1) You will want to rip all your CD's in lossless format and store them in DVD-/+R. With proper tags, embed covers and replaygain-album.

2) You will store these DVD's safely, and when the new media catches, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD you will re-copy them to a less amount of faster, better and modern optical discs.

3) You realize that there are many lossy formats out there and better ones than MP3, but if you browse any shopping catalogue you also realize that the 99.9% of the devices in there support only MP3 format. So you realize that going astray MP3 will lock you in certain listening conditions.

4) Since you don't have any lossless hardware player, you will do the 5th item.

5) So, then, you will rip your "special" FLACS/WV/whatever lossless files, now properly tagged, with covers and so on into the highest MP3 quality available that is 320 kbps. Yes, it is overkill, it is exaggerated - but I prefer to go for this than to feed in my head the eternal debate V5 x V2 x V0. - Disc space is not a concern anymore, majority of portables now are starting with 4GB storage, so no fear anymore of 320 kbps MP3. You still can get 40 albums on a DVD-R, against 17 FLAC albums on the same DVD-R.

6) You will burn these MP3 files to CD-R media, so that they play anywhere.

7) You can complete your transition to lossless when storage becomes ridiculously huge enough for lossless, and when a couple of popular hardware players stick with a lossless format to go with.

(And that should give you some good sleep nights... after all the suffering.)

Update: (Recommended Software)
CD Ripping to FLAC -> EAC latest version with AccurateRip DLL enabled
Cover Art inside the FLAC file -> MP3Tag 2.39
Masstag tuning and Replaygain scanning - Foobar2000
Coversion to MP3 - Foobar2000
MP3 Encoder - LAME 3.97 final

Recommended settings for FLAC: -5
Recommended settings for LAME: -b 320

Hey, I sleep pretty good at night without worrying about all that. Should I worry?

Yes you should be trembling and fearing the wrath of Lord Lossless. In Him all formats are possible.

I use lossless for only two reasons:
1st - I respect the artist's creation in the best way I know how
2nd - a CD or DVD has a lifespan of a year in my apartment till the roommate looses it or uses it as a coaster or plays Frisbee...

You don't need lossless. It is just a good idea in case you lose your CDs or you something sounds wrong in with your encodes.

@Bourne:

I can only make one recommendation that the strategy include a CD ripping utility that supports AccurateRip (dBpoweramp, Exact Audio Copy... I don't think there are any more).

I really don't understand this thread, and wonder whether it is suitable for "MP3 - General".

Can anyone enlighten me?

Is this what you earthlings call 'humour'?

I guessed it was one of those threads that hopefully someone would come across before asking, "What should I do?" I figured this was one of those things covered in the underused wiki, hence the highly sarcastic parts of my post, followed by the semi-serious remarks.

I think Bourne clicked on "New Post" instead of "Reply".

It looks like a manifesto.

It reminds me of Thou Shalt Always Kill.

use hard drives.....optical media is for wimps....

well this is what I will do, just thought of giving ideas to whom it may concern, and I bet a few of them really are.

Using one storage media is for wimps, Ron . The tunes you play change after 250GB goes out the window.

You can't write this in 2007. Look around. Go shopping...
And about 6) - if you write everything back to CD-R what the point of the rest shamaning? Just make 1:1 copies of your collection. ("lossless")

Agree. I also wouldn't bother with burning anything to any form of offline storage, it's just way too much hassle. Just store FLACs (or whatever lossless format) on your always on storage. Something decent like ZFS on a RAIDZ. I keep my entire music collection on HDDs, no worry about DVDs or CDs archives dieing or silent data corruption.

If you want MP3s for portable devics etc., then just transcode from your online source using some scripts.


Which is why you should use something decent like ZFS on a RAIDZ, ideally mirrored to an off-site system to cope with fire/theft etc. Almost zero maintenance, once setup, and all automated.

8. (NOFI) you will sound pompous reading this out to yourself. (tbh, i feel somewhat uncomfortable reading anything that reminds me of Commandments in their structure, especially when they're outdated (like these are))
9. you will not care about mp3 quality, as you have everything lossless (a 750gb disc sets you back what, €120?.. you can't even buy half an ipod for that), so you will use -v2, and you will use foobar to listen to your lossless collection, which you will connect to your home stereo system somehow.
10. you will go get yourself a girlfriend

@boombard

obviously the topic was not for you.
it is destined to noobs who come here and ask for advice, might come handy.
I came across folks who say lossless/ogg/aac/mpc/mp3 Vx is not an option.

There should be yet another commandment:

You shall protect your lossless collection, directory-by-directory, using PAR2.