Just wanted to get this forum's intellectual capital to confirm that my strategy for ripping/compressing and storing my 300 cd's and using iPod is well-founded: 1) Use EAC to "copy image and cue sheets" to wav files. Reason: best ripper out there, and it sets up my iTunes step with correct tags, etc. 2) Use iTunes to convert to 224 AAC (uses Dameon tools to mount wav/cue to virtual drive) Reason: simple, effective, iPod-friendly, and decent sound/storage tradeoffs. 3) Convert all the wav files on HD to Flac, using flac front-end, and store in separate folder, ultimately moving this folder offline to external 120-240 gig HD. Reason: 40% savings in storage with lossless compression. Don't want to just delete source files after AAC conversion because, worst case, re-ripping can be a long arduous process if some the cd's are less than perfect. Issues: Don't know where to store cue files. Don't know if Flac decode/encode adds risk. Don't know if just buying bigger external HD and leaving in wav is better alternative (i.e simplify). BTW, so far the FLAC encoding is going flawlessly, but have no experience in the decode process. Thanks for any input. Ted_B
Instead of using Daemon tools you could do this: Let EAC call MAREO as external encoder. -> Let MAREO call flac.exe AND and your AAC encoder of choice, e.g. Quicktime or Nero (if you prefer VBR). This way you'll get both, flac and aac files at once. Only thing left is changing the AAC files to be iTunes compatible (Wasn't simple renaming enough?) All software you need you'll find at http://rarewares.hyrdrogenaudio.org. This has been discussed at hydrogenaudio a few times, you might want to do some research on the forums there, e.g. about details like tagging.
