Which is the best ripping software for Sonos? dBpoweramp?

[h4rdy]

I currently use iTunes but get fed up of no album art.

I am about to re-rip everything in lossless.

So whats the best software and whats the best lossless? FLAC, ALAC?

Thanks in advance for your time.

 

[Dan Turner]

Hi h4rdy - you can use itunes and have artwork, but because it doesn't automatically embed the artwork in the meta-data of each file you have to embed it yourself. You can do this manually by copying the album art image and then selecting the relevant album tracks and doing a multiple 'get-info' and pasting the artwork into the appropriate box. Alternatively there is script available on the Sonos support page (search on "iTunes artwork" and you'll find it), that allows you to select a number of albums and copy the artwork to the track file metadata en-mass.

It is a bit of a faff, but I find that ripping with iTunes is so much easier that on balance doing that and then manually doing the artwork is still easier than using the few other applications that I've tried.

On the subject of FLAC and ALAC, you'll likely find that some people will tell you that one is better than the other, and others which say that is impossible and then this thread will descend in to a slanging match before being locked by the moderators.....but for what it's worth they theoretically ought to be the same as each other quality wise and I've never ben able to tell any difference between them (or uncompressed AIFF for that matter) so maybe try that yourself and if you can tell a difference go with whichever sounds best, or if you can't tell a difference go with whichever is most convenient.

Hope that helps

Dan

 

[h4rdy]

Yes I tried the script but its a pain and seeing as I am re ripping I might try something else.

I guessed as much with the FLAC/ALAC thing.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi H4rdy,

I don't use sonos, however I have just finished ripping 900+ CD's using dBpoweramp. My source is an iMac outputting into my Hi-Fi using a Firestone Dac. As for Dbpoweramp, I have tried others, EAC, iTunes and the ripper included with J.River. I settled for Db due to its extra functions, the latest version has better artwork retrieval. I use AIFF for my playback copy, which both J.River and iTunes can handle. Storage is cheap, so I don't see the need to compress my playback copy. My Archive copy is in Flac due to its superior tagging support. Db has a great music converter included so creating another copy in almost any format from the Archive is very easy.Db also has a multi encoder allowing one to create more than one copy of a CD at the same time, in multiple formats. Great for me as I have two external drives.

Cheers Craig

 

[Anonymous]

^^ + 1 for Dbpoweramp - for all the reasons above as well as its configurability, especially for metatags art work, and great support network from users and its author. It uses Accurip, which helps you be confident you've got a good rip (handy when using a slightly scratched disc) and also makes use of multiple CPU cores for very fast processing / converting. My collection is ripped into FLAC both for archiving and playing with a SB Touch.

 

[h4rdy]

Yep dBpoweramp is pretty good.

 

[Lee H]

+1 for dbPoweramp. As to what format is best, it largely depends on your usage. I ripped all my tracks to FLAC for my Sonos, and then created ALAC versions for my iPhone. If you live entirely in an Apple shaped world, ALAC may be the best option for you, if not, you can stick with FLAC.

I could transcode on the fly from FLAC to my iPhone using AAC but it was a long process and I finally caved, bought another hard drive and created an ALAC iTunes library purely for ease. Storage is cheap, so you might want to consider using both. MediaMonkey is a good piece of software for managing your library.

 

[Fisherking 145]

Another one for dBpoweramp here, and as stated above, it's so easy to convert to another format if you need to.

Well worth the money.

 

[Alec]

Poweramp for me too. It can even rip to MP3 at the same time as ripping to a lossless format if you want it to.

 

[Anonymous]

I use dbpoweramp too (and I'm a sonos user).

When I got it I downloaded it free of charge on trial for 30 days I think.

During that time I ripped my entire CD collection, but bought it anyway at the end of the trial period

Does what it says on the tin. Rips to a variety of formats and does it well.

I had a few tracks on some CD's that wouldnt rip but by and large 98% of them were ripped with no problems.

 

[kinda]

Not sure how it stacks up against dbPowerAmp, but if you want a free solution, I use Exact Audio copy to rip to FLAC.

I use Foobar 2000 afterwards if I want to equalise ReplayGain, or convert to MP3 for my iPod.

All lossless formats should be the same, and they'll all be pretty good, but I prefer FLAC as it's amore open format.

 

[Crossie]

Me too for dBPoweramp, does all that I want and more, excellent metadata and artwork.

 

[AndrewH13]

I rip CDs using dBPA to ALAC for ipod/iTunes but then use it to convert from ALAC to FLAC for playing from NAS to Sonos system/Rega DAC. Is this giving same quality as if I had converted to FLAC initially?