backing up music question

[RobTi]

Hi
Don't know if this is the right place,but here goes.
Looking to back up my cd's to my htpc and can do it in either mp3,flac,ogg vorbis
what would you recommend for quality, also would be importing to my ipod
Thanks
Robert

[insomniak123]

First point : iPods don't like OGG

what size is your iPod and how many CD's have you got?

As a rule, if you've got enough space, always do one master rip into FLAC (or ALAC if you're putting it on an iPod) ; that way you've got a perfect copy backed up that you can convert into whatever you want at a later date, without digging out the CD's

uncompressed WAV's weigh in at roughly 10Mb per minute. ALAC/FLAC give you the same quality at some rate of compression up to about 50% of that (so ranging from 5Mb->10Mb per minute)

If you have the space to put the ALAC's on your iPod, do that, as there is no loss of quality. Though this will probably need a 120/160Gb Classic

If there isn't space, rip your collection to FLAC / ALAC, then convert these to 256Kbps AAC; Personally this gives me almost transparent quality, but this is a matter of preference. I prefer AAC to MP3 too, again personal preference

[RobTi]

Thanks
I have a 30Gb ipod that i mainly use in the car or jogging i m happy with that amount of space as i change the songs when i get new ones and keep a few old ones on it.
I have roughly 200 cd's that i would like to back up and space is not a problem, as for flac what setting to use?
Robert

[insomniak123]

cool, using FLAC just set it at the Best compression rate as this will save unneccesary space wastage, usually this is Compression Level 8.

Will possibly add a smidgen of time to the rip overall but you may as well do it properly and it's nothing noticable

FLAC wont work on your iPod though, it'll need to be converted again, just so you're aware of what you need to do