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[Glen]

Ok, so all of my cd's are now in ape format and working great. It is time to turn my attention to my lp's. Anyone have an opinion and reasoning for said thoughts about how the best way to proceed is. I thought that I might record the lp to wav format (as all of my editors work in that mode, cool edit, clean, etc.), clean the wav file up as much as possible, and then convert it to the final listening format. ape will give me exact output for input but most of the space used will be for data that isn't really there (ie: lp limited bandwidth). However, I do not like using 128 kbit mp3 as it seems to be missing quality (whether this is in my mind or a real artifact??). What bit rate should I use to get all of the given data from the song but not have any extra overhead?? Also, the thought is that I will be using vbr.
Thanks for the ideas,
Glen

[Graham]

Quite right to record to wav first. I've gone through this process (I have an entirely music-dedicated computer + stereo system and 35 years-worth of vinyl) with a lot of my vinyl and found that there can be a lot of 'post processing' before settling on the final encoded product. Not least because automatic track splitting commonly does not happen with surface noise, scratches or crackles. Also, you might want to 'help' the fade on some tracks as it may not be complete before splitting, depending on your settings and the quality of the album. The good side is that you can substantially improve the listening quality of badly damaged vinyl by applying something like the the 'vinyl restore' plugin for Sonic Foundry's Soundforge.

On the encoding front, I use Ogg at normal quality and it seems just fine. There is the occasional album that is rare, valuable or particularly favoured that I have preserved in Ape format. The only problem I have had with Ogg is with recording cassette tape with more than the usual hiss - Ogg seems to enhance this.

Hope this helps...

[dobon]

This is a big job and you should be sure not to regret later for choosing a "cheap" format.  APE would be my choice for both stereo and mono. Alternatively mp3VBR custom: "--alt -preset extreme" for stereo, lower for mono.