Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[madbrain]

I need to rip some CDs to WMA lossless. This is the only lossless format supported by my cars entertainment systems.
I tried in MC23, MC24 and MC25, and am getting the same error in all three of them :

Read track failed. Failed to initialize the encoder plugin.

I have tried other WMA options (not lossless) but the failure is the same.

I can rip the CDs successfully to "Uncompressed wave", but unfortunately my cars don't support that - only lossly MP3 or WMA .

If I try to convert to WMA afterwards with Library tools / Convert format, I get an instant "Conversion complete" message, but no WMA file.

Any idea what I need to do to get this resolved ? I'm using Win10 build 1809 .

[Awesome Donkey]

Perhaps this might help you...

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,107514.msg746865.html#msg746865

Just read the quote in marko's reply and obtain the files needed from marko's post. Though, I'm not sure... those files might only work with the 32-bit version of Media Center 25 as that post was before the 64-bit version of MC on Windows was released. Nonetheless long story short, it's a Windows 10 bug.

[madbrain]

Perhaps this might help you...

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,107514.msg746865.html#msg746865

Just read the quote in marko's reply and obtain the files needed from marko's post. Though, I'm not sure... those files might only work with the 32-bit version of Media Center 25 as that post was before the 64-bit version of MC on Windows was released. Nonetheless long story short, it's a Windows 10 bug.

Thanks. I will try it tonight. I hope it will work with the 32-bit MC.

I am unfortunately unable to use the 64-bit MC due to a very weird incompatibility between the 64-bit version of MC and my soundcard's ASIO driver. The 32-bit MC works fine with the same soundcard ...

[Awesome Donkey]

Ah, in that case the fix above *should* hopefully work.

[Spike1000]

If you can honestly tell the difference between WMA and high bit rate MP3 in your car then the suggested fix should work. If you've done an honest test and can't tell the difference just use high bit rate MP3.

Spike

[madbrain]

If you can honestly tell the difference between WMA and high bit rate MP3 in your car then the suggested fix should work. If you've done an honest test and can't tell the difference just use high bit rate MP3.

I can tell the difference for sure on a good audio system. Have done the blind test many times with a friend. But I know what compression artifacts to listen for in an MP3 : overemphasized bass, and thinner highs. It's actually pretty easy for me. I haven't done the test in my car. I suspect I would be able to tell as well, at least when my car is idle at a traffic light, in which case it's completely silent, because it's an EV.

The reason for using lossless is not just the better audio quality, but convenience. Converting to MP3 takes time, especially for a large number of files. And it takes storage to store two sets of files. I converted my entire music collection to WMA just once on my PC so that I can just copy the files I want to a USB stick without an additional conversion step.

[madbrain]

Ah, in that case the fix above *should* hopefully work.

Thanks. It did work. I wonder why this needs to be done, though. Has Microsoft locked down the WMA encoder on purpose ? Or is it a bug ?

[Awesome Donkey]

Apparently it's a bug that Microsoft hasn't bothered fixing yet.