FLAC - SACD (1 Viewer)

[erew99]

I'm not overly concerned about disk space.

I just need something that allows easy tagging and the same level of clarity/quality as the disk. If FLAC will do that, then excellent!

 

[jcroy]

Are you looking for something that automates the tagging stuff? (Such as looking up the info in a database).

Or do you plan on adding in all the tagging info manually by hand?

 

[Dan Driscoll]

I'm not overly concerned about disk space.

I just need something that allows easy tagging and the same level of clarity/quality as the disk. If FLAC will do that, then excellent!

FLAC will allow you to do that and is why I still use it, even though disk space is no longer an issue.

The exact capabilities will depend on the specific ripper and encoder that you use; some have more capabilities than others. I'm old school and still use EAC (Exact Audio Copy) for ripping and LAME for encoding. LAME runs seamlessly inside EAC, so it's easy to use. Both are stable and free. EAC also provides direct access to FreeDB, which makes error checking a lot faster.

For playback on my PC I use the Atomic Player free version. Very simple, easy to use and it doesn't muck with the music. For serious listening I stream to a SqueezeBox 3, which feeds a Pacific Valve tube based DAC-62, then to the analog CD input of my receiver.

 

[erew99]

I'm using Windows Media Center 7 for all my media all in one place.

The tagging will be done manually, unless there is a way to automate this.

 

[Nathan_W]

I'm not overly concerned about disk space.

I just need something that allows easy tagging and the same level of clarity/quality as the disk. If FLAC will do that, then excellent!

FLAC will allow you to do that and is why I still use it, even though disk space is no longer an issue.

The exact capabilities will depend on the specific ripper and encoder that you use; some have more capabilities than others. I'm old school and still use EAC (Exact Audio Copy) for ripping and LAME for encoding. LAME runs seamlessly inside EAC, so it's easy to use. Both are stable and free. EAC also provides direct access to FreeDB, which makes error checking a lot faster.

I agree, FLAC is great for a little bit of space saving and great Tagging ability. I use mp3Tag for my FLACs, mp3s, etc. It's not exactly automated. EAC can kind of be setup to be, CUETools/CUERipper too. dBpoweramp (not free) is probably the most automated as far as tagging & ripping goes...I think. Oh, the developer of EAC also released Easy Audio Copy (not free).

http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
http://www.easyaudiocopy.com/
http://www.cuetools.net/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.dbpoweramp.com/

http://www.mp3tag.de/en/

 

[Al.Anderson]

I use Winamp for ripping and tagging my FLACs and have been pleased with the performance and capabilities. (I don't play them using Winamp, I just go through the receiver using DLNA.)

But I've never tried any of the other mentioned, so if I'm missing out on anything, please enlighten me.

 

[Nathan_W]

I don't know about Winamp, haven't used it in ages, but the others all can be configured to use AccurateRip. I think foobar can, too. http://www.accuraterip.com/

Perhaps that interests you, perhaps not.

 

[Al.Anderson]

Thanks Nathan, I didn't know about accuraterip. I finally got a chance to experiment with the free version of dbpoweramp, and while I like it general, it only found about 70% of my CDs (of ~600 total). Of the ones it did find, it only found 12 tracks with bad rips. I listened to a couple of those bad tracks and didn't hear anything I found objectionable. So I think I'm good sticking with WinAmp (I also use Media Monkey). But it was fun to try out something new, so again, thanks for the tip.

 

[Nathan_W]

What I like about AccurateRip (when your rip is verified) is that you don't have to go and listen to your tracks to be sure there aren't any pops/clicks/etc in them...Saves some time. Without it you never know until you do. But, yeah, the database could always use more contributions. You should rip your CDs it didn't find and submit the results, heh heh...