music formats HELP!!

[bluishbob]

Hi all,

Just a thought, if i download music off itunes for instance, and put it on a cd will it be a inferior sound quality to that of a commercial cd. If so, is there a great difference. As i dont want to go and but a load of albums when i can buy the single tracks i need off of itunes.

Also, can i change the format of a downloaded track to be a better quality.
As i know mp3 files have a relatively bad sound quality compared to commercial cds because mp3 are compressed....... (:) i just had a science lesson on it)

[Corabar Steve]

I've never notices a discernable difference between anything burned from iTunes compared to a shop bought CD, but then I am usually behind the speakers.

That said there must be some drop in quality as it is not at such a high bit rate

[Vectis]

192K CBR (constant bit rate) is the absolute lowest you should go (kinda equates to about 170K VBR (variable bit rate) to my ears.

Ideally any downloaded stuff should be a minimum 256K or if you're looking for as near as perfect as you can get then 320K.

I tend to rely on downloads for plugging gaps in the older material to be honest. Anything new and it's CD time. I rip to mp3 at 320K and can't tell the difference between it and the original.

[bluishbob]

what do you use to rip cds where you can select the bit rate? Sorry if thats a silly question.....you can put a mixer in front of me an im happy but i dont understend computers very well

[Jiggles]

well what i use to rip my cds is windows media player. all you need to do is go to options and rip music (I think :D) and have a fiddle in there :lol:

[Thames Valley Discos]

try audio grabber, get the lame plugin to allow 320kb bit rate ripping.
then get mixmeister bpm analyzer. both free and easy to use

this may be worth a look
http://fliptech.net/bitrate.shtml