RIPPING FILES IN FLAC AND WAV

[Guest]

Hi
I am new to this site and program. Considering purchasing the latest version of MediaMonkey. Could you please assist in respect of the following:

What is the best way of storing music on Hard Drive - Flac format??? and then ripping to MP3 or WMA or???
I have ripped a CD as a test which resulted having two files - One in wav format and one in flac format!!! I was under the impression that music transferred(rip) from CD to Hard drive would best be preserved in flac format and later ripped to MP3 or other formats. The size of the individual tracks in wav format are much lager than those of the flac format. Should it be that way?? Which files should I then use to convert to MP3 for use on my portable Ipod?? Flac or wav?? If it is flac format at which transfer rate should the CD be copied ( uncompressed I presume) ? and how does one convert from flac to MP3 format with MediaMonkey?? I have a large collection and would like to do it correct the first time? Forgive me for being ignorant but help would be appreciated. Thanks very much

[Eyal]

Flac is same quality as wave except it's compressed.

For a discussion about encoding quality, see here: http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... =1&t=32432

[wolfzell]

What is the best way of storing music on Hard Drive - Flac format???

What is "best" depends on your needs. Flac has many advantages, being lossless, compressed and DRM-free, so it is the format of my choice.

and then ripping to MP3 or WMA or???

If you have ripped your music to flac, converting it to any other format into another directory with MediaMonkey is easy to do (but it is usually not called "ripping" as this is the process where the CD is still involved). The problem for all music managing programs I know today though is the tag-management of several file-formats for the same title in a clever way (See this thread).

I have ripped a CD as a test which resulted having two files - One in wav format and one in flac format!!!

Which program did you use? MediaMonkey? Most ripping programs generally rip to WAV-Format (uncompressed) first and then convert it into the needed format. If the WAV-file does not get deleted you end up with two files for the same title. Since flac is also lossless as WAV, but compressed, it uses less disk space without losing any sound quality or information. So if you do not need the WAV file for any reason, it is save to delete it. Normally the ripping program does this by itself.

The size of the individual tracks in wav format are much lager than those of the flac format. Should it be that way??

Yes. See above.

Which files should I then use to convert to MP3 for use on my portable Ipod?? Flac or wav??

You decide. But since flac has almost no disadvantages over WAV if you are using MM as primary program, it surely will be the better choice as your music will need much less disk space compared to the storage in WAV-format.

If it is flac format at which transfer rate should the CD be copied ( uncompressed I presume) ?

This question is hard to understand. I would use the highest compression rate for flac that is available to save disk space. Since flac is always lossless it will only end in longer compression calculation times when the ripping software or MM converts the ripped WAV file to flac. Decompression for playback or converting to other formats will always be the same speed.

and how does one convert from flac to MP3 format with MediaMonkey??

Mark the tracks you wish to convert and then have a look at the "Extras"-Menu. For information about different MP3-formats and quality, have a look at the thread that Eyal linked in his answer.

bye
Wolfgang

[Guest]

Hi Wolgang

Your are just about the best help anyone could wish for. Thanks for replying in such a detailed manner. Even I can understand. Thanks for helping guys like me.
Question
Should one covert to flac using mediamonke or EAC?? Am I correct in understanding that one firstly rip(convert) an audio CD to flac format which MM can recognise and play. Once stored in that format one then convert to MP3 for transfering to portable player?? Is that corect Wolfgang??
Thanks again for your help

[wolfzell]

Should one covert to flac using mediamonke or EAC??

That doesn't really matter, but I recommend setting up your ripping program (EAC or dbPoweramp) to rip to flac, because then you won't have to remember to do it in MediaMonkey afterwards, so this is less trouble. The ripping program will then rip to wav, convert that to flac and delete the wav file. Afterwards you can import the flac files into MediaMonkeys database. That is how I am doing it.

Am I correct in understanding that one firstly rip(convert) an audio CD to flac format which MM can recognise and play. Once stored in that format one then convert to MP3 for transfering to portable player?? Is that corect Wolfgang??

Yes. You can either let MediaMonkey do the converting for your portable player "on-the-fly" during the sync, which means that the MP3-copies won't get stored on your PC. Or you can convert the files via the converting function in the extras menu (and keep the flac files!). This way you will end up with double entries for the song in MediaMonkeys database (one for the flac and another for the mp3-file).

bye
Wolfgang

[adb]

Should one covert to flac using mediamonke or EAC??

That doesn't really matter, but I recommend setting up your ripping program (EAC or dbPoweramp) to rip to flac

Wolfgang, are you saying it is better to use EAC or dbPoweramp over MM's FLAC ripping process? Why would I NOT use the MM ripper?
Antony

[botijo]

From what I see from EAC documentation, it should have a very robust ripping method. If you like to be paranoid, EAC can read your CD many times and decide which bits are right with majority vote (ok, that is an oversimplification!). Maybe you do not know, maybe you do not care, but CDs usually come with defects from the pressing factory. Music on a CD do not have such error correction codes as data CDs, so if you really have very good equipment, you might notice those kind of errors. Or maybe not: music on CDs are just too loud nowadays. At the end of the day, EAC documentation says that your ripped CDs will be truer to the master if you use that. But I know that many CDRom drives do the correction or whatever tricks by themselves. Looking confused? So am I!