Calling all audiophiles

[JimmyCracksCorn]

If you rip things properly, you don't have to lose any quality.

[SlowwHand]

I convert to 192. CD is 224 equivalent, but on a pc you would have very good sound card, and likely couln't tell anyway. 7-1 compression ratio, 13%.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
I understand about the space-management issues, and have certainly considered ditching some of my less illustrious CD's, but I'm surprised how few people seem to care about fidelity.

Compressed audio simply isn't all there. I keep wanting to turn it up hoping that it'll sound right but it won't.

Ditch the stereo, people say? Ouch!

Okay, so let's say I compromise. I rip the 200 or so cds that I alone ever listen to, and move them to an iPod. That leaves me with 300 "family" cds. Are there small stereos these days that put out great sound? (Sorry for being so ignorant, but remember that my current cd player is older than some posters here.)

[SlowwHand]

The old brands are still good. Harmon Kharden, for instance.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
1) Am I right in assuming that, in mp3 format, the conversion is something like 1 minute of music = 1 mb? So 500 cds, containing probably 50 minutes of music each (on average), would take up approximately 25 gigs?

You can also rip them into a lossless format (e.g FLAC, Monkey). These are more similar to regular compression algorithms (e.g. 7zip) than mp3. You don't get such a good compression ratio, but you don't lose anything.

You can then put your CDs in "cold" storage.

BTW I would recommend ogg vorbis over mp3 for lossy compressions.

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
2) Ditch the stereo...and buy what? I probably should have mentioned that we mostly listen to music in our living room, while the computer is in the study (and moving a computer to the living room would be verboten). Plus, we entertain, sometimes professionally (the whole diplomat thing) so whatever is playing music has to be attractive, or at least unobtrusive. Are there such options?

Another stereo? An entire miniature set together with a whole bunch of speakers aren't expensive these days. A lot of them have amps that accept external inputs as well, so you can pipe singal from your computer.

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
3) The wife is not terribly techno-savvy, and I suspect would resist having her favorites in the CD collection converted to mp3s. She understands cd players, and they're good enough for her. Is there some kind of hybrid cd+mp3 thing out there? Aside from a pc, that is?

Probably.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Richelieu
Just imagine what your life would have been like in the 70's.

For me there is no need to imagine, just remember.

[Sikander]

If you have an old stereo system that you'd like I wouldn't get rid of in entirely, just put in storage while you have limited space. The reason is that you'll likely never get the same sound out of modern products. That said new stereo stuff is a lot cheaper because the most expensive component - speakers are much cheaper / better in the high and mid ranges than in the past. I still have trouble getting the high end of the bass from my subwoofer to sound as good as it did on my old 1970's system, but everything else is equal or superior and much cheaper.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
Interesting input. Now, a couple more questions:

1) Am I right in assuming that, in mp3 format, the conversion is something like 1 minute of music = 1 mb? So 500 cds, containing probably 50 minutes of music each (on average), would take up approximately 25 gigs?

Don't use mp3. Use AAC or WMA or some other format with better quality.

2) Ditch the stereo...and buy what? I probably should have mentioned that we mostly listen to music in our living room, while the computer is in the study (and moving a computer to the living room would be verboten). Plus, we entertain, sometimes professionally (the whole diplomat thing) so whatever is playing music has to be attractive, or at least unobtrusive. Are there such options?

No need to ditch the stereo. If you use iTunes, you can purchase an Airport Express which will wirelessly stream your music to the line in on your amplifier. You can purchase multiple units if you want and have them all through your house. They are both Mac and Windows compatible.

3) The wife is not terribly techno-savvy, and I suspect would resist having her favorites in the CD collection converted to mp3s. She understands cd players, and they're good enough for her. Is there some kind of hybrid cd+mp3 thing out there? Aside from a pc, that is?

Playing them as mp3s is a lot easier than using a CD player. Your wife will have the hang of it in about 2 minutes.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Agathon

No need to ditch the stereo. If you use iTunes, you can purchase an Airport Express which will wirelessly stream your music to the line in on your amplifier. You can purchase multiple units if you want and have them all through your house. They are both Mac and Windows compatible.

Oops, rereading this it seems you must be talking about a broadband type product rather than the local FM thing that my neice uses on her Ipod. Feel free to ignore the original message below.

(The only problem with this is that you'll lose more fidelity than you will with compression. The quality is the same as FM radio broadcast quality. This is fine for headphones or the car, but if you have a nice stereo you'll notice the difference between this and a WAV file for sure.)

[Cort Haus]

It's worth considering that hard drives will eventually die, and putting an entire collection onto one without 'hardcopy' or backups could end in tears. It can also be stolen easier than a collection.

Then there is the physical, sentimental attributes of an original copy. Once upon a time a book was respected as a thing. I know that many audio buffs still respect a vinyl as a thing. I woud hate to no longer own the originals of favourite albums.

[Fake Boris]

You can store about 15 lossless CDs (Ogg or WMA) on a single face DVD...

[SlowwHand]

WMA is crap. Windows media as a general statement, is crap.

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
WMA is crap. Windows media as a general statement, is crap.

Could you explain the technical deficiencies of the WMA format, please? I don't use WMA much, but I wasn't aware of this.

[SlowwHand]

As a player for pc, it's my opinion that Winamp (free) is by far the best.

[Zoid]

Originally posted by DanS
Regarding #1, that sounds about right for a 128k bitrate MP3 file. I suggest you go uncompressed WAV, however. You will miss some of the sound if you go with compressed MP3. A compromise between the two would be a 256k bitrate MP3 or whatever.

128k bitrate is more than ok. You don´t hear the difference unless you play it at a very expensive system. I ditched my CD´s about a year and half back. And I´ve never looked back. Just to see if there was a difference in sound quality I took my "Dark side of the moon" CD as well as a CD with just test sounds to a reputable HiFi dealer. I also brought a 128k rip of both CDs on a burnt CD. I asked if I could compare the two versions on his most High End system. He agreed and I did the comparison on a $100,000 system

It was some difference, but not as much as I had expected. The compressed version was a bit flat, lacking dynamics and athmosphere. It also had a hardness in the sibilants (s-sounds and such). But considering that mp3´s are played on machines that doesn´t even cost as much as a High End connector cable I´d say the loss in sound quality is negliable.