Hello,

I am about to begin a hugh project to rip all my CD's into FLAC for future use (I'll probably convert them to AAC soon)

Could someone give me an explanation on the various tools that can be used to do this?

As far as software tools, it seems as if there is FLAC software, EAC, and I've even seen FLACATTACK.

Do I need EAC, do I need FLACATTACK? What are the benefits of each?

Is there a way to rip a music CD directly into FLAC or do I have to convert to WAV first?

I'm a beginner at this, so I'd appreciate any lessons you can give.

Thanks!

Did you not see the Sticky thread?
EAC+FLAC image: Best way to create a lossless FLAC backup.

Skip the backup part, I think that's the best way (single file/ embedded cue sheet). In case you want a file for each track then you don't need to rip to wav and convert. EAC will handle it for you. There are other guides on the web like this (scroll to the bottom of the page for FLAC) to show you how to configure EAC for that.

Thanks for the info.

So if I want a single file, I have to rip to wav and then convert to flac?

I would suggest ripping to single tracks (I and many others dont like the img rips):

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....topic=30959&hl=

Creating single tracks is cumbersome, why don't you like img rips? I read through the thread you attached, and I must say it seemed a bit "over my head."

The choice is up to you. But I personally find single file image FLAC to be a better idea. You can play individual tracks in such a file using CUE sheet (embedded/non-embedded) or through APL files. So I can't see how a file per every track approach could fare better in any aspect.

I think I must have worded my comments wrong. I thought you were telling me that I should create one file per track on the CD. I was suggesting that I would prefer to have one file for an entire CD, which is apparently what you are suggesting as well.

Do I need to rip into WAV format first in order to create the single file or can I rip directly into FLAC from EAC?

1) EAC is an audio ripper: so it always extracts to WAV. It will never create a compressed file on its own.

2) But you can configure it - as almost everyone here does - to encode the uncompressed audio to FLAC (or whatever lossless / lossy format else) by pointing EAC to use the appropriate encoder (for what you seem to need, "flac.exe"): you have to adjust the EAC compression options, commandline and proper tags included. You could do worse than read this guide for learning how to properly configure EAC.

3) Flacattack is just a (powerful) tool to execute thru EAC more encodings in a single step: i.e. a FLAC image + mp3 individual files + mpc individual files + replaygain of these files etc..

4) And yes, a single FLAC image is way cooler

Hope this helps

3) Don't forget MAREO that will also perform similar mutliple tasks like Flacattack

4) Very personal choice this one. To me, it just seems that by having the files (FLAC say) as single tracks then compatibility with software & hardware (portables) should never be a problem (assumming of course that the software or hardware already supports FLAC). If it's in one image then it means a bit more work involved for the developer of the software to allow the reading of the CUE sheet etc. Ok, not many portables can support FLAC (RIO Karma does I know) and FLAC also takes up more disk space... but in a few years when portables are a terabyte say(!?) then you don't have to worry about the palyer also supporting CUE sheets etc too.
You might not have a portable or even care about them and only ever play your music through your PC... then cool, do whatever you want the options are there for you

I suggest you to create one file for an entire CD. This is what the sticky thread is talking about in which first you have to rip to WAV by EAC and use the software. You can also compress the image directly from EAC but that way the cue sheet won't be embedded.

If you don't like one file per CD approach at some point in the future you can create one file for every track in the CD. I see no advantage of that method honestly. The access to individual tracks is very easy no matter what method you pick.

One note: Although I favor the one file per CD approach, there's something I am unable to do if you follow the approach in the sticky thread. It seems like I cannot apply replaygain to the flac file with multiple tracks in a way that individual tracks have correct title gain. If this is an issue for you, you should create a flac with no cuesheet (can do with EAC) and then embed replaygained cue sheet's into the CUESHEET tag with foobar2000 which should solve the problem.

3) Yeah, of course MAREO is there too, but was Flacattack which was cited by the original poster. Mine was a sort of clarifying. But to be really picky, speaking of FLAC and as good as a software can be, MAREO does not offer the choice between FLAC Image and single files, as Flacattack does.

4) Good point but if we introduce the portables topic then we should consider (the overall lack of) gapless support. And what will be implemented first (if any)? Cuesheet support or gapless playing? We'll see. Anyway in my strict opinion for music listening with portables lossless is way overkill: with a good bitrate you'll never really ABX any appreciable difference but in your battery life. Last but not least, the original poster seem to want FLAC files for reference and for transcoding to AAC - for the iPod? - next.

I thought FLACATTACK had an EAC to Single FLAC option. Couldn't I use that instead of going to WAV first?

Also, do you know what the "Wave Format" and "Sample Format" should be set to? I haven't found any documentation on this.

Sorry. It looks like you can. I've never tried FlacAttack myself so that option did not occur to me.

Agreed



4) "Good point..." Thank you
"...lossless is way overkill..." - agreed also, but people will still use it if it's there and thus it's still a 'want'.
"Last but not least,..." - agreed... again

Good. I just wanted to confirm what I had been seeing.

Also, another question: How do I convert a single FLAC to an individual lossy file, like AAC?

For that I'd recommend foobar2000. It's very simple once you understand how the diskwriter works.

But if you want to do this during ripping, it's mentioned using FlacAttack you can not only create a FLAC file but also lossy files out of the same WAV file. Therefore FlacAttack seems like it could do everything you want by itself.

As Treefingers said previously, EAC will always rip to WAV first when using an external encoder, which is what FlacAttack purports to be. Don't worry about creating WAVs though (ooh, pun), they will be deleted automatically once converted to FLAC. What's so bad about WAV as an interim?


FlacAttack will let you do this all in one go, if you use MP3, OGG, AAC or MPC. http://www.uninformative.com/flacattack/

If you want to use a different lossy format then I would recommend Foobar with the diskwriter component. You would just load up the FLAC with embedded cuesheet and then convert to your lossy individual files of choice. It's not automated ike FlacAttack, but it is very quick and easy. I currently do this with my APE files with embedded cuesheet.

I ripped a CD directly into a single FLAC file. I then played it in Winamp, but there was no sound whatsoever. Has anyone experienced this before?

If I rip a CD into multiple flac files, then I can play it no problem.

Onto another question: What if I only want to create the single FLAC file and later convert the FLAC file to AAC? Can Flacattack to do? How would I do that?

Also, if I only want a WAV file, which Wave Format and Sample Format would I use in EAC?

Could WinAmp play embedded cuesheet FLAC files fine? I don't know. So I can't help you.

For your next question the answer is Foobar2000. Check this thread. Another crucial question at this point will be what encoder you want to use: Nero, FAAC, iTunes, Compaact!. Based on this choice there're several frontends NAACEnc for Nero (which has VBR encoding), iTunes Encode for iTunes. FAAC and Compaact! can be run directly AFAIK.

Where is Wave format and Sample format setting in EAC? I do not know any such settings. If you only want a WAV file you do "Action-> Copy Image and Create CUE Sheet -> Uncompressed", if you want a FLAC file (assuming you configured flacattack correctly) you do "Action-> Copy Image and Create CUE Sheet -> Compressed".

besides foobar, few other programs handly cue sheets. I havent figured out how to split files based on a cue sheet easily. In fact virtually every tool out there uses single files. This is a HUGE reason to rip to single files

I'd disagree. If the software does not support a proper FLAC file that's the problem of the software and therefore instead of giving up on what you intend to do just give up on that lame piece of software

I can't believe people use ALAC because they don't have a choice. I just don't get the fanaticism about iTunes when they continually snub your format of choice. And people are willing to bend over backwards to use it. How could one use anything that deprives you of choice?

apple lossless is fantastic and most important of all, it plays on ipods...

Winamp 5.08 can play FLAC files and, better still, its relative cuesheet (which I suggest NOT to embed). You have to unzip and install inside your directory C:/..../Winamp/Plugins the appropriate .cue and .flac plug-ins - you can download them here.

For encoding .aac files from your .flac image/files, I suggest for the time being NOT to use Flacattack, because it supports only the (not very good) FAAC encoder. You should consider using Foobar's diskwriter, which has to be configured to use Nero's .aac encoder.

Where can I obtain Nero's AAC encoder?

With Nero burning software:
http://www.nero.com/en/index.html