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[Alobar]

I am in the process of ripping my cd collection to my HD and am wanting to find the best format to do this in terms of quality, and I suppose to a lesser extent, compression. Since I have made significant upgrades to my system I am finding mp3's are less enjoyable to listen to. Any opinions? Links? The ones I have ripped so far have been .ape. I like their sound much better than 320kbps mp3 but wondering if there is another format that will sound better still.
Thanks!

[glynor]

FLAC for good stuff.  Lame VBR -v2 MP3 for junk stuff that you don't care too much about long term. Lame -v2 is still transparent, much smaller, and very convenient.  FLAC is lossless, has well supported and flexible tagging, is supported by a ton of convenient tools, and is fast.

About the only exception to this is if you have a bunch of iOS devices and you want (for an odd reason) to sync source files to them directly rather than just converting on sync or using JRemote.  In that case, maybe ALAC instead of FLAC.

[BryanC]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_audio_coding_formats

APE and FLAC are the same sound quality, but FLAC has wider hardware support. If you just play them on the computer it doesn't really matter. If you ever need to switch to FLAC iin the future, APE is also lossless so you can just transcode them to FLAC with no quality loss (no reripping the CDs).

[glynor]

APE and FLAC are the same sound quality

APE is a decent choice as well, and I'd love to give it props just because of its creator.  But, it does lock you in to a smaller subset of compatible devices and tools, for no real appreciable "gain" (and in some tests I've seen, it is a tad bit slower than FLAC).  So... Sorry Matt?

Though, I agree, as long as you choose a lossless format (and the best of these are probably APE, FLAC, and ALAC) then it doesn't really matter what format you use, as long as it meets your needs right now.

[BryanC]

So... Sorry Matt?

I've always wondered what a roundtable meeting between Matt, David Bryant, Thomas Beck, Florin Ghido, and Josh Coalson would spawn. Hopefully something similar to the Pied Piper.

[glynor]

I've always wondered what a roundtable meeting between Matt, David Bryant, Thomas Beck, Florin Ghido, and Josh Coalson would spawn. Hopefully something similar to the Pied Piper.

 

That show is pretty good.  It started off a little rough (I really HATED the big guy who owns the house), but it came into its own after about the third episode.  Too bad the one actor died, as he was brilliant.

We haven't watched the finale yet, though, so no spoilers.

[Alobar]

Thanks for the info.. I have been ripping dc's using the ape format over the past few days and they sound just great, so much better than the mp3 version that I am in the process of replacing all that lossy downloaded music now.

Really am stoked over what a robust program JRiver MC is! I have been just using the trial but now it really is a must have..

I have lots more questions about MC coming..

[Matt]

I've always wondered what a roundtable meeting between Matt, David Bryant, Thomas Beck, Florin Ghido, and Josh Coalson would spawn. Hopefully something similar to the Pied Piper.

David Bryant is such a genius.  I really like him.