What format should I save my music collection in?

[dug777]

I have to admit I just rip in whatever the best MediaPlayer VBR is, works fine for me even with headphones and a good soundcard

 

[ethebubbeth]

My favorite codec out there is WavePack. It compresses better and faster than FLAC (ESPECIALLY with audio containing more than 2 channels), and has a really cool hybrid mode where you have a vbr lossy file and a correction file. If you have the lossy file and correction file in the same directory, it plays back as lossless. However, you can back up the correction files and just leave the vbr on your hard drive to save space.

However, since WavePack does not have a terrible amount of support, I usually stick to flac for backups and use WavPack only for my DVD-A backups. I transcode the FLAC to OGG Vorbis quality 10 (about 464kbps vbr) for storage on my desktop. I have to listen ridiculously closely multiple times to tell the difference between the FLAC and OGG in an ABX double blind test, and it takes up about 1/2 the space of the FLAC. Since I have an iAudio X5L, I can just copy the OGG or FLAC to it and it will play it back no problems when I'm out and about.

 

[bovinda]

Thanks everyone for the input. Well...it sounds like there's no simple answer, as is usual in life, I guess. I use both Media Center and my wife has an iPod, so we wanted a format that would work in both (ruling out both Apple's and Window's proprietary lossless formats). It looks like we're going to end up storing in both FLAC and MP3 formats.

I'm tempted just to copy them all in WAV files, though. Does FLAC really save that much space? WAV files are playable by everything, even if they're ginormous. And wouldn't they be easier to convert?

Having said that, do most players play VBR MP3s? That seems like a good possible solution also for the MP3 set. 320kb MP3s are not that small either (though still smaller than WAV files, of course). And what program will rip in VBR formats? I don't think WMP does it.

 

[SludgeFactory]

FLAC saves you 30-50% disk space over wav. I guess the amount of disk space you're willing to use is up to you, but I don't see any reason not to use FLAC for achiving at this point, it has become the standard for lossless compression.

If I was going to the trouble to rip a few hundred of my CD's, I'd put them all in FLAC and dump them on an external hard drive, and then convert to lossy formats as needed for portable players.

 

[Old Hippie]

And what program will rip in VBR formats?

Any of 'um?

 

[frostedflakes]

It sounds like Apple lossless would be best for you. I'm not terribly familiar with iTunes, but I'd assume you can set it to automatically encode the files to high-quality AAC or MP3 when synced with an iPod.

And the nice thing about lossless is that, except for minor (probably like 10%) differences in compression, all formats are basically all the same. A few years down the road if you decide that Apple lossless isn't the best codec for you, use iTunes to convert all the files to WAV and then convert them to FLAC, WMA lossless, or whatever.

If you still decide to go with FLAC and/or MP3 VBR check out Exact Audio Copy.

 

[bovinda]

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

Originally posted by: Old Hippie

And what program will rip in VBR formats?

Any of 'um?

Except WMP, it seems. Not MP3s, at least, as far as I can tell. I will check out Exact Audio Copy when I get a chance.

When you convert one lossless format to another, you don't lose anything, do you? So say I were to do all FLAC files now, then convert to another lossless format in the future--by definition nothing would be lost, right?

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Originally posted by: bovinda
Thanks for all the feedback guys!

Originally posted by: Old Hippie

And what program will rip in VBR formats?

Any of 'um?

Except WMP, it seems. Not MP3s, at least, as far as I can tell. I will check out Exact Audio Copy when I get a chance.

When you convert one lossless format to another, you don't lose anything, do you? So say I were to do all FLAC files now, then convert to another lossless format in the future--by definition nothing would be lost, right?

you can convert freely, lossless is lossless. there may be issues with tag info, but not the music. not to be a broken record, but dbpoweramp excels at this.

 

[bovinda]

[/quote]
you can convert freely, lossless is lossless. there may be issues with tag info, but not the music. not to be a broken record, but dbpoweramp excels at this.[/quote]

I'll take a look at dbpoweramp too when I get a chance. Sorry, didn't mean to dismiss that suggestion, thanks for reminding me. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[secretanchitman]

at LEAST 192kbps mp3...it'll sound just fine.

i usually do 320kbps mp3 for my own collection.