Quandary.....

[admin_exported]

So, I'm about to start re-ripping my music collection thanks to my 4 year-old son standing on my previous laptop (thanks little man!), and have a bit of a dilemma.

Given that I use a Zen Vision:M and my OH has a nano (4G), would the best option be to rip initially with WMA, then transcode to itunes, or vice-versa? BTW, i will also be streaming to a PS3 linked to the gear below, so I would appreciate any help, although since the PS3 can cope with 320kbps AAC, this may have complicated the situation with regard to the Zen. Cue lossless vs compressed, Apple vs Microsoft debates etc

 

[Anonymous]

Do not blame your poor son for not making a backup...

Given that a Tbyte HD is a fraction of the costs of your cd collection I'd say choose a lossless format that you can easily recode to all others (including tags and images), and find a convenient program to synchronize automatically to the other devices (maybe Mediamonkey?). Test it with a few CD's and select the work flow that is easiest. If the PS3 is indeed restricted to 320kps AAC and this is important to you I'd consider ripping to a lossless safe backup HD and use the 320kps AAC' for now to play, It should be adequate and you can always return to lossless in the future. Let us know what you chose,

Pete

 

[Anonymous]

I'dÿdefinitelyÿconsider re-ripping to a lossless format - even if you don't think you'll need it now, it saves you doing this again in the future.

ÿFrom the lossless format of your choice - the result will be the same anyway - just convert that to the highest quality lossy format the Zune and PS3 can handle.ÿ

ÿÿMore importantly though, buy an external hard drive or a second internal one so you have a backup - especially considering the low cost. Personally, I'd back up both lossless and lossy versions - doubt you'll want to re-encode the tracks in the event of a failure either!

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry Pete, should have explained a bit better in my original post. I'm not blaming my son - on the contrary, I got to replace a 4 year-old laptop with a 40gig hard drive with a shiny new one with a 250 gig instead

. As it stands, only the screen is fubar, so I could do a data transfer between the two, but seeing as all the files are 192 kbps or less, I thought I might go with higher bitrate files and start the process all over again (should be fun with around 500 cd's

). I'll try ripping a few in 320 and do a compare and contrast with lossless, just to see, as suggested in previous posts, whether there is much, if any, audible difference between the two. My only problem is that the Zen doesn't handle AAC files, let alone ALAC, so I may have to rip with WMA, then transcode to AAC with iTunes which will obviously double the disc space needed. Ho hum.