ITunes and Foobar 2k

[tympathique]

I run Itunes since they grab musicmatch. I think Musicmatch was more fun to work with, album, artist music type classification. I may not use Itunes properly, but I think I tried it well anough.

Anayway I'm stuck with Itunes, maby not!

 

Can I work with Itunes and Foobar side by side? I never used Foobar but I red many good things about it, I can't wait no more, realy not a fan of Itunes to manage music libraries. Is the Foobar file management better?

 

PS: Just ordered a PS Audio Link III DAC today, want to be ready to ear rip wav files from EAC and AIF files from Itunes as well.

 

thanks

jacques

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Jacques - Give MediaMonkey a try. It's my new favorite on Windows based computers.

 

[tympathique]

Hi Chris

Yes you'r right, MediaMonkey gives all I want editing tags and other tasks. But!

 

Just spent two days trying to extract (rip) exact coppy from CDs without Itunes. I mean when I do it from Itunes, the AIF file sizes are the same as the CD, between 30 and 100 Mb. I'm not able to reproduce WMA or any other window files of this size, using exactAudio Copy or MediaMonkey. The resulted files are always 10 times smaller. "compresed files"!!. I won't be satisfied until I find out the way to do it without compression, studio master files WMA.

Some help needed here.

 

thanks

jacques

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi jacques - I'm not totally sure I am following you on this one. The only two popular uncompressed formats are WAV and AIFF. All other file sizes will be smaller.

 

[tympathique]

I Chris

Don't worry about me to be folowed, writing in english can be tricky. Sometimes I get ideas lost in the translation from french. But, to refer at the WMF formats, I was refering to LINN records definition of their downloads quality.

 

Here's an extract of the studio master WMF definition from Linn Records.

 

quote

"Studio Master WMA

If absolute sound quality is what you want then this file is best for you.

 

WMA files are lossless at various high bit rates for example, 48KHz, 88.2KHz and 96KHz (check each title for actual details). This download is offered for those who desire the best sound possible. The quality is identical to that of an SACD (stereo only). The format will be dependent on the actual recording method we used originally. No DSD files are offered as it is not possible to play them back on a PC so an equivalent PCM format is offered. These files offer true "studio quality" and are what was used by Linn to produce the production version of our CD releases. Be sure to check compatibility with your computer sound card etc before you download a file and note that large amounts of storage space are required for each track.

 

Information for PC Users.

WMA lossless files can be imported and used directly in most PC audio programs including Windows Media Player and iTunes. iTunes will convert the files to AIFF.

 

Information for Mac Users.

WMA lossless files cannot be imported into iTunes nor have we found a way to convert them to play in other programs. Please do let us know if you find a way around this. "

end of quote

 

I think I may have a technical problem with exact audio copy software in the WAV uncompress format ripping procedure? I'll work on it.

best regards

jacques

 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi jacques - How is it going on this project?

 

Are you trying to rip WAV or WMA files?

 

[tympathique]

Hi Chris,

I'm glad you asked.

 

I'v been trying several things this weekend. While waiting for my new DAC to arrive next week (PS Audio DLIII mod.4 from Cullen circuits), I am setting up my computer to be ready.

 

Again I tested exact audio copy, Itunes and Media Monkey. I'v pluged analog RCA cables from the sound card to my preamp. This would be the lowest quality expected. The best from that setting will be the reference for starting the real thing.

 

I'v been very pleased with MediaMonkey for their tagging tools, very effective. But I have encounter big problems while playing ripped EAC WAV files and Itunes AIF files. A lots of noisy background at medium to high volume. I really would like to resolve this problem because I like MediaMonkey. It may just be a mediamonkey settings or some uncompatibility??. By the way, I'm not able yet to rip WMA files.

 

Thus the same WAV and AIF files sounds good with window media player and Itunes, no noise at all. Otherwise, this is good news for the futur real setup, SPDIF digital connection + DAC .

 

I'm also worry about these softwares to be able to play some new Linn donwloads like this Artur Pizarro

"The Complete Works of Ravel Vol. 2WMA 24bit 88.2kHz 1,238.1MB" huge file don't you think!! My M.Audio card 24/96 and DAC 24/192 should do the job, I hope! What are the rate limitations of MediaMonkey and Itunes?

 

best regards and

thanks again for asking

jacques