ripping cd's and keepng cd quality...

[kunar]

i've been using audiograbber to rip cd's simply because it was free. well, i just bought a cd and listened to it in my car for a few days before i ripped it and started playing those mp3's in my car. at this point, it became pretty obvious that my mp3's were no longer cd quality. the highest bitrate available in audiograbber is only 56 Kbit/s, what bitrate should i be ripping these at to actually make cd quality mp3's?? does anybody have any recommendations for ripping software? id rather not have to buy, but i will if need be

i could also use some decent burning software as well, to burn both music cd's and data cd's but this isnt as important as ripping software.

oh yeah, i dont wanna use WMP for any of this. dont ask me why, i just dont.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I'm not sure what true CD quality is, most of the stuff I've ripped is 128 kbs and it seems to be ok.

As far as a ripping program... I've been using the same program for years... It'll rip things at a higher bitrate than that, I think it goes up to like 512 or something. I have no idea if it's still available, I just burned it on a disk when I got it and just keep reloading it on my comp when I reformat, lol. It's called CDex.

For burning software I now have Nero 7 Premium. Used to have Nero 5 Ultra (IIRC), but was having trouble with it, so I upgraded. Nero 7 Premium will do pretty much anything you could want, lol.

I also have a program for ripping DVDs, the program is a lil old, but it works great and was free. Serves my purposes to get copies of my own stuff and to make backups of even dual layer disks. That is DVD Decrypter.

If you have trouble getting any of this or would like my assistance getting them, send me a pm.

 

[Ranger Dave (B25)]

I burn my CD/MP3 discs at 192 or 256. Always sound fine. And that's with an old old old copy of Roxio CD Creator (6?).

Been using (gasp) Windows Media Player 11 for the last several, and it works quite well on my XP lappy with 2GB ram.

 

[Colin]

Now keeping in mind I hate Macs with a passion, download iTunes, its free, the quality is good for making CDs or using with an MP3 player.

 

[koda6966]

DVD decryptor will do just about anything.

 

[srteach]

You are wrong.
Audiograbber will rip at up to 320Kbit/s rates. You have to get the lame encoder and set Ag for 320Kbit/s. I can email it if you want. pm me
The full rate for CD audio is 360Kbit/s. The 40Kbit/s difference cannot be heard by most people.

I rip all music to 320Kbit/s rate mp3 files. I then can use any program to burn to disk. My burning program is CDBurnerXP, free and quite good.

 

[AllanD]

For practical purposes nobody can hear the difference with most audio tracks
that are taken from CD that are encoded as mp3 at 194kBits/second
There are a few specific tracks that have VERY high frequency sounds
that only some people can hear (oddly even at 48 I still have exceptional
high frequency hearing) but those are the exception rather than the rule.

I actually use three seperate software packages just to get CD audio onto
my computer and a fourth to burn it to a disc for mobile playback.

"Ripping" is done with "Exact Audio Copy" (this is a FREE downloadable program)
I use EAC to save the tracks as "wav" to my Hard drive (A seperate small hard drive used only for that job)

"Compression" actually creating seperate mp3 files (yes plural)
For playback from my computer and music I really care about
I go for 320kBits, for most of the rest (And music for portable devices)
160kBits.
My compression is done with the free version of "NCH Switch sound"
this is also downloadable. for the first month (or was it ten days?)
you get the full featured version but when the trial period is over
many functions stop working (frankly None I've missed)

Next is another free downloadable program to tag the files
and insert album art, this is TagScanner v5.1.

Lastly if I need mp3's burned to mp3-CDs I use an older version
of Roxio (5.3.5.10)

But if I want to burn an actual CD audio CD I use Exact Audio Copy
it contains an included burner program.
The reason I use it is my CD-decks are all Sony and support CD-TEXT
and EAC is one of the most reliable programs for creading CD-TEXT encoded CDs

I LIKE having the artist/title and track name information automatically displayed
during playback (like mp3 tags)

If anyone needs links to secure download providers for any of these let
me know and I'll post them.

(TagScanner5.1 is available from cnet downloads)



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[brandonwh64]

320bit is good

i used CDEX it works great

 

[Chance]

Just throwin it out there but iTunes can rip at 320 as well... It's just bigger file size and some people (like me, even though I have very sensitive hearing) can't tell much of a difference between 320 and 128.

Considering I use crappy speakers in my truck and home anyway... that could account for why I can't tell a difference.

 

[kunar]

thanks for all the insight guys, it looks like im gonna try to get audiograbber to rip at 320 Kbit/s since i already have the software. exact audio copy also looks promising, i may try that eventually too. since my entire system is aftermarket, and i have plenty of storage space, i'd rather rip these at the highest bitrate i can.

 

[Jason]

I just checked. Shitty Windows Media Player rips at 320kbps.

 

[Chris.S.]

I've burned a lot of cd's while I dj'd raves and nightclubs and I'd say that anything less than 256kbps is when you start to notice a loss in quality that can be heard by most people. You can get away with 192kbps as well if really want to have smaller file sizes but I'd never go lower that that.

The bigger the soundsystem, the more important high quality becomes. Subwoofers seem to be where you hear it first.

 

[kunar]

The bigger the soundsystem, the more important high quality becomes. Subwoofers seem to be where you hear it first.

yeah i notice it now for sure, i never did before though. my system in my car is jbl 3 ways up front, kenwood 3 ways in the back, all run by a class a/b 4 channel amp, then 2 10's in the hatch on a class d mono amp. like i said, it became really apparent after i listened to a cd for a while, then listened to the same music after i ripped it and burnt another cd. i have a feeling that this will make a bigger difference in sound quality than the system did.

 

[Jay FX4]

I use an old copy of Audio Catalyst. Version 2.1 I think. Older versions used to chop off everything above 16Khz to save time/space. The version I have has a check box for 'high frequency mode" that keeps everything up to 20Khz (20,000 Hz) which I obviously keep on. Not everyone can hear frequencies that high (I can) but since mp3 is a lossy, compressed format, you want to keep all the data you can.
CD's are recorded at a sampling rate of 44.1Khz. Some mp3 ripping software will rip at a sampling rate of 48Khz, but this is not necessary since you cannot improve the sound over your source CD. I used to rip all my stuff at 192Kb bitrate, which is fine for some things, such as listening through headphones, but with higher quality equipment you can definitely hear the quality loss. Now I rip everything at 320, the highest bitrate possible. Since every mp3 file is compressed, data is being lost. Anything under 320, and you're throwing away that much more data, although not everyone can hear the differences, and again your stereo equipment plays a role as to whether or not you can detect the quality loss.
Unless you're storing the mp3 files on a portable device that's strapped for storage space, there's no excuse to rip at anything less than 320, unless you're not an audiophile or your speakers suck.

 

[kunar]

with help from srteach, ive got audiograbber ripping at 320 Kbit/s. ive ripped 4 cd's and just copied them onto a usb drive. getting ready to head out for the day, so ill listen to them in my car. we'll see how it goes.