best way to encode music

stuey

Ok I like my music. I have a lot of it on my pc which I basically got of a friend(s) some 40,000 songs worth. So I have never really had to encode music and basically if I like a song I download it. But I went to download the Killers Hot Stuff whole album. Haven’t downloaded a whole album in ages. Anywhoo I was amazed that all the copy I downloaded were just crap. I downloaded about 5 albums in total and they were all ****e. WMA seemed over bassy. most of the mp3s were encoded with vbr(variable bit rate) and just sounded bad and the ones that I downloaded that were at 128 kbps cbr(constant bit rate) sounded like they had been encoded from a 96kbps file. And sounded terrible.

I got the original cd anyway and wondering what the best way to encode it is. I normally use nero to encode cds at 128kbps cbr. I have a number of sound systems and I’m very keen on quality. My hi-fi will show up a badly encoded file very easily and I have a very good set of headphones and a good sound card.

I like mp3 for its simplicity and the fact that I have an mp3 player and I don’t want to have to re-encode tracks from lets say ogg to mp3 every time I want to update my mp3 player

What is the best way in your opinion to encode music? What’s the best software? What the best format?

Aava

Try ripping a track from a CD at different bitrates, then listen to each and see what you're happy with. But if you listen to a track at 128kbps and then at 320kbps I'm sure you won't find any difference. People think going above 128kbps makes the sound quality better, but it's all just psychological... there's no difference. The quality will only decrease if you go under 128kbps.

CuLT

Seeing as you're saying you want to use mp3, mp3 would be the best format for you

256kbps VBR or 320kbps CBR are what I normally use for mp3 and it's perfect. Been a good while since I actualyl encoded anything, but I recall there being quite a few good and free pieces of encoding software out there.
And you can tell the difference between 128k and higher; it depends on the music you listen to and the sound system you have though how much you notice it.

If I were you, I'd check download.com or something similar.

Pet

If you don't mind getting a bit techy, and you want perfect rips from CD's (damaged or scratched) try EAC. It's a bit ugly to use, but it's the choice of audiophiles, apparently.

snappieT

Stuey posted this topic twice. See the more populated other thread here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=213191

Invader Zim

Audiophiles don't use MP3 - hell they complain about CD.

If you want to rip CD's use www.exactaudiocopy.de (free).

Rip them to WAV's and losslessly compress the to FLAC's or Monkey Audio.

You'll get full CD quality because no data is removed and 2:1 compression.
Each album wil be 250-350MB

Simi

Try ripping a track from a CD at different bitrates, then listen to each and see what you're happy with. But if you listen to a track at 128kbps and then at 320kbps I'm sure you won't find any difference. People think going above 128kbps makes the sound quality better, but it's all just psychological... there's no difference. The quality will only decrease if you go under 128kbps.

Idiot...
Ok seeing as you have Nero and you like the way mp3's sound, use it. Rip the tracks to 192kb/s CBR Joint Stereo or 256kb/s CBR Stereo depending on your preference. Of course if you feel like it you can experiment with VBR and other bitrates.

tck

well for mp3 , 160 kps is the lowest I go for, it does make a diff.

as for compression, http://www.vorbis.com/ kicks everyones butt and still has some of the best quality.

bp_me

Personally, using cdex (simplicity in itself once set up), I use 192k cdr, stereo, high quality.

for ringtones i use 96k mono (slightly less important in your case)

of course the best way to store music digially is uncompressed wav, you just need about a TB of space to store a decent amount of music.

Invader Zim

bp_me wrote:

Personally, using cdex (simplicity in itself once set up), I use 192k cdr, stereo, high quality.

for ringtones i use 96k mono (slightly less important in your case)

of course the best way to store music digially is uncompressed wav, you just need about a TB of space to store a decent amount of music.

2:1 lossless compression on DVD+R TBH.

Holds 10+ Albums

stuey

ahh information overload!!!

No seriously tho. Im going to try EAC with lame for sure cause everybody seems to be shouting about it. But i think i will try everything that has been mentioned and come to me own conclusions. cheers