Amen, brother. Space-intensive, but in the long run, entirely worth it. Even the cheapest computers now come with hard drives that can easily store 200+ CDs worth of WAV files, and 1TB of storage (that's 1500 CDs) can be found for under $1K. If you want to rip compressed files for your iPod, you can do it much faster once they're on your HD, and you'll thank yourself the next time you upgrade some audio equipment and start hearing the compression shortcomings more clearly.

If I may add my $0.02 here...

I started copying my entire CD collection a long time ago as wav format. The way I saw it, having spent considerable coin on my audio gear it just did not make sense to compress when it wasn't necessary. I kind of thought that as space ran out on my hard drive(s), I'd buy more as they were bound to get cheaper. This has indeed been the case. I have a separate library of MP3's (now and then I convert chunks of wav files to mp3 at 192 kbps) that I use to load up on my iRiver, my daughter's memory stick, or my wife's iPod. I found that (for me anyway), 192 was pretty close to the original sound quality (especially given being played back through typical mp3 player headphones). Still, in my mind Gonk makes agood point about FLAC (I have a friend / colleague who recently converted her library (wav) to FLAC and she is using a squeezebox 3 at home.

While I do not own a Squeezebox, I do own three networked Turtle Beach Audiotrons (one of which feeds the 990 optically and the others feed their respective systems in the house via the analog output of the Audiotron) and can tell you that it fundamentally changed the way I viewed my music collection (speaking philospohically). It is incredibly nice to have 12,000 + wav files all just 'there'...all networked...and all available to any and all computers / computer appliances that can see my network.

I too have thought about converting to FLAC, but frankly...I still have plenty of room left on the hard drives that I am using, and when the time comes to add another, they will be cheaper still. Again, as I see it...if I don't need to (lossily) compress, then I won't. The only reason that I have the MP3's in the first place is to maximize both the number of files on the portable devices as well as optimize their battery life (i.e. in hard drive based players wav files require more I/O from the hard drive due to the (limited) buffer size. So while at the track or on an airplane I can happily live with 192 kbps through headphones (and I have some pretty decent after market (Shure) ones now), but for my 'real' listening at home over the 990, the dB Systems amplifiers and my B&W 801's...I'll stick with uncompressed.

Mark

Sorry...I meant 805's. My bad.

Hi there,

I recently ripped all my CDs to a server in my basement (a simple RAID, so hopefully I won't have to do it again), in FLAC format. Yeah drives are cheap (I work for a large hard drive company even, so I can get discounts), but my purpose was that I really wanted the ability to use the mp3-style tags (I think it's called ID3 tagging).

This has been invaluable for me to make the most of the organizational skills of the various products that can play back the various formats of audio data, including the Squeezebox (which I do not own).

As I understand it, .wav, in its native incarnation, does not support any of that type of tagging. I don't have a Squeezebox myself, but I was led to FLAC by a very finicky (and audio only) Squeezebox owner who indicated that FLAC was the way to go for flexibility and organizabilty. I kind of thought as the lossless compression as a nice side benefit.

For playback, I'm using a Winamp with the FLAC plugin and a dedicated HTPC. I usually log into the HTPC with XP's Remote Desktop from a laptop. I go optical into the 990 from the Dell, and I can't tell a difference between the CD and the FLAC -- as it should be (CD is coax digital into the 990 from a Denon DVD-1910).

I found that Winamp, et al, will try to make guesses at the artist, album, song name, etc., but it's just that -- a guess -- and it usually turns out to be a mess. I used to rip a lot of .wavs, especially at work, and I did all the directory maintenance myself. What a pain.

Now -- if anyone has a recommendation for a good, quick and free FLAC to mp3 converter, let me know. I want to convert those FLACs, en masse, to mp3s for easy transport to work.

Have a great day!

Yep..

My colleague with the Squeezebox that I mentioned in my prior post......she and I had this very discussion (both being engineers and huge music fans is was pretty much unavoidable).

You make a tremendously salient point about the tags. Turtle Beach has an app that writes mete data to the wav file header, but because it is a proprietary header, other apps (like the squeezebox etc) can't read the header data that comprises the tags that are used by the Audiotron. So as long as the Audiotrons keep working, I am OK with the proprietary wav tag in them. When the Audiotrons die then I'll almost certainly go FLAC and find a player that supports FLAC.

Indeed, this is why she settled on FLAC as there are lots of utilities out there that can either use directory structure and such to pupulate the requisite tags (when writing FLAC files), ping a database, or even ping Amazon to help populate tags.

Mark

Sorry Otto... I didn't read through your post fully. I asked my colleague about the program that she sued to do the wav to FLAC and she said she uses DB Poweramp (http://www.dbpoweramp.com/). She said that it will allow you to convert from FLAC to MP3 (as she has done this for her ipod) and says it is pretty easy to do within db poweramp. She also said that you can convert large blocks of files to MP3 from FLAC.

I hope this helps.

Mark

I have approx 700 CDs ripped at 320kbs on my computer. I play them thru my 990 using a wireless system called Omnifi(D-Link) using Simple Center software. I purchased this system at a discount store for $70.00 and it included the Wireless Adapter. I am very pleased with the sound, the outputs are analog, but still sound great. I would however perfer a box with digital output as I am sure the 990 DAC is better. If I want critical listening (whatever that is) I can always play the CD, but my ears don't hear a great deal of difference, and the difference, if any, could be in the 990's DAC.

If you are looking for software or instructions on converting audio file formats you should take a look at the forums on the website for the Squeezebox (slimdevices.com). It's the only other forum I read on a regular basis. I'm using a script called flac2mp3 and the programmer posts to those forums. This script will take a folder of flac files and create a copy including all folders underneath with a folder of mp3's in the same structure.

I currently have a Squeezebox in my living room, bedroom and car. These will be my favorite gadgets for a long time I think.

Does anyone use Pandora with the Squeezebox?
How much is it (after the 90 day trial)?

Otto,

I am also using dbPoweramp to rip my CD's to the FLAC format with fine success (and all the tag info). As part of dbPoweramp music converter (between various formats) there is a cd burner. If you want to use mp3 you need to purchase a license otherwise all the software is free including a player with some neat features. I use a Linksys Music Bridge (with an optical digital cable) to my 990 since I already had a wireless router in the house. I would prefer a hard connection between my PC and 990 but I didn't think about running cat5 between my PC and home theater during an earlier remodel. Regardless, the wireless Music Bridge provides excellent sound with FLAC files. And it is so convenient!

I just installed a 250gb internal drive on my PC with the idea I would use WAV files for my ripped CDs. However, I couldn't get the right tags on them so I've gone with FLAC. Less space and better info is important.