Music Update
I’ve finished 120 of about 300 albums on my music conversion escapade. It’s taking a little longer than expected because I’ve decided to use a high quality WAV extraction tool (multipass with error checking) along with a high quality MP3 encoder. How do I know all of this?? Check out the Radified Guide to Ripping and Encoding MP3 Audio. All you need to learn how to rip and encode MP3’s like a man. Don’t let the following explanation confuse ya, once you download the two programs and set em up, the conversion can take place with a couple simple steps (inserting the cd, 2 seconds downloading the track names via FreeDB, clicking on the MP3 button and choosing where to save it.. thats it).
The process uses EAC (Exact Audio Copy) for the extraction and LAME MP3 encoder for the encoding, both are freeware programs. Don’t let the name fool ya, the LAME mp3 encoder is one of the best out there. It has a secure mode, which eliminates “pops” and “clicks” that occurs with other encoders, due to other processing and what not ocurring on the computer at the time. It also has a VBR (variable bit rate) encoding mode, which varies the bit rate according to the music data thats streaming at the time. If there’s silence, it uses a small 32kb frame, if theres a lot of snares, riffs, etc, it uses a higher frame, anywhere from 128kbps up to 320kbps. The files vary from about 5-7MB each, so they’re a little larger, but the quality is excellent. The total time it takes to rip and encode each CD is approximately 10-15 minutes. You will never want to hear another supposed 128kbps “CD quality” (misnomer) MP3 again. The best part im my opinion? The error checking! I had a scratched CD, one I loooved (Lenny Kravitz’s “Let Love Rule”. There was a song that was scratched, and it ran multiple passes and error checking on the track. This took quite some time, about 10-15 minutes for the one song. However.. when playing it back after conversion, the MP3 file was FLAWLESS!! No skips, pops, clicks, or breaks in the music. I was amazed.
Do I sound like a pro?? TRUST ME… Read the guide, it teaches you everything, I knew hardly anything beforehand. Doing all of this has brought back renewed interest in my music that I haven’t even touched in years. Almost makes me wanna cry *sniff sniff* ok maybe not but I do feel good doing it… :)