CD to HDD

[AndrewT]

I have started copying my CD collection on to the HDD.
I use iTunes lossless.

I have EAC exact audio copy installed but not used it yet.

What should I be doing to get the best lossless copies onto my HDD?

BPM is blank for most CDs, how do I get this info onto the record?

[oshifis]

FLAC

[AndrewT]

WikiPedia shows iTunes listed as a library system for FLAC files.
Does that mean I copy using exact CD then FLAC to compress and then import into iTunes. Sounds quite time consuming.
Can this process or a better way be automated?
iTunes seems quite convenient.

is this the way to go from CD through EAC direct to FLAC?
http://www.saunalahti.fi/cse/EAC/index.html

[xaudiox]

i used this tutorial: http://filesharefreak.com/tutorials/...-with-eac-099/

HTH

[AndrewT]

thanks X,
what does this mean:
DO NOT FORGET TO INCLUDE YOUR .CUE, .M3U & LOG FILES IN YOUR TORRENT!

[AndrewT]

I'm trying to find how to use a FLAC music library in iTunes for Windows.

So far all the Googles say it can't be done without converting the files.

[theAnonymous1]

iTunes + Windows?

I suggest dBpoweramp to rip straight to FLAC. It will even download and save meta data for you. Then just use good ol' WMP with Illiminable or CoreFLAC + WMP Tag Support Extender.

[JRace]

iTunes does not handle FLAC.

DO NOT FORGET TO INCLUDE YOUR .CUE, .M3U & LOG FILES IN YOUR TORRENT!

.cue = is a Cue sheet which some music players use. This tells the player certain things about certain tracks.
.m3u = this is a playlist file. Again, some players will follow the playlist file if you ask.
.log = when you use EAC (for example) a log file is created. This file states the quality of the rip and if any errors occured.
Some music trading sites prefer you include those files in your upload.

EAC is one of the best free rippers. It is very good if you want perfect copies as the software will try numerous times to rip when errors are found, and it will not rip if it cannot correct the errors.
Due to this it is not liked by some as they cannot back up their scratched cd's sometimes.

EAC is also harder to use properly, however if you follow the many numerous guides on the intrnet it is actuially quite easy.

[alleycat]

I don't want to start a fight, but I find it difficult to believe that anyone would find any difference between Apple Lossless/iTunes and FLAC/EAC. For simplicity, I use iTunes.

[kevinkr]

Originally posted by alleycat
I don't want to start a fight, but I find it difficult to believe that anyone would find any difference between Apple Lossless/iTunes and FLAC/EAC. For simplicity, I use iTunes.

I use both, and have to say EAC/FLAC seems to yield noticeably better sound quality in XP than iTunes even with Apple Lossless.

I use JRiver Media Center to play my flac files, it will also rip directly to FLAC, however on less than perfect disks I get much better results with EAC. JRiver supports ASIO which allows me to bypass all internal windows audio processing. iTunes does not support ASIO and may have other audio processing related issues as well.

Other (free) media players that work well with FLAC include foobar, earlier ad free versions of winamp, and QCD.

I highly recommend JRiver Media Center, it is compatible with just about every audio format out there and handles most if not all drm formats as well. It is trialware, registration at the end of the trial is about $40 USD.