I am planning to digitize my entire CD-Collection to AAC.

Now I am searching a step by step guide for this task.
Which is the best way?

Which tools do I need?

Ripping: EAC
Encoding: iTunesEncode from Otto? Or simply iTunes
Tag-Editor: ?
Library Management: iTunes

My Environment:
I have a Linksys NSLU2 Box with a daap-server (mt-daapd).
So I want to serve the music on my home network.
Also I want to stream the music wireless to the living room using an apple airport
express station. Additionally I have an Ipod for carrying my music around.
The Library Management should be done with Itunes.

Tasks to do:

1) CD-Ripping
2) Encoding
3) Tag Editing
4) Putting the music in the library/mt-daapd server

I think AAC encoding with 192kbits/sec is enough for my needs.
Or can I simply use iTunes for all this? (Quality?)

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

regards
starbuck

Starbuck, you seem to have it all.

EAC to AAC via Otto's iTunesencode. You can use iTunes itself to do all of the rest. This is the method I use. The only difference is that I rip to Apple Lossless, convert the Lossless file to AAC in Itunes (all tag information transfers, including album art), burn the Lossless files to a DVD for archival, and then delete the Lossless from iTunes, leaving only the AAC.

Bit rate is dependent on your tastes. I am using 128 VBR. It sounds great on an iPod. I use Lossless for making audio CDs, etc. If you are going to need higher quality than 128 on your portable (maybe you have Sure canalphones) than 160 or 192 VBR is probably the way to go.

@ezra2323

Thanks for the information.

That mean first I rip the CD with eac.
What is the right setting for id tagging in eac?
Then I use iTtunesEncode from Otto to encode to Apple Lossless.
What command line switches must I use?
Is there a tutorial how to use it?
After converting I use iTunes to encode Apple Lossless.to AAC.

What about quality loss? (Apple Lossless.-> AAC)

Or should I encode the files to Apple Lossless (DVD Storage)
After that, rip again and encode to AAC?

What Do you think?

All lossless codecs will contain exactly the same data as the CD, so ripping the CD again would be pointless.

There is no point in re-ripping your CDs to AAC if you are first ripping them to Apple Lossless. Transcoding to AAC from Apple Lossless will yield exactly the same quality files as if you had ripped to AAC directly from the CD because Apple Lossless is, by definition, CD-quality. If you are planning on storing an archive of lossless files, I would just first encode to lossless and then encode to AAC from the lossless files.

EDIT: Mike beat me to it

is there currently an easy way to transcode from any other lossless format to aac and retain tag info (i.e. vorbis, mwv, etc)

If your lossless files are in the Apple Lossless format then you can use iTunes. If they are in another format (FLAC, Monkey's Audio) then you can use dbpoweramp (dbpoweramp) to convert them to the mpeg-4 AAC format. dbpoweramp will use QuickTime to encode the mpeg-4 AAC files.

Edit: Spelling

I have now done a example ripp of Queen Greatest Hits II.
Ripping and encoding worked perfectly so far.

But now I have two problems:

First the Directory structure:

EAC did put the file in:

C:\Music\A Kind Of Magic.M4A

Is it possible to change this in EAC like iTunes manage the files?

iTunes like:

H:\Music\Compilations\Greatest Hits II\2-01 A Kind Of Magic.m4a

What can I alternatively do to solve this?

Second the tagging problem:

When iTunes rip the CD directly the tags look like:



All tags are filled out with the correct informations.

After encoding the same track in EAC with itunesencode the tag information
in iTunes showed up this way:



Now the following tags are missing:

Composer, TrackNum/TrackCount 1/17, DiscNumber/DiscCount 2/2, Compilation

(Transfering these files to my ipod would end with a messed up file structure I think)

I have used the following command line switches

-e "Lossless Encoder" -a "%a" -l "%g" -t "%t" -g "%m" -y %y -n %n -i %s -o %d -d

The -p option for the composer is missing. What %parameter I have to use?

Usage: iTunesEncode.exe [options] -i <input.wav> [-o <output.m4a>]

Tagging Options:
-a <Artist> Adds an artist tag to the file
-l <Album> Adds an album tag to the file
-t <Title> Adds a song title tag to the file
-g <Genre> Adds a genre tag to the file
-y <Year> Adds a year tag to the file
-n <TrackNum> Adds a track number tag to the file
-m <TrackCount> Adds a track count tag to the file
-b <BPM> Adds a BPM tag to the file
-c <Comment> Adds a comment tag to the file
-u <Grouping> Adds a grouping tag to the file
-x <Compilation> Adds a compilation tag to the file
-p <Composer> Adds a composer tag to the file
-j <DiscNumber> Adds a disc number tag to the file
-k <DiscCount> Adds a disc count tag to the file
-r <filename> Adds artwork to the file

Tag option notes:
-Options y,n,m,b,e,f should be numeric.
-Option x is a boolean and can be 1,true,yes,T,Y,on,enable...

Can someone please explain the single %parameter to me.
I found nothing about it.

Is it possible to get filled out the whole tags?
What can I do to get this working?

(Or has it to do with that EAC uses freedb for cd-information retrieval instead of gracenote cddb like itunes does?)

Does that mean I have to edit these tags manually?
(I do not hope so with a few hundred CD's to convert ...)

Additionally is it possible first ripp the CDs and then do a batch encoding
with itunesencode (presupposed the tags are correct!)

I would be happy if someone could answer to my questions.

Thanks.

Note: I only use the Lossless files for a DVD archival, after that I encode the files
to AAC.

regards
starbuck

What about this idea.

In EAC I create a image with cuesheet of the audio-cd.
According to the log I have now a 100% accurate copy.

Next I mount this image with daemon tools.

After that I start iTunes. iTunes recognizes the CD, queries the CDDB and
doing the right tagging. Then I import the tracks to Apple Lossless.
With option disabled "Using Error correction during Audio CD reading".

Does iTunes handle the image correctly? I think iTunes should extract
the tracks correctly because of the EAC image.

Is my assumption right?

Could someone confirm this?

regards
starbuck