Bizargh
07-11-2015, 07:42 PM
Back again with another little query of my own.

Firstly, a special thanks again to those whom provided advice & clarification in my previous query (http://forums.ffshrine.org/f7/how-losslessly-rip-cd-190099/http://). Not only did it help me rip Guild Wars 2: Original Game Soundtrack 4-Disc set successfully, but now I'm pretty much on a "Grab-every-CD-release-of-MP3-music-I-own" spree to keep my beloved soundtracks ever more future-proof & flexible-for-personal-audio/video-editing (Especially the ones no longer in print or sold).

But whilst I've successfully followed the Updated Guide for Setting Up & Ripping FLAC in EAC. (http://forums.ffshrine.org/f63/updated-guide-setting-up-ripping-flac-eac-91868) to ripping any CDs I possess in both FLAC & WAV, I've personally found that just ripping in WAV with EAC, manually inputting the tags/metadata with dBpoweramp ID-Tag, then using dBpoweramp to convert the WAVs into FLAC (Lossless Uncompressed) & MP3 (320 CBR) and edit the M3U files to playback the new formats has become my most convenient routine (And seemingly the most rewarding in terms of maintaining peak quality for each format). It's certainly more convenient for myself as someone more keen for WAV and saves storage & time significantly knowing I can produce an alternate format in a couple of clicks without needing to store them or repeat the ripping & tagging process.

Maybe I've already answered my own question, but it's just nice to have that "Glad it's not just me thinking that" assurance: If using the method as previously stated, are there any missing "luxuries", details or functions compared to ripping directly to FLAC with EAC that I'm not aware of?

tehƧP@ƦKly�ANK� -Ⅲ�
07-11-2015, 11:11 PM
Sounds like you're doing things wrong.

It should make no difference if you're ripping from CD to FLAC than it is ripping CD to WAV.
They're all lossless.

What changes is what you do for ripping CD to FLAC.
And also what you do ripping CD to WAV then to FLAC.

FLAC (Lossless Uncompressed) is stupid.
It's a lossless compression format. It doesn't matter if you compression level 0 or 8 (maximum).
You're pyschologically deluding yourself into garbage theories.

FLAC is a lossless compression format. If anything sounds different, your settings are wrong and affecting the compression.

You can easily (and safely) transcode FLAC to ALAC without consequence.
If your settings are kept safe to retain data. If you use different settings that will alter the data, you're doing it wrong and abusing the very nature of lossless compression that so many software developers set out to achieve in the first place when they created these formats.
FLAC and ALAC are lossles. Just do a simple transcode without anything extra like normalization.

You're making it far more complicated than you need to. ;)

Bizargh
07-12-2015, 12:17 AM
Sounds like you're doing things wrong.

It should make no difference if you're ripping from CD to FLAC than it is ripping CD to WAV.
They're all lossless.

What changes is what you do for ripping CD to FLAC.
And also what you do ripping CD to WAV then to FLAC.

You're making it far more complicated than you need to. ;)

Maybe I explained myself poorly (A rather common habit of mine), so I'll try to sum it up much more simply.

If I decide to just rip my CD into WAV via EAC (Which abides the instructions with the exception of "Test & Copy Selected Tracks > Uncompressed"), then use dBpoweramp to create FLAC conversions from them (Regardless of level), does it make any difference than ripping the CD in WAV in EAC, then repeating the rip in FLAC? Namely rip data, log consistency, etc. Music quality is right as rain as far as I'm concerned.

I only ask because if I wish to share a rip I do, I want to make sure nothing's falling short anywhere whilst keeping things as simple as possible. Otherwise, I'd just be ripping in WAV & be done with it. Because you're right; I am making this more complicated than it needs to be, and I just need another voice to tell me this simplistic method I've worked out is as suitable a one as I personally think it is.

tehƧP@ƦKly�ANK� -Ⅲ�
07-12-2015, 01:29 AM
If you're only asking only about tagging and logs (nothing about lossless quality), then sure, any way that suites you best.

If you're using the automatic tagging system from EAC, you can easily change things manually.
If you convert to WAV then edit as you please, just inform users that the log pertains to the original WAV files.

There was a lot of non-paragraphed things going on in the previous post.

I tend to just manually edit all the tags myself in EAC before ripping.
Takes me about 5-15 minutes, depending how complex the album is for tracks. Albums by cover artists like The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra Thingy tend to condense several cues/tracks into a single suite/track.

I don't trust databases because anyone can submit an entry that's not to your liking.

Bizargh
07-12-2015, 01:53 AM
If you're only asking only about tagging and logs (nothing about lossless quality), then sure, any way that suits you best.

If you're using the automatic tagging system from EAC, you can easily change things manually.
If you convert to WAV then edit as you please, just inform users that the log pertains to the original WAV files.

There was a lot of non-paragraphed things going on in the previous post.

I tend to just manually edit all the tags myself in EAC before ripping.
Takes me about 5-15 minutes, depending how complex the album is for tracks. Albums by cover artists like The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra Thingy tend to condense several cues/tracks into a single suite/track.

I don't trust databases because anyone can submit an entry that's not to your liking.

Good to know. Thanks very much for your time & help!