Soundtrack Collection DIGITIZE!

[Nemesis 244]

What do you, when two tracks are faded together (don't know if I am saying it correct). I mean what when two tracks don't have a break between each other?

[Trent B 337]

What do you, when two tracks are faded together (don't know if I am saying it correct). I mean what when two tracks don't have a break between each other?

If you mean when one runs into another? If you don't want to have that break open up both cues in an editing program and join them together. Great thing about gapless playback you don't have to worry about that.

[Nemesis 244]

But can one rip these tracks and reburn them without a break.

[Trent B 337]

I don't think so.

[Marian Schedenig 8,174]

K.M.who think only Apple fanboys will blindly trust the apple codecs

Not quite. For one thing, they're not Apple codecs, but relatively open codecs Apple just happened to popularise by using them in iTunes. Also, I'm with you in refusing to work with proprietary codecs when I can avoid it, but that relates to MP3 more than the "Apple" codecs - those are free to use for decoding and only require royalties when creating encoders, whereas MP3 requires royalties for decoders (i.e. players), too. Also it's a far more limited format, gapless playback is basically just a hack because the codec itself doesn't guarantee there's no additional silence at the end of the track (according to what I've read).

Still, the "Apple" formats aren't completely free because of the encoder restrictions; I suppose Apple would have just used Ogg and Flac except that they wanted DRM, which I suppose you're simply not allowed to use with those codecs.

My entire* collection is ripped to Flac, mostly to my external 2.5" drive, but since that only holds 320GB, I have an additional 47GB on my internal drive at the moment (mostly Goldsmith and Wagner). I have to get an external 500GB drive.

*) not quite. There's still some original CDs I basically never play which I haven't ripped so far, and tons of CDRs.

[King Mark 3,625]

Well,maybe MP3 has some sort of limitation when you start using Linux PC's and stuff.

What i'm saying it that they play on all MP3 players but not OGG or FLAC

[Lurker 5]

I had my entire collection on a HDD, in 320kbps. Unfortunately, said HDD decided to commit suicide late last year, so I'm going to redo it in lossless very shortly.

Yes, I plan on getting a back up ASAP.

Neil

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

But can one rip these tracks and reburn them without a break.

I think there's an option to combine tracks into a single file when ripping in iTunes. I'm not sure though. I've never tried it and I don't have iTunes at my current workstation so I can't check right now.

[Nemesis 244]

Okay, I just discovered that with CDex it's also possible to rip two tracks as one, without a break.

[Luke Skywalker 1,792]

if you burn a cd out of wav files and you rip the burned CD in wav again.... are you losing any quality?

I have done this while re-editing expanded scores, since i dont want to start from scratch again from the original sources...

[Trent B 337]

if you burn a cd out of wav files and you rip the burned CD in wav again.... are you losing any quality?

I have done this while re-editing expanded scores, since i dont want to start from scratch again from the original sources...

No you don't loose quality. A wav is lossless format it won't ever loose any quality if you rerip it a lot of times. However, if the wav files were made from a lossy source (mp3) then you will loose quality each time you rerip it.

[Wojo 2,453]

Okay, I just discovered that with CDex it's also possible to rip two tracks as one, without a break.

It's a lot more reliable and easier to do it this way using CDEX, as opposed to ripping each file individually and trying to sew them back together. I ripped many smaller tracks from Rhino's Ben-Hur as a combined super-track using CDEX and it sounded great. Sometimes pasting individual tracks together leaves subtle gaps at the beginning and end that are noticeable when you know where they are, even if you crop the silence from the beginning and end before you cut/paste. Crossovering/mixing them when you paste them together eliminates the gap, but it's a lot more time consuming.

I've got two 500 GB hard drives coming in the mail, but I won't have a terrabyte total since I plan to set them up as RAID 1. I've lost two too many hard drives (112 gigs of data total) so I feel the redundancy is worth it. This will not be a replacement to legitimately backing up data to a seldom used hard drive and to DVD data discs, but I can only do so much with the limited hard drive space and processing ability at the moment. Then I can start re-ripping my collection into FLAC to co-exist with my existing almost-converted MP3 library, which will be downrevved to 128.

After I play Fallout 3.

[Morlock 11]

I always rip all new CDs I get. I have the Indy collection by my PC, waiting to be uploaded. Been doing it forever, as just about all my music listenign was done digitally anyway.

[Marian Schedenig 8,174]

Well,maybe MP3 has some sort of limitation when you start using Linux PC's and stuff.

Not any more than you have on PCs and Macs (except that on some Linux versions, you have to tweak a setting to install the MP3 codecs first because of licensing reasons - see above). The inferiority is part of the format (e.g. gapless playback), not of the system using it.

What i'm saying it that they play on all MP3 players but not OGG or FLAC

Which I still find odd. The only explanation is that people blindly use MP3 so that's what manufacturers code into their devices, even though they have to pay extra money for it (or use the codec illegally, see the various raids at exhibitions). They could add OGG and FLAC support for free, but few do.

It's all just part of choosing the right player though.

if you burn a cd out of wav files and you rip the burned CD in wav again.... are you losing any quality?

Not unless you have read errors when re-ripping the CD and the automatic error correction cannot completely restore the original data.

[Wojo 2,453]

I just got the Batman cartoon set on Jan 2, but I haven't touched it yet because I'm waiting to rip it. I don't listen to anything before I rip it, because I've had some of my older CD players scratch my CDs. The Jedi disc of my 93 Anthology set got scratched on the Death of Yoda track that way, which a newer drive will ignore, but older CD players let you know the scratch is there.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

NR: The Lost World: Jurassic Park

[John Crichton 4]

After I play Fallout 3.

See you in a week.

[Luke Skywalker 1,792]

if you burn a cd out of wav files and you rip the burned CD in wav again.... are you losing any quality?

I have done this while re-editing expanded scores, since i dont want to start from scratch again from the original sources...

No you don't loose quality. A wav is lossless format it won't ever loose any quality if you rerip it a lot of times. However, if the wav files were made from a lossy source (mp3) then you will loose quality each time you rerip it.

so, if i made a CD out of mp3, and i rip it to wav, then burn it again, and then rip it again (on wav), some quality is lost (i mean the quality is worse than the original mp3?)

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Theoretically not.

NR: Saving Private Ryan

[King Mark 3,625]

if you burn a cd out of wav files and you rip the burned CD in wav again.... are you losing any quality?

I have done this while re-editing expanded scores, since i dont want to start from scratch again from the original sources...

No you don't loose quality. A wav is lossless format it won't ever loose any quality if you rerip it a lot of times. However, if the wav files were made from a lossy source (mp3) then you will loose quality each time you rerip it.

so, if i made a CD out of mp3, and i rip it to wav, then burn it again, and then rip it again (on wav), some quality is lost (i mean the quality is worse than the original mp3?)

i would guess so.

I remember re-tooling edits made from MP3's (the RotS files). After a few passes in the editor (decompress to WAV-recompress to MP3) without saving the master project,the sound is degraded .Now I always re-work an edit from the original saved project.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Yeah, and always make a copy of your original track before you cut it.

NR: Minority Report

[Jacob 0]

What do you guys use to rip with?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

iTunes.

Finished all the John Williams film score releases save the SW Athology.

Tomorrow i'm starting on the concert works and compilations.

[Luke Skywalker 1,792]

if you burn a cd out of wav files and you rip the burned CD in wav again.... are you losing any quality?

I have done this while re-editing expanded scores, since i dont want to start from scratch again from the original sources...

No you don't loose quality. A wav is lossless format it won't ever loose any quality if you rerip it a lot of times. However, if the wav files were made from a lossy source (mp3) then you will loose quality each time you rerip it.

so, if i made a CD out of mp3, and i rip it to wav, then burn it again, and then rip it again (on wav), some quality is lost (i mean the quality is worse than the original mp3?)

i would guess so.

I remember re-tooling edits made from MP3's (the RotS files). After a few passes in the editor (decompress to WAV-recompress to MP3) without saving the master project,the sound is degraded .Now I always re-work an edit from the original saved project.

damn... but with the editor i always use wav files, and never save it to mp3.

[Trent B 337]

I should post a picture of my drive in the "Post Your Collection" thread.

Are you still gonna do that?

[Wojo 2,453]

Maybe it's about time we posted photos of our computers -- inside, outside, whatever.

[Marian Schedenig 8,174]

so, if i made a CD out of mp3, and i rip it to wav, then burn it again, and then rip it again (on wav), some quality is lost (i mean the quality is worse than the original mp3?)

If your drive is able to rip the CD without errors, no: You end up with a WAV that sounds exactly the same as the MP3. It's still a WAV however, and if you turn it into an MP3, you lose quality.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

My John Williams collection has been ripped. 129 albums, 40,9 GB!

[Trent B 337]

My John Williams collection has been ripped. 129 albums, 40,9 GB!

That's a lot of John Williams...

Edit: Hey Steef have you ever posted a picture of your collection?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Here it is:

[Ollie 1,059]

[Jacob 0]

By the time I left, I had over 400 albums done, complete with artwork.

How did you handle the artwork? Just let iTunes pull it down, your own scans..?

What I'm getting at is this: I search Amazon, Soundtrack Collector etc. looking for covers. I'm often dissatisfied with the quality of the default downloaded album art in whatever media player and try to find the best quality that's out there.

Anyone else with this same neurosis and are there better ways to get album art?

[Charlie Brigden 7]

I've had some crazy artwork come up when I've let iTunes pick it. I don't know why someone uploaded a German rave album cover for LOTR, but I suppose it makes things interesting.

[Richard Penna 3,673]

I do a google image search first, which usually works, but if it's more obscure then Amazon.

[John Crichton 4]

Soundtrack Collector is a good place to get cover art.

[Marian Schedenig 8,174]

I always get my soundtrack covers from Soundtrack Collector. Perhaps I should do some research in how difficult it would be to add that site as a resource for covers fetched automatically by Amarok.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Only problem with SoundtrackCollector is that their artwork is low res. It's not that big of a deal, because in my iTunes and iPod the artwork can only be seen in a little square. But for some reason I like to have high res artwork when I can. A search on Amazon first, and if there's nothing there I settle for SoundtrackCollector.

[Lurker 5]

I search Amazon, Soundtrack Collector etc. looking for covers.

Me too.

Neil

[Henry B 50]

There's a very useful widget for that.

[Olivier 5]

I started making backup copies some time last year, once in a while, focusing on the rarer ones (older / very limited / out of print); I had already dones CD-R copies of Young Sherlock Holmes and a few unofficial complete editions when getting them, but all copies are now done onto an external hard drive (500Gb-- I'll have to get a 1TB one).

I am doing all this on a PC laptop, using CDex to rip everything into wav files; I don't have any mp3 player.

The big, odd problem, is that sometimes, the CD just won't copy: it my start normally, then at some point all I get are silent files. It may take several re-ripping of some tracks to get them right. Sometimes it's just plain impossible.

Reinstalling CDex and using other software (WMPlayer, RealPlayer, iTunes) is useless.

Searching for information on an error message that was displayed twice, I found it had to do with some very complex legal mess I don't remember exactly, pertaining the software and formats created by I don't remember what company and used by Windows.

It all works very well on my older desktop computer, though.

Every time I copy a CD, I thus have to go through the files rapidly, listen to them all at random points and at the final seconds, to check there is truly music in there-- usually, either there's nothing, or it stops at some point in the tracks, so the checking is relatively easy: if the final seconds of the track are there, everything is.

And then, of course, one should play every ripped track to make sure a speck of dust or a freak skip didn't leave an unwanted little beep in it.

[Marian Schedenig 8,174]

Only problem with SoundtrackCollector is that their artwork is low res.

300x300 is higher than anything else I usually find on the interweb.

[Wojo 2,453]

And then, of course, one should play every ripped track to make sure a speck of dust or a freak skip didn't leave an unwanted little beep in it.

I usually just put my recently ripped music onto my thumbdrive and listen to it at work, keeping track of the musical anomalies that pop up. I've also had some MP3 files decay over time, like they're ok today but in a year or so they develop beeps and skips, which I don't understand at all. I've thought about write-protecting the whole shebang but I'm not to the point where I've stopped fiddling with everything, because most of my older files need to be retagged in order for my car's MP3 player to read the tags properly. Again, no idea why that happened.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

I use Soundtrackcollector.com for regular releases and this site for bootlegs.

I've also scanned the few covers I have autographed and put those into my iTunes rather than the regular covers.

[Marian Schedenig 8,174]

I've also had some MP3 files decay over time, like they're ok today but in a year or so they develop beeps and skips, which I don't understand at all.

It can only be:

a) a faulty player

b) malware

c) a faulty file system

d) a faulty drive

[Wojo 2,453]

Oh, is that all? Yikes. I'm building a totally new system this weekend so I may be able to knock out most if not all of those symptoms.

[Jacob 0]

I search Amazon, Soundtrack Collector etc. looking for covers.

Me too.

Neil

Glad to hear I'm not the only one. I think.

I use Soundtrackcollector.com for regular releases and this site for bootlegs.

I've also scanned the few covers I have autographed and put those into my iTunes rather than the regular covers.

Here's a site that has some nice high quality alternate covers and the like: http://www4.webng.com/soundtracklist/index.htm

[Koray Savas 2,251]

There's a very useful widget for that.

Kick ass.

I use Soundtrackcollector.com for regular releases and this site for bootlegs.

Thank you! I used to have that bookmarked on my old PC. But it got deleted and I could never find it again. All I remembered was "plissken" I'm happy

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

I search Amazon, Soundtrack Collector etc. looking for covers.

Me too.

Neil

Glad to hear I'm not the only one. I think.

I use Soundtrackcollector.com for regular releases and this site for bootlegs.

I've also scanned the few covers I have autographed and put those into my iTunes rather than the regular covers.

Here's a site that has some nice high quality alternate covers and the like: http://www4.webng.com/soundtracklist/index.htm

Yes, I've used that last one a few times for boots if the other one comes up dry.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

There's a very useful widget for that.

Damn, Mac only!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

RP: The Burbs (bootleg)