View Poll Results: What do you encode your music to?

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  • mp3

    2 16.67%
  • wma (lossy)

    0 0%
  • ogg

    0 0%
  • aac

    1 8.33%
  • FLAC

    4 33.33%
  • wma lossless

    1 8.33%
  • ALAC

    2 16.67%
  • I don't

    2 16.67%
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  1. #1
    Loving This kexodusc's Avatar
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    Which digital audio format do you rip your music to?

    Just asking this poll out of curiosity. As a result of a recent hardware upgrade (new drive, soundcard, and dvd-rom) I spent the better part of the last 2 weeks testing out various audio formats for my digital library. I've arrived at my own conclusions, but everyone's different.

    I only used the different formats for my ipod/mp3 players in the past, but now I'm entertaining the full-time digital library option rather serio10usly. Results on my PC system are pretty good so far, the receiver I use in that room is also connected to a cd player. I can't hear any difference in sound quality, if they're there, they are minute at best. I'm using a real stereo system, not your typical small cube/computer setups either.

    Since storage is no longer a problem for me (finally), I decided a complete switch to a lossless file format. In the past I've preferred WMA's over mp3's for sound quality/size reasons, though it's often been a challenge using WMA's with various devices.

    In the past 2 weeks I've compared FLAC, WMA-Lossless, and ALAC (I have a Vista PC, Mac, and Linux box at my place). In the end I preferred FLAC as it provided the best overall balance in terms of speed, flexibility, compression on all machines and compatablity solutions with my other devices. If I used just 1 operating system and ripping program/library manager I might have a different opinion. No vendor lock-in either, which is good.

    I tried conventional ogg, aac, mp3, and wma's at their highest quality settings, but it definitely sounds like digital compressed music at times (though I must admit, you'd often have to do an A/B comparison of "busy" music to tell the difference. Think the compressions algorithms just keep getting better.

    This is good news. I've been guilty of complaining the world is more interested in convenience and portability of music and not sound quality. That's not case definitely or there'd be no efforts to keep revising the various audio codecs. And people wouldn't write great programs like EAC and Grip for being ridiculously obsessive about ripping the music.

    I figure if ya can't beat'em, join'em.

    Next goal is to figure out how to connect my desktop PC to my home theater 40 feet away. Might need to move a PC box closer or something. How do you guys do it?

  2. #2
    Da Dragonball Kid L.J.'s Avatar
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    I use FLAC, thanks to recommendations from the good people here at AR. Just picked up a 500g HD a few weeks ago. Now I gotta figure out how to stream my music to my PS3, which doesn't support FLAC.

  3. #3
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    Would if I could but I can't so I won't...

    I have to say I don't right now because my main rig has become too unstable to even try, but when I can afford it I'm going to put together a media PC running MCE and I'll probably use WMA Lossless mainly (I gave up the anti-MS fight years ago and became assimilated).

    With an old Gateway PC I had in the game room previously, I used the digital out of the Soundblaster Live card, through a mono-plug adapter then to the coax in at the receiver. Worked like a charm.

  4. #4
    Shostakovich fan Feanor's Avatar
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    ALAC for me

    Quote Originally Posted by kexodusc
    Just asking this poll out of curiosity. As a result of a recent hardware upgrade (new drive, soundcard, and dvd-rom) I spent the better part of the last 2 weeks testing out various audio formats for my digital library. I've arrived at my own conclusions, but everyone's different.
    ...
    Next goal is to figure out how to connect my desktop PC to my home theater 40 feet away. Might need to move a PC box closer or something. How do you guys do it?
    I got into that because I started with an iPod and iTunes. I stil rip using iTunes with error correction with satisfactory results. Sometimes I pay back using Foobar2000 which has footprint of under 20MB on my XP machine versus 70+MB for iTunes.

    Recently I bought a second-hand P4 / 2.66MHz machine with 512 MB of RAM and XP that I'm using as a dedicated device for audio playback; it's placed close to the system. This way I can use my laptop back where I sit without any slow-down, or the occassional drop-out I used to get, especially with iTunes. I used to run from the laptop to the stereo via a 15' USB cable.

  5. #5
    Loving This kexodusc's Avatar
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    LJ - I don't know much about the PS3, but I know that people are putting different Linux OS distros on it. If you could could load Linux on the PS3, FLAC's a piece of cake.

    Feanor: I have a similar 2nd system right now I want to move by my receiver. How best could I connect the two? Optical? Do you output video to your TV or have a 2nd monitor? Unfortunately I have a bulky 17" crt monitor for the 2nd machine that I just don't have much room for, might have to figure out how to connect it to the tv too. Which could be hard on that old video card.

  6. #6
    Shostakovich fan Feanor's Avatar
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    Nope, audio only

    Quote Originally Posted by kexodusc
    LJ - I don't know much about the PS3, but I know that people are putting different Linux OS distros on it. If you could could load Linux on the PS3, FLAC's a piece of cake.

    Feanor: I have a similar 2nd system right now I want to move by my receiver. How best could I connect the two? Optical? Do you output video to your TV or have a 2nd monitor? Unfortunately I have a bulky 17" crt monitor for the 2nd machine that I just don't have much room for, might have to figure out how to connect it to the tv too. Which could be hard on that old video card.
    No, the computer is in my stereo system and does audio only. The configuration is show at the link below. Right now I'm using a 19" LCD.

  7. #7
    Big science. Hallelujah. noddin0ff's Avatar
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    ALAC (aka ALE). If iTunes and iPods would support FLAC, I'd probably use FLAC instead. But, ALE is easy since we're a mac based family.

  8. #8
    Loving This kexodusc's Avatar
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    ALAC was my number 2 choice. On the 10 discs I tried, it took a bit longer to encode, and made a slightly bigger file than the default every single time, so it's arguably the least efficient option here, though in real time it wasn't really too much extra waiting around or anything and the difference in compression isn't going to make difference in terms of delaying a hard drive capacity upgrade. WMA-L didn't like working outside of Windows as much as the other two, but compressed even more at default and was slightly faster. I didn't bother investigating DRM issues. At least I know FLAC doesn't have them.

    My wife uses the iPod, I prefer the Sansa. If I only had the iPod I'd probably just use ALAC to save a transcoding step.

    Anyway, I'm not really prefering one of the other, but I do like the fact lossless audio seems to be dominating lossy formats in this poll! I'd expect no less from you guys

  9. #9
    Big science. Hallelujah. noddin0ff's Avatar
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    I suspect a lot of the speed is not related to the format so much as the way the software is developed for the platform. Someone more computer savvy than me can correct me. I'd bet ALAC is fast on a comparable mac and WMA-L fast on a comparable PC depending on how well the encoders interface with the OS and the OS with the hardware. So far, I've not found any free software that will let me try WMA-L on a Mac. But finding FLAC software is no problem.

    There aren't any DRM issues with music you own on CD, just for some purchased songs. iTMS sells AAC both with OR without DRM now (you pay a little more for a non-DRM, higher bitrate version), for instance.

  10. #10
    Forum Regular Woochifer's Avatar
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    It's more habit than anything, but I've been going with MP3 and bumping up to higher datarates as I migrate over to larger drives. My first digital music file archive was on a 1.6 GB hard drive, and I started out with 96k MP3 (sounded like crap, but then again it perfectly matched the less-than-stellar computer, soundcard, and speakers that I was using). Nowadays, I'm using 192k VBR MP3s for my computer audio.

    Over the weekend, I added a 500 GB external drive to our iMac, so now I can start thinking about re-ripping parts of my digital music collection into lossless files. But, I'm a bit reluctant to migrate over from MP3 until I know which network music player I will use with my main system (L.J.'s info about the PS3 limitations is very helpful).
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  11. #11
    Suspended PeruvianSkies's Avatar
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    If I have a recording of a duck noise and I convert it from ALAC to FLAC does that mean I get AFLAC?




    Odd how similar the Aflac logo looks similar to the iTunes font....hmmm.

    Also, isn't it weird to see the new Paul McCartney commercial for iTunes and iPod and the whole Apple logo?????? He's a happy camper!

  12. #12
    Loving This kexodusc's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Woochifer
    It's more habit than anything, but I've been going with MP3 and bumping up to higher datarates as I migrate over to larger drives. My first digital music file archive was on a 1.6 GB hard drive, and I started out with 96k MP3 (sounded like crap, but then again it perfectly matched the less-than-stellar computer, soundcard, and speakers that I was using). Nowadays, I'm using 192k VBR MP3s for my computer audio.

    Over the weekend, I added a 500 GB external drive to our iMac, so now I can start thinking about re-ripping parts of my digital music collection into lossless files. But, I'm a bit reluctant to migrate over from MP3 until I know which network music player I will use with my main system (L.J.'s info about the PS3 limitations is very helpful).
    If PS3 is in your future I wouldn't worry too much about audio file formats. There's enough different software/operating system options people are loading onto PS3 that will support anything and everything. FLAC was my choice because it is the most easily supported across the various platforms I use (3 different Operating Systems in my home). The nice thing about a lossless format is that you can just transcode the music to mp3 on-the-fly for your portable music devices, or even stream transcoded music.

    I'd make one recommendation for FLAC to anyone reading though, I had been using the "8" setting for compression, which saves about an additional 2-3% space but takes about 4 or 5 times as long to rip compared to default's "5" setting. It's fine I suppose for adding a CD every week or so or hard drive space is really at a premium, but otherwise it's agony. I'm going back to default settings.

    I just bought a 500 GB drive too, and continue to go through a rather lenghty process of ripping all my music again. Lossless audio is the way to go though, you lose all those infamous mp3 digital comrpession type sounds that drive me crazy.

    This whole re-ripping process has allowed me to filter about 30 or 40 CD's from my collection though. Time to swap those orphans.

  13. #13
    Da Dragonball Kid L.J.'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kexodusc
    If PS3 is in your future I wouldn't worry too much about audio file formats. There's enough different software/operating system options people are loading onto PS3 that will support anything and everything. FLAC was my choice because it is the most easily supported across the various platforms I use (3 different Operating Systems in my home). The nice thing about a lossless format is that you can just transcode the music to mp3 on-the-fly for your portable music devices, or even stream transcoded music.

    I'd make one recommendation for FLAC to anyone reading though, I had been using the "8" setting for compression, which saves about an additional 2-3% space but takes about 4 or 5 times as long to rip compared to default's "5" setting. It's fine I suppose for adding a CD every week or so or hard drive space is really at a premium, but otherwise it's agony. I'm going back to default settings.

    I just bought a 500 GB drive too, and continue to go through a rather lenghty process of ripping all my music again. Lossless audio is the way to go though, you lose all those infamous mp3 digital comrpession type sounds that drive me crazy.

    This whole re-ripping process has allowed me to filter about 30 or 40 CD's from my collection though. Time to swap those orphans.
    Kex excellent info. Would you know what software I could use to do the transcoding?

  14. #14
    Loving This kexodusc's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by L.J.
    Kex excellent info. Would you know what software I could use to do the transcoding?
    Transcoding for what purpose? To stream to your PS3 or general PC use?

  15. #15
    Da Dragonball Kid L.J.'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kexodusc
    Transcoding for what purpose? To stream to your PS3 or general PC use?
    To stream FLAC files to my PS3.

  16. #16
    Loving This kexodusc's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by L.J.
    To stream FLAC files to my PS3.
    Slimserver will transcode FLAC depending how you set it up. There's other music server programs out there. I don't know enough about the media player in the PS3 to give you more instructions than that, but if PS3 is connected to your network it should work.

  17. #17
    Da Dragonball Kid L.J.'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kexodusc
    Slimserver will transcode FLAC depending how you set it up. There's other music server programs out there. I don't know enough about the media player in the PS3 to give you more instructions than that, but if PS3 is connected to your network it should work.
    Thanks Kex. I tried the Slimserver but couldn't figure it out. Maybe I'm just lazy. Anyways I was able to use some different software suggested over at PS3 forums and it works great, so I'm all set.

  18. #18
    Loving This kexodusc's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by L.J.
    Thanks Kex. I tried the Slimserver but couldn't figure it out. Maybe I'm just lazy. Anyways I was able to use some different software suggested over at PS3 forums and it works great, so I'm all set.
    Just outta curiousity...which software? I'm always looking for alternatives to try.
    At least you got it working.

  19. #19
    Da Dragonball Kid L.J.'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kexodusc
    Just outta curiousity...which software? I'm always looking for alternatives to try.
    At least you got it working.
    TVersity

    Ever heard of em?

  20. #20
    Loving This kexodusc's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by L.J.
    TVersity

    Ever heard of em?
    Yep, and it's pretty popular for PS3 users right now.

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