }

And no I'm not going to suggest what to do with your palace full of electronics or your Itunes purchased music. Both of those areas are places I have not ventured.

greynol

Not a good site, IMO. Contains misleading/incorrect information and less than optimal information regarding drive configuration. That site actually plagiarized some of the less useful things from the Coaster Factory.

"Secure Mode *must* be enabled!" What's that all about? Will my computer explode if I don't?

Check out Hydrogen Audio's wiki...
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index...._Drive_Options
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index....ossless_Backup

Mike_A

Heh, well, it does try to enforce a certain standard for lossless ripping. I guess it's one I agree with because I would never rip in any other mode.

greynol

There are other methods that exist that are just as legitimate as the single one found on that site, if not more so.

Do you honestly believe that the drive caches audio data setting should be selected regardless of the drive?

Is there something wrong with using something the native ASPI interface? He seems to assume it simply doesn't work.

Can anyone explain why he tells you to enable "Use CRC check"?

Can anyone explain why he bothered to show the id3 tag tab after insisting that EAC not be allowed to add an id3 tag? Is there really anything wrong with letting EAC tag mp3s in the first place???

I'm tellin' ya, this guy is short on clues.

Mike_A

Ok, I don't think the guide says that what's there is the ONLY way to rip an album. And it also doesn't say that it's the ONLY correct way to rip an album either.

Enabling "Drive caches audio data" regardless of the drive simply ensures that caching will be disabled and that information will subsequently be transferred to the log. This guide is acutally quite popular among the lossless community, and I have seen it (in several minor variations) on all lossless torrent sites. The reason this is important is that these guides are targeted to those who will be sharing their music. Therefore, enabling that option regardless of the drive simply ensures that no one will pass on a rip that had caching enabled, and it bypasses having to check the drive's caching capabilities if somebody didn't enable it.

No, there is nothing wrong with native ASPI interface. Again, I think it's inclusion was mainly based on creating a standard among shared music.

As far as tagging is concerned, I'm not entirely in tune with all his suggestions either. But really, he never claimed to be the only authority on EAC settings.

greynol

"Secure Mode *must* be enabled!" Doesn't leave any room for Burst T&C, now does it?

This doesn't speak very highly of the "lossless community" and I'm assuming you're talking about legal filesharing.

Anyhow, the site also instructs people to use Test & Copy, at which point the caching setting is completely irrelevant when T&C CRCs match; even for caching drives with the setting improperly unchecked.

You're assuming he's an authority on EAC settings. As I've already demonstrated, he's FAR from it!!!

I feel that it's better to write a guide that encourages people to learn and think for themselves, rather than tell them to adhere to some false standard. Do you realize how often people come away from crappy guides like that one with incorrect notions about how the program works, or (worse) with problems for which they come to these forums for assistance?

Mike_A

Obviously you don't like the guide...I get that. The discussion need go no further on that. However, I don't really understand how it is a "false standard." A standard is a standard, no implication of quality. This is why one must usually have an adjective like "high" or "low" to describe the standard.

greynol

Nothing wrong with the word false. Think of it in terms of worshiping a false god or something.

The point is that the person who organized that guide clearly doesn't understand the material that he or she is presenting.

wyhiwyg

The problem with those type of guides is that people treat it like the bible, especially newbies. I always stress that those are the "safe"/"can't go wrong" settings, but they're not necessarily the most efficient settings.

It really makes me laugh when people try to tell me what my EAC settings should be when they've probably never had any experience with my drive. A general guide is that the more a person insists on specific settings, the less they actually know about EAC/ripping quality .

Good thing I use Plextools (mostly) .

greynol

...until you come across a disc that can't deliver an error-free rip unless you either enable C2 pointers or switch to burst mode. Then there are those situations where you get matching test and copy CRCs in secure mode whereas test and copy in Burst mode would have alerted you to there being a problem.

Thank goodness for AccurateRip!