SOmething better than windows media for storing and playing music.

[johnnr892]

So you would say ripping to mp3 is better quality then wma. Also which format would you say is the best quality, CDex gives loads of formats and I don't really care about the space it takes up, just want it to sound the best. Thanks, John.

[DsW]

The perceived 'quality' of an audio file compressed with a lossy method such as MP3 or WMA varies between encoding bit-rates, musical genres and from person to person so there's no black and white answer, I'm afraid.

If you value quality over space then why not just rip to WAV? That way there is no loss of sound quality. Formats such as MP3 and WMA (with the exception of WMA Lossless) are 'lossy' and throw away data in the process of compressing the file, thus compromising on quality.

Alternatively, rip to a lossless codec such as FLAC, which would save you a bit of space (~40% depending on type of music) whilst still preserving the full audio quality.

The most accurate ripping tool is EAC in conjunction with AccurateRip. You then need to choose your codec and away you go.

Winamp has lots of plugins incl. one for FLAC. An alternative playback tool is Foobar2000.

Have a read here - http://www.bobulous.net/misc/audioFormats.html

[Spud1]

I use iTunes, got it last year and never looked back there nothing wrong with it, and its great when you have 3 housemates on the network all using itunes, you can play each others mp3s etc without having to copy them, so its all legal the iTunes music store is also pretty good imho

and BSplayer for movies, another excellent and customisable player

[johnnr892]

What's is the best free ripper to WAV. Thanks, john.

[Agent]

db poweramp for pretty much any ripping / converting files

[DsW]

EAC rips to WAV

[autopilot]

Personally I prefer Audio Grabber + the LAME codac over db power amp anyday. Have not tried EAC yet, gis a link

[schmunk]

Lazy sod...

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=eac&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial

First hit!

edit: (and third hit too)

[unrealrocks]

For ripping to wave I find CDEX the best

If you want file organisiation go for MediaMonkey though.