Abby Normal Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 I realize the question has probably been asked before, but the answers can change over time. There may be newer versions of software that change the answer:Before I get too far into my project to archive my CD collection to a lossless format--can I/should I use FLAC? Do you still have to jump through some hoops to get it to ATRAC? I have plenty of storage for either FLAC or PCM, but I'd still like to have the space savings from FLAC if it doesn't add too much work for portability purposes.Please do not get into a debate about whether FLAC really is lossless as far as SQ is concerned--as far as I'm concerned this is settled.Thanks. I've put this off far too long, so if you can help me decide soon, I'd appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abby Normal Posted July 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Actually, in the spirit of finding things out for one's own self, I'm ripping something to PCM that I already ripped to FLAC to see how big a difference it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abby Normal Posted July 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 I have discovered foobar and have now concluded it is safe for me to use FLAC.I can have this topic kept open for discussion, but I'm proceeding with FLAC. I can use foobar to convert to WAV very easily and then of course I can go to ATRAC. A single step would be nice, but I'm not going to be forced to use PCM as my archive format because Sony wont support FLAC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pata2001 Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 With storage being a non-issue nowadays, I back up all my Audio CDs to WAV, mainly to save time. For track info, I have them on a .cue sheet. Lossless, although useful for some in certain situation, imo is a waste of time considering 1TB hard-drives are on the cheap nowadays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abby Normal Posted July 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 With storage being a non-issue nowadays, I back up all my Audio CDs to WAV, mainly to save time. For track info, I have them on a .cue sheet. Lossless, although useful for some in certain situation, imo is a waste of time considering 1TB hard-drives are on the cheap nowadays.Well, I like the way FLAC images work with cue sheets. It's a nice tidy package and elegantly resolves the issue of having duplicate track names on the same CD without having to add track number to the file naming scheme, leaving information about track numbers, etc, to the metadata. I realize this situation doesn't come up often--but I just happened to have recently gotten a CD that had 3 tracks all named "Spoken Introduction".I also realize you can probably do this with PCM as well, but my system is fast enough that it really isn't that much of a waste of time. It's also true that I have an obscene amount of storage and I could probably have a PCM image, a FLAC image, and still have room for lossy copies as well. I may eventually write some scripts that accomplish this (create MP3 copies) so I can have stuff ready to go for various purposes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avrin Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 (edited) Don't forget that the only program that actually allows making bit-perfect copies of CDs is Exact Audio Copy (aka EAC). It is able to compensate read and write offsets of your drive, correctly detect gaps, indexes, etc. No other program does this. Also, it is fully aware of all possible CD flags, including pre-emphasis. And yes, it supports ripping to FLAC (single image or separate track files). But you need to configure the program properly to create absolutely bit-perfect copies. The configuration process is quite lengthy, and some parameters are not described in Help in an adequate way (e.g., write offset).As for me, I am using DVD-Audio to store my CD collections. Using the MLP compression provided by the standard, a single layer DVD blank can easily hold up to 9 full CDs in their native 44.1 kHz/16 bit format. Fully lossless. And perfectly playable in any DVD-Audio player. Edited July 16, 2009 by Avrin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJ_Palmer Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Personally, I keep both FLAC and WAV copies of all my audio. Bit overkill really, but then not everything plays FLAC. I also have MP3 files for portable use, not to mention ATRAC for the odd MD compilation... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abby Normal Posted July 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Don't forget that the only program that actually allows making bit-perfect copies of CDs is Exact Audio Copy (aka EAC). It is able to compensate read and write offsets of your drive, correctly detect gaps, indexes, etc. No other program does this. Also, it is fully aware of all possible CD flags, including pre-emphasis.Yup--I'm using EAC to create FLAC imagesAnd yes, it supports ripping to FLAC (single image or separate track files). But you need to configure the program properly to create absolutely bit-perfect copies. The configuration process is quite lengthy, and some parameters are not described in Help in an adequate way (e.g., write offset).I'd like to know more about this process, although I'm pretty happy with the handful of images I've made so far.As for me, I am using DVD-Audio to store my CD collections. Using the MLP compression provided by the standard, a single layer DVD blank can easily hold up to 9 full CDs in their native 44.1 kHz/16 bit format. Fully lossless. And perfectly playable in any DVD-Audio player.That sounds like a good secondary archive format. Can you elaborate on how you do this? Thanks. (Must dash--breakfast is calling.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avrin Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 I'd like to know more about this process, although I'm pretty happy with the handful of images I've made so far.The most importang thing to do before ripping is to set up the read offset. This may actually be done automatically using several genuine (or perfectly copied) CDs. The program connects to the Accurate Rip database, tries to find info on your drive there, and then tests the drive using the CDs to verify and set the actual offset value.Write offset is not used for creating images - it is for burning only.That sounds like a good secondary archive format. Can you elaborate on how you do this? Thanks. (Must dash--breakfast is calling.)I'm using DigiOnAudio2. This program is no longer sold or supported, and when it did, it only existed in Japanese. I was fortunate enough to find a "non-official" copy, which includes the MLP plugin. The copy is also machine-translated into English (at least some parts of it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abby Normal Posted July 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 I'm using DigiOnAudio2. This program is no longer sold or supported, and when it did, it only existed in Japanese. I was fortunate enough to find a "non-official" copy, which includes the MLP plugin. The copy is also machine-translated into English (at least some parts of it).I found a "non-official" copy that I am downloading now. They've labeled it "abandonware"--but I wonder to what extent that is true. If it were really "abandonware" (I've seen abandonware) you could download it via "oldversions" or other such sites instead of only "distributed" protocol methods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avrin Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 (edited) I found a "non-official" copy that I am downloading now. They've labeled it "abandonware"--but I wonder to what extent that is true. If it were really "abandonware" (I've seen abandonware) you could download it via "oldversions" or other such sites instead of only "distributed" protocol methods.It is not abandonware - you can still be prosecuted for distributing it.There are two versions available unofficially. One consists of three separate packages and text instructions on how to install them, and the other is just a big executable file doing everything automatically, and then displaying a text message in Russian asking you to restart your computer. The latter is preferred, since it is based on the full version, while the former is a "treated" demo.The program is really old, and installs an old version of PxEngine, which, in all probability, won't work at all, and won't allow other programs that use this engine to operate properly (this includes SonicStage). You'll need to update PxEngine again from http://kb.roxio.com/content/000070GN.A practical advice: always rip CDs to WAV (do not rip directly to MLP). This ensures that the resulting DVD-Audio is gapless. Edited July 16, 2009 by Avrin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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