I'm converting my entire CD collection to mp3 file format.

[drumwolf]

Ask me anything.

[LDS Jock]

1. how long will this take?

[drumwolf]

5. I started a couple of days ago

and I'm guessing it'll probably take a couple of weeks. I've got several hundred CD's to encode, and with schoolwork and an election hanging over my head, I certainly don't have as much time each day to devote to this project as I'd like.

[Salviati]

2. what quality are you encoding in?

When I ripped mine, I just used the highest avalible, I figure hard drive space is cheap and only getting cheaper, and I didn't want to have to do that again...

[drumwolf]

8. I'm encoding at 192 kbps, using the MusicMatch Jukebox program.

From what I can tell, 128 kbps seems to be considered standard "CD quality," but someone told me that 192 kbps was really the minimum quality that would be ideal for an iPod.

I don't have much of an issue with hard drive space limitations, since I have a 160GB external hard drive. But I've seen mp3 files that are 256 or even >300 kbps, and I just think that's a bit excessive. There's only so good you can get an MP3 from compact discs, some of which have their own limitations as is (as in, the quality of the mastering to CD, or even the quality of the original recording itself).

[Mojambo]

3. What kind of stuff?

Do you file share? Trade?

[drumwolf]

9. Mostly indie/alternative/punk, but other types of music as well

Techno/electronica would be the second most heavily represented genre in my CD collection, there's also a sizable chunk of dub reggae and psych/experimental as well, and there's a little bit of jazz, world music and hip-hop. Not really any country, bluegrass, folk, show tunes, or classical.

I probably won't put them up on a file sharing network like KaZaA or WinMX, but I would most certainly be up for trading (and not just in the aforementioned genres).

[progressiveBadger]

4. have you considered aac instead?

If you use itunes... smaller file size and WAY better quality. Of course, they won't work on anything but an ipod...

[drumwolf]

7. I don't have an iPod.

And I'd rather have a file format that's standardized across all platforms anyway.

[St. Jarvitude]

10. Have you considered Ogg Vorbis?

It's patent-free too.

I'm fairly (95%) sure it works with the latest iPod firmware too.

When I get around to ripping my CD collection (read: when I get an iPod and a much, much bigger hard drive), it's going to be all Ogg Vorbis.

[drumwolf]

11. dumb question, but....

does OGG file format work on PC's? That's what I have.

[ghostsofgiants]

14. Yes it does.

Why wouldn't it work on PCs?

[ghostsofgiants]

16. I don't think iPods have OGG support.

I'm sure I'd have heard about it. Hopefully I'm wrong though.

I also have my cd collection (though it's not a large one) ripped in OGG format.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

6. I did it - I now have 36000 mp3s - what do you have?

[drumwolf]

13. I've got maybe about four to five hundred CD's

and as I said, most of it is alternative/indie/punk or techno/electronica, but some jazz, hip-hop, reggae and psych/experimental as well. As of right now I think around eighty or so of them are already on CD.

Also, I have a subscription to http://www.emusic.com, and I've got well over a thousand CD's worth of mp3 files from them too. It is worth every penny of the monthly subscription fee if you're into alternative and independent styles of music.

36,000 mp3's? Wow. How many CD's did you get that from?

[ghostsofgiants]

12. MP3 is for suckers.

OGG-Vorbis is str8 heat.

Why are you not using OGG-Vorbis instead?

[drumwolf]

17. because i don't know much about the file format.

I gather that it's superior to mp3?

Ick. It's time-consuming enough as is converting to MP3 -- I don't want to convert it all over again to OGG-Vorbis. x(

[ghostsofgiants]

18. It offers higher sound quality at the same bitrate.

Or equal sound quality at a lower bitrate (and thus file size) if you wanna look at it that way.

Also, if you have any albums which have gapless transitions between tracks, OGG will preserve that while the MP3 codec automatically adds a split second of silence at the beginning and end of each track. So with OGG you get a more exact replication of the original album.

And as was mentioned before, it's patent free and such.

[Magrittes Pipe]

15. Why do you want to make your music sound worse?