Choosing a format for library

[Stereo Steve]

I'm getting into digital storage and plan to get a Squeezebox for the living room system as we have CD's littered everywhere. I also have a N73 which will play MP3, various PC's around the place (work is next door), a car that plays MP3 cd's etc.

So, I'm starting to use iTunes for it's simplicity and the fact that it ties in with the squeezebox software nicely. I'm currently ripping CD's in 320 MP3 but wondered if I am making a mistake. I want the whole thing to be easy to use and figured having MP3's would give me max flexibility.

Am I wrong? Storage is not really an issue as I run an IT company so getting hold of a few 500GB drives is easy enough and wee heve servers etc. running all the time.

I plan to get an Arcam Solo to replace all the junk in the living room so I'm paying for quality. Will I be compromising everything by choosing MP3 over other formats?

[scooby_doo]

If I was in your shoes I'd rip everything to FLAC. Once that's done you can then convert the FLAC files to practically any other format you wish.

However, if your source material has been ripped to MP3 then you can never get better quality than this and you may one day regret it.

As you say, disks are cheap so rip "properly" once and then never do it again.

[lazymatt]

Originally Posted by scooby_doo

If I was in your shoes I'd rip everything to FLAC. Once that's done you can then convert the FLAC files to practically any other format you wish.

However, if your source material has been ripped to MP3 then you can never get better quality than this and you may one day regret it.

As you say, disks are cheap so rip "properly" once and then never do it again.

Scooby os spot on - rip everything to lossless. The SB3 will play FLAC natively, and you can convert to other lossless, or any lossy format you want without having to re-rip your entire collection.

[scooby_doo]

Just one point I forgot to mention, once you've ripped everything to FLAC make sure you've got all the tags how you want them before you start converting the FLAC files into other formats. You don't want to make more work for yourself

[Stereo Steve]

Thanks guys, I'll go for that.

[podhead]

What does Flac stand for ?

Am I correct in thinking that if you originally convert cd to Flac and then want to be able to put it on an iPod/copy to cd then I would have to convert it again to say mp3 thus ending up with 2 copys ?

or am I looking at it wrong.

[lazymatt]

Originally Posted by podhead

What does Flac stand for ?

Am I correct in thinking that if you originally convert cd to Flac and then want to be able to put it on an iPod/copy to cd then I would have to convert it again to say mp3 thus ending up with 2 copys ?

or am I looking at it wrong.

FLAC - Free Lossless Audio Codec.

And yes, you'd have to convert to MP3 or AAC if you want to use FLAC on your iPod, or change the iPod firmware to enable FLAC playback (at your own risk!)

[bugser]

Originally Posted by lazymatt

FLAC - Free Lossless Audio Codec.

And yes, you'd have to convert to MP3 or AAC if you want to use FLAC on your iPod, or change the iPod firmware to enable FLAC playback (at your own risk!)

Better changing FLAC to apple lossless (ALAC) to retain quality than changing the firmware on a ipod!!

[swisspolo]

The others are right, flac is the way to go. I'm just starting to re-rip my CD collection into flac format and wish I hadn't chosen mp3 to begin with. I've flashed my iPod with the rockbox flac firmware and it wasn't too tricky although some confidence with a mac/pc is useful. I'll be posting a "how to" on my website soon so if you decide to take to plunge and re-flash your iPod then just ask.

Oh and some rippers let you rip at a 192Khz sample rate. Totally pointless going this high with CD's as they are only sampled at about 44Khz during recording.