CD ripping - audio quality

[cageyJG]

Hi,When I use Windows Media Player to rip CDs, two of the four options are for 57 MB and 86 MB rips. I am not a big audiophile, that is, I have a Bose in my living room and 10 yr old computer speakers in my office, factory sound in my car, no 'Gucci---' cables. Does the file size really make that big a difference in what we hear?

[Ferrariman]

I have found that most music gets ripped at an average of 128kps (kilobytes per second) You can find some music recorded at a higher rate. (320kps is good) But I haven't found a program yet that rips at that speed. I'm sure they exist, I just don't have or know of any. I, like you, don't have mega buck equipment and it sounds fine to me. I can say though that anything less than 128kps does sound like crap.

[Philippe]

Does the file size really make that big a difference in what we hear?

Yes it does! I agree with Ferrariman if you go for mp3's but if you want the same quality as on the cd you should go for WAV especially if you copy to burn on another cd.Secondly it also depends on the music your ripping, I can tell you that if it's a orchestral score - like movie soundtracks and classical music, it's really advised to get the highest possible quality.If it's radio tunes then it doesn't matter as much as they are already compressed for radio playoff.Oh and by the way, your Bose has a 'sound' on it's own - it's internally equalized to give you 'that Bose' sound.

[cageyJG]

Thanks guys. I have been spending a lot of off time in the used CD stores lately, good times.

[Crockettt]

320 kbps ensure the highest quality, but if you are not a big audiophile you can also rip CDs in 192 kbps. It's really good too and the rips are smaller than 320. Personally I'm using EAC, but I recommend CDex to rip CDs. It's pretty easy audio ripper which has user-friendly interface.