Understanding Audio Quality and Rip/Burn Options

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rehoman - 30 Aug 2006 18:29 GMT

Hello. I'm fairly new to this and not sure if I understand audio quality
issues and factors.

I own many store bought audio CDs which I occasionally duplicate for my
personal use (in my car). It seems to me I have two options.

Option 1: I can rip it to my hard drive, and then it becomes an MP3 or maybe
a WMA Lossless file, depending on my choice. Then, I can burn it onto a
CD-R. When I burn it, my PC converts it back to an Audio File, and I assume
that the conversion causes some degree of loss of quality.

Option 2: I have 2 CD drives on my PC. I can copy directly from my store
bought CD to a blank CD-R (using Roxio), thus avoiding any type of audio
conversion to MP3 or WMA. If I understand this properly, my audio file stays
an audio file, and I am thinking there is virtually no loss in quality.

Do I understand this properly? Is Option 2 clearly the better choice when I
am simply copying my storebought CDs, and don't desire to modify the
playlist? THanks.

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rehoman - 30 Aug 2006 18:50 GMT

Oh no! should I have posted this under "Windows Media Player". Is there a
way to move it?

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> Hello. I'm fairly new to this and not sure if I understand audio quality
> issues and factors.
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> am simply copying my storebought CDs, and don't desire to modify the
> playlist? THanks.

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Mike Williams - 30 Aug 2006 21:33 GMT

If you rip to a lossless format, then you should not see any loss in quality
when using it as an intermediate step. The problem you *will* notice if you
burn with WMP is that a 2 second gap will be inserted between all tracks,
and that won't be rectified until some time after Vista ships. Other burning
programs usually don't have that problem.

If you want to archive your store-bought CDs then a lossless format is an
excellent choice.

> Hello. I'm fairly new to this and not sure if I understand audio quality
> issues and factors.
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> am simply copying my storebought CDs, and don't desire to modify the
> playlist? THanks.

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rehoman - 30 Aug 2006 21:42 GMT

Thanks Mike. If I copy from one CD drive to another CD drive, is there any
type of conversion at all? If so, is it considered "lossless"?
-Richard

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Determined to learn.

> If you rip to a lossless format, then you should not see any loss in quality
> when using it as an intermediate step. The problem you *will* notice if you
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
> > am simply copying my storebought CDs, and don't desire to modify the
> > playlist? THanks.

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Mike Williams - 30 Aug 2006 22:37 GMT

I assume that programs that do direct CD to CD are making a perfect image
copy and would thus be lossless.

> Thanks Mike. If I copy from one CD drive to another CD drive, is there
> any
[quoted text clipped - 41 lines]
>> > am simply copying my storebought CDs, and don't desire to modify the
>> > playlist? THanks.

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