I've got a little bit of experience burning music etc.
Now, down to business - I gather this set-up here is quite new n all, which is good to see.

I gather everyone (equipped with "the knowledge") is using EAC+Lame at 192l or 256k VBR for mp3 conversion. Is this indeed the best for "archiving? All I need at the moment, is the best possible "solution" for putting up whole albums onto my own ftp server. So I've got access to my own music collection anywhere in the world, of course.

Forgive me for asking a question in a thread that's obviously just a general "natter" thread, but I just wanted to say "hi" too

Cheers,
eFrisky

Sorry, an all-too-obvious display of blatant stupidity and a complete disregard for the manual

I've only been messing around on the fringe of the mp3 scene until recently - now I want to immerse myself in it. I've been reading (with a lot of interest) about alternative encoders and other cool suff.

It must have been obvious from my post that I am actually using LAME with CBR, and not VBR (I confuse myself regularly, so don't worry too much if my posts don't make 100% sense!).

I am now in the process of RTFM. All I need to know is the best overall strategy for comprehensively ripping and encoding (with additional regard to a degree of "future-proofing"!).

A "safe" option that I've now read about people using is to rip the original audioCD to WAVs using EAC, and burn to a CD-R. That's the "future-proofing" so I can play the album easily, and rip it again for encoding using the next supa-dupa encoder in 5 years time.

But... do I use MPC or MP3 now? hmmmm

I run an ftp, so I'm keen to continue my overall attitude of being generous. After all, not everyone will go surfing for hours and find info about alternative encoders, let alone install plug-ins to play other types of encoded files etc. So mp3 it is I guess!

But... (I can hear sighing, but hasn't everyone had decision troubles like this recently?!)

I have a decent hi-fi. I love quality. So MPC is gonna be "on trial" big time over this weekend if I can find the time between system-keeping, mp3 encoding, burning and all the fun stuff I enjoy doing.

So, in summary (damn, I go rambling on don't I...) my questions:

1) Where is the ultimate reference giude for ripping a "Live" audioCD? I found one guide for EAC that described ripping to one big WAV file (all the tracks) together with a .cue file. Does everyone use this approach now?

2) From what I've seen now, the "extreme" MPC option is good; so I simply enter this as the command-option for using an external encoder with EAC?

3) What's the preferred util/methodology for encoding multiple WAVs that I've ripped carefully with EAC? I want to queue them all to encode overnight, for example.

4) If you're feeling really generous, the exact options for LAME and MPC encoders would be great! Or just a link to a current and valid guide.

I can read, I've been doing my best to learn fast. I've found from experience that a combination of finding the right info source, and asking "qualified" folks is best. I'm not (contrary to what you might think after reading this and my last post!) lazy - I just want to get started quickly

Many, many thanks for your patience. If this post gets nuked/moved to a move appropriate place, I'll understand lol

If you rip with mp3, you will have gaps when you play the files back, so you will lose that live mix effect. There are steps being taken to address this issue with LAME at the moment though. Vorbis is the only codec I know which creates 100% seamless files when encoded. MPC does for the most part, but there are still a few issues with it in this regard that are going to be addressed in the next version or so I've heard.



Yes, the syntax would be "mppenc <infile> <outfile> -xtreme", or you can just specify the xtreme preset from the pulldown menu under EAC.



Depending on the format you chose to encode to you can use various different frontends. You can either have EAC do the compressing for you, you can use razorlame with LAME, or Monkey's Audio (yes as a frontend) with mpc and a few other formats. There are other frontends as well that you can find, just depends on what you are looking for.



lame.exe --dm-preset standard <infile> <outfile>

mppenc.exe <infile> <outfile> -standard -ltq fil OR -xtreme OR -insane (take your pic)

Thread split from "Wow! Would somebody post here please!"