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Storing Cd's on Hard Disk

Hi,

What kind of quality CD driver is needed to rip CD's to HD?

Does the quality of the driver have an impact on the end result if one is saving in a lossless format?

I have read comments that using the CD driver of a Mac is as good as any CD transport if objective is to rip to HD.

Comments welcomed as intend to load all my CD's to HD in the near future.

Thanks
Tim
timnaim

Showing 2 responses by metralla

metralla
945 posts
 
You don't really need a quality drive - you need quality software. The standard is Exact Audio Copy - EAC. It's a free download, though you are encouraged to send the developer a postcard. It's easy to install and there are a number of primers out there to help you get the best out of it. It will re-read sections to get an error-free copy.

Now if you want to convert these WAVs to something like Apple Lossless or FLAC you will need conversion software. For Apple Lossless, iTunes.

This part is fairly straight-forward. Getting it back is where the good is significantly better than the moderate. The magic will be in the DAC and the output stage.

Regards,
metralla
945 posts
 
MS Windows? Browse to where your iTunes files are stored. Open an album folder - look at the tracks. Do they end in .m4a?

If you are not showing file name extensions, you can engage that through Explorer - Tools - Folder Options - uncheck "Hide Extensions for known file types" and look again.

Aliter, right-click on a file and select Properties. Does it say MPEG-4 Audio File as the file type?

Sorry, I don't know the Apple methods.

Regards,
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