New Project

After purchasing a new receiver and speakers, I've realized that my mp3s encoded at 128 kb/s are the weak link in my music reproduction system. About a year ago, I ripped my collection of 250 CDs to mp3s. Now I use this Creative device, connected with an optical audio cable, to stream mp3s over my wireless network to my stereo system.

After some research, I've learned that I can rip my CDs to wma lossless using Windows Media Player. This will provide me with a mathematically lossless storage of my CDs onto my hard drive with a 2:1 - 3:1 compression ratio. Thus, the average CD will require about 300 MB of storage. The upside is that I can then use any number of available programs to convert this format to a lossy format (mp3, wma lossy, ogg, etc.) suitable for portable devices. The wma lossless files will also allow me to burn audio CDs. The best part is that my Creative device allows for the playback of wma files. Thus, playback of music through this wirelss device will not suffer from any degradation. Not that I could tell anyway, but at least I will know that my digital music isn't below par.

I've calculated that it will require about 75 GB of hard drive space and over 20 hours of rip time. Something has to keep me out of trouble. This should be the final time that I will have to rip my CDs.