I had read somewhere that while one encodes, the computer shouldn't be engaged in other activities such as web surfing or running other programs because the other functions may interrupt or corrupt the file being encoded. Is this a myth or is there some truth to this?

Seems to me to be a myth! So far I been doing casual web surfing while encoding, but that is rarely. Normally encoding tracks for test purposes or to demo the track to my online friends. The tracks after encoding all come out fine to me, after a test listen.

I don't use my computer while encoding purely for the fact ENCODING SPEED drops dramatically if you were to use your computer while doing the encoding. Sppppeeeedddd is what I look for when encoding! Can't be arsed waiting too long .

Cheers

used to be said a few years ago, but it was while *ripping* that you had to leave it alone. This was simply because the only way to rip was in burst mode, and later sync or jitter corrected, and if you did anything while ripping in burst mode it could screw up the rip. Doesn't matter at all these days, and it was never the encoding portion of the job that could get affected.

Cool. I'll get started right now then. Thanks.

I just give the program an "abovenormal" priority and do whatever I want. I am a person who tries to cram 72 hours into one day, and I sure as hell can't if I can't use the computer while encoding something. Maybe for less powerful computers.

A while back when I was encoding mp3’s, somewhere in the process of ripping/encoding/MP3Gaining & browsing I found “mouse click sounds” some how got inserted into one of my mp3’s. I have although never heard of this happening so maybe it was just a very rare case.

Sounds like what would happen if you were recording from the "Wave Out Mix" of your soundcard... that is, streaming a radio show and saving a re-encoded version of the audio to disk at the same time. The advantage of this method is that you can capture almost any source (i.e. RealMedia, Windows Media, other formats that don't really want to be captured), but the disadvantage is that it will simultaneously capture any other sounds generated by your soundcard, regardless of how desirable/undesirable they might be.

- M.