Windows Media Question

[krazy_olie]

Hi I have started reripping a lot of my music with Windows media player to Windows Media lossless. I am aware of the pitfall of lack of compatibility of this format but seeing as it just "works", tags it, does error correction (though seemingly no report) and arranges it straight away I just find it very conveniant. Though if I am missing some important detail let me know!

What I am interested in is if I burn a ripped album with Windows Media Player's burner should I expect an accurate reproduction of the cd? Logicially I can't see why not but maybe I am ignorant.

Thanks in advance, Oliver

 

[krazy_olie]

In case anyone is searching I managed to get round to actually trying this.

The only way I could check bit accurate transfer was to use an hdcd. The burned copy of lateralus shows up as HDCD (in both windows meida player and foobar), had it been altered in anyway the HDCD coding would not have worked.

Now I'm confused as to how different cds can have different sounds...

I used an old jvc cdr audio I had lying around (probably 5+ years old)

 

[steve_1979]

What I am interested in is if I burn a ripped album with Windows Media Player's burner should I expect an accurate reproduction of the cd? Logicially I can't see why not but maybe I am ignorant.

I've burned CD's from WMA lossless files and it sounds identical to the the original CD to my ears. I don't know if it would be an exact 'bit perfect' copy of the original though.

You can setup Windows Media Player to double check each bit of information to make sure you have the best possible copy when ripping though. If you right click on the icon at the top right then select 'More Options' then open the devices tab and click on 'Properties' for your DVD RW. You can then check the option for 'Use error correction'.

When using error correction it does take a bit longer to rip music and sometimes if your ripping a badly scratched CD it can take ages.

 

[krazy_olie]

What I am interested in is if I burn a ripped album with Windows Media Player's burner should I expect an accurate reproduction of the cd? Logicially I can't see why not but maybe I am ignorant.

I've burned CD's from WMA lossless files and it sounds identical to the the original CD to my ears. I don't know if it would be an exact 'bit perfect' copy of the original though.

You can setup Windows Media Player to double check each bit of information to make sure you have the best possible copy when ripping though. If you right click on the icon at the top right then select 'More Options' then open the devices tab and click on 'Properties' for your DVD RW. You can then check the option for 'Use error correction'.

When using error correction it does take a bit longer to rip music and sometimes if your ripping a badly scratched CD it can take ages.

The error correction is the reason I have done it 🙂. It seems to take ages for me, maybe 2x or 3x speeds but I've put in cds which can skip quite badly on players and it's repaired the playback. I think effectively because it does the error correction offline so it is much more powerful than most cd players which has to do it on the fly which might not work so great.

I know there are other programs that can do this but it's extremely easy and goes straight in to my library acting as a source and a backup. I'm not sure how good the WMP burner is, it has certainly kept the audio pcm stream in tact,otherwise hdcd would not work, but in terms of it's quality for on disc bit errors I wouldn't know how to measure it. Beats the scratched cd certainly.

 

[steve_1979]

You could alway try a program called Exact Audio Copy. It's a great ripping program for OCD people because it tells you if it's been able to make a 100% bit perfect copy. It works too, I tried it with a scratched CD which it double checked loads of times and finally came back with a report saying it was only possible to make a 99.8% perfect copy.

The only problem with EAC is that it's a bit fiddely and will only rip to WAV files. This means that you will then need to use another program to convert the WAV files into whatever codec you want to use.

I expect that in reality WMP or iTunes will probably do just as good a job at ripping as EAC does. But just for peace of minds sake it would be nice if WMP let you know whether or not it had managed to make a bit perfect copy like EAC does.

 

[Anonymous]

The only problem with EAC is that it's a bit fiddely and will only rip to WAV files. This means that you will then need to use another program to convert the WAV files into whatever codec you want to use.

Not true Steve. There are other options, and you can select an external codec in the relevant tab. So once it's setup you only have to use EAC.

I personally use dbpoweramp, as it's quicker, then EAC if a disk is damaged.

Both use Accuraterip, which is a great way to tell if your rip is bit-perfect by comparing with other rips in the database.

 

[krazy_olie]

Hmm, I am tempted to try EAC I downloaded it but it looked like a pain to set up, wheras WMP just "works". When I backup to data dvds I can just plonk it on the burn page.
Still thinking abot it makes me realise how dated a cd is when you think about it. If we had our music on dvds as data files for example there'd be much less issue.

Still if WMP was able to rip and succesfully burn a scratched hdcd (and still recognised as hdcd) it must be doing something decent.

 

[krazy_olie]

P.s some more investigation. I put in a very scratched cd and wma wouldn't rip 1 track even with error correction , it tried for about 10 minutes then just said error.

I ripped a track off the hdcd that I had burned and other than what I can only describe as a slight time offset the waveforms looked pretty identical to my original rip, which according to foobar comes back as bit identical.

I just burned a copy of a disc with foobar and WMP even recognised what disc it was, though it couldn't decide whether it was ripped to library or not.

CDR sounds fine to me 🙂. I don't understand why there are people that think that certain brands of cdrs can sound "bright" or "flat" sure, cheap brands will have more errors but the computer scientist in me says that that will manifest in random effects rather than "less bass".

 

[8009514]

What I am interested in is if I burn a ripped album with Windows Media Player's burner should I expect an accurate reproduction of the cd? Logicially I can't see why not but maybe I am ignorant.

I've burned CD's from WMA lossless files and it sounds identical to the the original CD to my ears. I don't know if it would be an exact 'bit perfect' copy of the original though.

You can setup Windows Media Player to double check each bit of information to make sure you have the best possible copy when ripping though. If you right click on the icon at the top right then select 'More Options' then open the devices tab and click on 'Properties' for your DVD RW. You can then check the option for 'Use error correction'.

When using error correction it does take a bit longer to rip music and sometimes if your ripping a badly scratched CD it can take ages.

Many thanks for that tip Steve. I've always used WMP for my ripping/burning and have never found the 'error correction' options till now. Got ripping and burning boxes ticked now. :cheer:

Rich

 

[manicm]

Look, I have Windows 7 and agree with Steve1979 - if you're using a Windows PC for storage/playback there's absolutely no reason to use anything else than WMP - Windows Lossless sounds fab.

If that's what you have why go through the torture of using/setting up anything else? Well, ok, AIFF on iTunes sounds good as well.