The Great Rip Off!

I can hear the difference, but I also know what to listen for. Most people probably wouldn't be able to tell so for those people .mp3 is perfectly acceptable.

But if I was going to archive a collection of anything before selling it (DVDs, CDs whatever) I would want the highest quality possible, since .flac gives you identical quality to the original it would seem like a no brainer.

But I know I'm the only person on this board that gives a shit about this, so I'll stop wasting my time and your time.

Yay we can say shit now!

SpectreFate wrote:

Yay we can say shit now!

yes, our collective IQ just dipped even lower.

I can hear a slight difference when running my iPod through the Bose system in my car. But I just figure that this is going to be the music collection I keep for the rest of my life. And, I would like to maybe do some DJ'ing at "shit" bars and pubs around this country or the next. So, the addl' memory used is worth it in my pea-brian [I mean pea-"brain"].

SpectreFate wrote:

S.D. wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

I have 115,207 songs, at 501GB. Goooooooooooooooo 128kbps!

Congratulations, you win the "quantity over quality" award for the week. If you can't hear the difference in a 128kbps audio file then you either need to buy a new stereo or need to get your hearing checked.

128 is a low bitrate, but you can't tell me (although you probably will) that there is much difference between a 320kbps MP3 and a FLAC file. At that point you're just being particular.

I never said I couldn't hear the difference; I said the difference is so minimal it doesn't justify the space.

S.D. wrote:

I can hear the difference, but I also know what to listen for. Most people probably wouldn't be able to tell so for those people .mp3 is perfectly acceptable.

Nah, you're not an elitist.

Eyesore wrote:

S.D. wrote:

I can hear the difference, but I also know what to listen for. Most people probably wouldn't be able to tell so for those people .mp3 is perfectly acceptable.

Nah, you're not an elitist.

Fine, I'm elitist and you're an asshole.

S.D. wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

S.D. wrote:

I can hear the difference, but I also know what to listen for. Most people probably wouldn't be able to tell so for those people .mp3 is perfectly acceptable.

Nah, you're not an elitist.

Fine, I'm elitist and you're an asshole.

No, I'm not. But you are an elitist. =)

Oh, c'mon. Stop the bickering. No need for the name calling. You just have to agree to disagree.

It's not like there's an absolute on how you decide to store your files. It's an individual choice.

That said, I have no doubt that Shawn can hear the difference between 320 and flac. That has nothing to do with being elitist, it's his profession, for crying out loud.

I rip all my CDs to my computer and have done so ever since I got one. When my CD collection got to 300 I realized it was hard to keep track of everything but a guy on the USS JFK had a computer and I discovered Windows Media Player. After my deployment I bought my first PC and started ripping and have done it ever since. Luckily I started doing that before my collection started ballooning up. I have sold some CDs in the past but I just can't bring myself to get rid of most of them. I've worked too hard to get my collection and I won't sacrifice it for just for money (though, for my credit card debt sake I should, but I'm pretty damn stubborn and won't budge on this). Yes, my collection just sits in boxes in storage, but it is my goal to one day have a place to display them. One of the only real pleasures in life is CD hunting. One day it might change but until then, those that sell off their collection will just be a new source of CD shopping for me.

You guys all make me feel like a total idiot.


I have no idea what you're all saying with the bit rates,flac etc. I must be totally illiterate when it comes to computer talk. All I know is I have loaded my cds into the computer (thru itunes) and have transferred said files onto my external hard drive. It works for me.

kmorg wrote:

Oh, c'mon. Stop the bickering. No need for the name calling. You just have to agree to disagree.

It's not like there's an absolute on how you decide to store your files. It's an individual choice.

That said, I have no doubt that Shawn can hear the difference between 320 and flac. That has nothing to do with being elitist, it's his profession, for crying out loud.

That's not why I think he has an elitist attitude. I've admitted that there is a difference.

007 wrote:

You guys all make me feel like a total idiot.


I have no idea what you're all saying with the bit rates,flac etc. I must be totally illiterate when it comes to computer talk. All I know is I have loaded my cds into the computer (thru itunes) and have transferred said files onto my external hard drive. It works for me.

heck - i know what they are talking about but for me its just about being able to listen to music on demand - that is my point for starting the thread. I personally can hear some difference in music that is lossless vs. encoded but its a very small difference to my ears. I do understand that if i listened to it for a profession the difference would probably drive me nuts.

I can't hear the difference. Maybe i'm just deaf. Pretty convinient if so as it saves me a ton of space on my iPod

snooloui wrote:

I can't hear the difference. Maybe i'm just deaf. Pretty convinient if so as it saves me a ton of space on my iPod

i think that is where the rubber meets the road - I am listening to the music on decent headphones and on my computer. Its not a Bose system.

007 wrote:

You guys all make me feel like a total idiot.


I have no idea what you're all saying with the bit rates,flac etc. I must be totally illiterate when it comes to computer talk. All I know is I have loaded my cds into the computer (thru itunes) and have transferred said files onto my external hard drive. It works for me.

You're not alone. That language makes no sense to me. I just put the disc in my computer, go to the rip tag on Windows Media Player, and select rip CD. Anything beyond that...

exact33 wrote:

Its not a Bose system.

Did I just get "ripped"????

Just kidding A. But, I will say this: When I was, ummm, unavailable to make decisions for myself, let's say....I listened to everything on headphones. Listening to headphones changed everything I had ever known about music. I heard songs that I had heard LITERALLY 200-300 times, and I heard stuff on headphones that I never knew were in those songs. I don't know how this has any bearing on this convo. I just wanted to throw it out there.

UNCLE SAXON'S KICKASS CDS wrote:

exact33 wrote:

Its not a Bose system.

Did I just get "ripped"????

not intentionally. Did I miss something?

UNCLE SAXON'S KICKASS CDS wrote:

I can hear a slight difference when running my iPod through the Bose system in my car. But I just figure that this is going to be the music collection I keep for the rest of my life. And, I would like to maybe do some DJ'ing at "shit" bars and pubs around this country or the next. So, the addl' memory used is worth it in my pea-brian [I mean pea-"brain"].

I guess.

UNCLE SAXON'S KICKASS CDS wrote:

UNCLE SAXON'S KICKASS CDS wrote:

I can hear a slight difference when running my iPod through the Bose system in my car. But I just figure that this is going to be the music collection I keep for the rest of my life. And, I would like to maybe do some DJ'ing at "shit" bars and pubs around this country or the next. So, the addl' memory used is worth it in my pea-brian [I mean pea-"brain"].

I guess.

oops. i didnt even read that into my post.

I have 1000 albums on my external hard drive. They are all lossless files. As soon as I get a new cd, I rip it and drop it on the external hard drive. I do keep all my physical media though. I have considered ditching all my jewel cases and using these:




That should save a ton of space and make moving easier.

Witchfinder wrote:

I have 1000 albums on my external hard drive. They are all lossless files. As soon as I get a new cd, I rip it and drop it on the external hard drive. I do keep all my physical media though. I have considered ditching all my jewel cases and using these:




That should save a ton of space and make moving easier.

nice. I might have to look into this more. Sorry DB - i tihnk i may just keep my cds.

Witchfinder wrote:

I have 1000 albums on my external hard drive. They are all lossless files. As soon as I get a new cd, I rip it and drop it on the external hard drive. I do keep all my physical media though. I have considered ditching all my jewel cases and using these:




That should save a ton of space and make moving easier.

Screw that. What do you do with singles and digipacks and box sets? No thank you! My OCD can't handle that shit. Haha.

Don't understand the debate about mp3 vs lossless really. When you are ripping a CD go to rip settings and play around with the formats ripping the same CD in the different formats until you find the right balance of space saving/audio quality, you will very quickly become aware of the difference. Once you have found one that suits your needs, it's all good. If you are heavily into classical music or even Jazz or Prog then you really need more quality due to the complexity of the music.

I like Windows Media Audio lossless, anything less sounds a bit rubbish through my stereo (which is Bose )