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[peterdrowan]

CD that I have ripped through Itunes comes across to MC17 as m4a with a constant bit rate of 256. If I import cds into MC17 they start as cda files with a 1100 bit rate and then come in as ape files with variable bit rates around 300. If I change the encoder to flac I get about a 10% higher bit rate. Is there any audio quality difference between these 3 options and which is best from a quality point of view. and is there an even better option for ripping cds in terms of quality.   I am confused - why can't files come in as CDA files. Why do they have to change format.

Peter D Rowan

[MrC]

The file extension .cda is simply a reference to the track on the CD (and not really a file format).  When you rip, you pull the data from the CD and encode it into the encoder of your choice.

The encoded tracks are compressed, and the bit rate varies depending upon the actual music present.  If you encode to a loseless format (e.g. FLAC, APE), you're not losing data or quality, despite what the apparent bit rate of the ripped track indicates.

[peterdrowan]

Thanks.   So M4a format from Itunes is losing quality but ape and flac being lossless preserves quality.

Peter Rowan

[Vincent Kars]

Correct.
Technically M4A is a container. You can put anything inside including lossless formats like ALAC.
You probably set iTunes to rip to AAC. This is lossy compression.

[peterdrowan]

I can set itunes to rip using apple lossless encoder but am I right in assuming that MC17 or anything not apple can't read apple lossless.

Peter Rowan

[Vincent Kars]

JRiver can play m4a so I expect it to play ALAC too but I never tried.
I recommand to rip to FLAC because of the broad support for this format.
For ripping I recommand dBpoweramp. It supports AccurateRip and pulls the tags from 4 different sources.

[JimH]

JRiver can play m4a so I expect it to play ALAC too but I never tried.
I recommand to rip to FLAC because of the broad support for this format.
For ripping I recommand dBpoweramp. It supports AccurateRip and pulls the tags from 4 different sources.

There is no need to use another ripper.  MC's ripping is flawless.

[JimH]

I can set itunes to rip using apple lossless encoder but am I right in assuming that MC17 or anything not apple can't read apple lossless.

MC can read and write Apple formats.  Support is improved in MC18.

[Vincent Kars]

There is no need to use another ripper.  MC's ripping is flawless.

dBpoweramp extract information from AMG, SonataDB, Music Brains and FreeDB.
You can inspect the result and choose the one you prefer before you start to rip.

Don't think JRiver can top this.

[JimH]

MC uses YADB, and if no tracks are found, it uses FreeDB.  That's pretty much the universe of metadata.  The others may have still more entries, but it doesn't mean the quality of the metadata is better.

[Vincent Kars]

MC uses YADB, and if no tracks are found, it uses FreeDB.  That's pretty much the universe of metadata.  The others may have still more entries, but it doesn't mean the quality of the metadata is better.

My experience is different.
Especially when tagging classical YADB in general return nothing.
FreeDB contains a lot but is incoherent.
The same compositions are often spelled different and/or in different languages.
Often the composer tag is not populated.
If there is a composer, it is often in the artist field and if one is lucky you can find the performer in the album artist or in the title.
AMG is far better structured.
The quality of the meta data is one of the reasons I do use dBpoweramp instead of JRiver.

[peterdrowan]

As everyone says MC17 can read Apple Lossless as I just proved by trying it.

Peter Rowan