Hello All,

Please forgive me I am learning the ways of mp3's. I am looking for opinions and admit looking through these posts I am lost...

I am very new to this... I recently purchased a Creative Nomad Zen Xtra and am ripping cd's through musicmatch... I currently have ripped the cd's mp3 format @ 192... Looking at musicmatch options there are a few... like mp3pro and wma... Also there is different settings (VBR)...

I am looking for the best sounding closest match to the cd that is compressed... I know this sounds like an oxymoron... I have pretty decent car audio set up and home audio as well...

Any help would be appreciated

Hopefully I didn't post this in the wrong spot... If I did I apologize again...

Thanks,

jenzard

To get the best possible quality mp3's it is recommended to use the -alt-preset switches in the LAME 3.90.3 mp3 encoder, in particular --alt-preset-standard if encoding time is not of great concern but quality and size is.
The recommended extraction & ripping tool is EAC, which has a helpful "wizard" for new users. Alternatively, CDex is quite easy to use, and is also very good overall.

MusicMatch by the way does not use the LAME encoder, and mp3 pro is almost certainly not compatible (its improvements over mp3 that is) with your player.

Check out the massive FAQ for other basic questions you might have.

Thank you for your opinion... I am trying the EAC and ripping one as I speak but it is very slow... 06x Is this normal?

06x?

Is that 0.6x or 6x?

If it is the first one, it is definitely very slow. What drive is it? What settings?
If it is 6x, I think it is pretty much the normal "secure" speed

Please specify.

Your slow ripping speed might be related to the ASPI interface you're using. You should install adaptec's ASPI layer rather than the default Windows2k/XP aspi layer (which I think EAC attempts to use by default) You can check this by hitting F9 and going to the interface tab.

Additionally, if you're using PIO mode on your CD/DVD drive, that may also be preventing it from higher transfer settigs. Try switching it to DMA in device manager.

You also mentioned that you're looking for the closest sounding match to your original source. If so, you should try experimenting with some of the other compression codecs out there (e.g. AAC, MPC, Ogg Vorbis). It is generally accepted that these offer higher quality sound than MP3 at comparable bitrates. Browse through some of the forums to learn about these other formats.

Hope that helps.

most likely wants files that will play on that device that was mentioned: which - unless you keep two copies around - would rule some of the (IMO) superior lossy formats like MPC, Ogg-Vorbis, etc.

or write to creative (as I have done) and ask them to support MPC - arguably the best lossy codec IMHO

go to this thread:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....topic=14419&hl=

Thank you all for your generous support!

I think I'm burnt out from listening to the same song at all of these various modes and I can't hear a nock your socks of difference between them... There was a slight difference with the EAC but.... I'm not sure I want to wait that long (6x) to burn one album... There's got to be a better way...
By the way, I set up the EAC exactly as mentioned above... I will check on the drive settings as mentioned...

I am intrigued by the MPC but as you have stated it is not compatible with my creative player which is my main goal... I don't want to have to sacrifice another CD being ruined or scratched... I assume this the same goal for all here at this site.

So I guess it is back to Music Match... One thing I have learned that VBR is the way to go and through Music Match set the processing level to very high...

I'm not totally frustrated... I think it still amazes me that you can compress these files and hear anything close to the CD's quality! not that I'm a true Audiophile, I know I'm missing something though... They just seem flat to me, no life.


Thanks again

Pretty much any high bit rate, VBR mp3 file (preset standard for lame encoder) is going to be more or less transparent to the average listener. If you "think" the mp3 files sound flat and lifeless played back on the computer, it can be from what is known as the "placebo effect"-you expect it to not sound as good as the original, and therefore is does not. If you do some double blind testing between the mp3 file and the original wav file, this placebo effect should disappear. If the "flat and lifeless" effect is on the creative portable player, it could be the headphones for the unit are not so hot-creative zens are supposed to be good players from the reviews I have seen on them. If the mp3s sound good on the computer and "dull and lifeless" on the mp3 player, try a different set of headphones on the mp3 player.