What file format to use

  • Thread starter Thread starter qwimby1
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qwimby1

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I see that I can import WMA files to Cubase and they appear as WAV files. I want to archive several hundred CDs to save physical space. Would I be wise to save them all as WMA before disposing of them?

The advantage I see is that I can rip them through Windows Media and get the album info for cataloging.
 
No! Don't do that. If you NEED to get rid of the cd's then convert them to WAV files. WMA and MP3 are evil formats.

Files appear as WAV's in Cubase because Cubase converts the WMA to WAV.
 
Both WMA and MP3 are lossy formats. Ripping them like that will lose quality that can never be replaced. Even worse, if you have occasion to open them in Cubase (or most DAWs) to trim them or adjust levels or something, then re-save, you lose even more quality because the compression artefacts concatenate.

Storage is dirt cheap these days. Don't compromise on quality just for smaller files.
 
You should be able to rip to WAV (as the guys say) through Windows Media anyway... or iTunes, or anything else. They generally all offer that option, given that it's the simplest for them.
 
As an aside, I probably wouldn't use Windows Media or iTunes for any ripping I cared about anyway. Do yourself a favour and download EXACT AUDIO COPY (it's free for non commercial use). It gives you lots of options under your control and has excellent error correction that can get better results from scratched or scuffed CDs.
 
I got Exact Audio Copy and ripped some to compressed WAV files. They will play that way in Windows Media, but my Cubase 4 doesn't recognize the compressed files. If I decompress them I can import them into Cubase, but the audio breaks up. I assume I have some settings wrong but don't know where to look.
 
I suspect the problem is your use of compressed wave which is far from a standard formt. I just stick to standard waves in CD red book format (16 bit/44.1/stereo) and everything plays them fine. As soon as you go to anything non standard, it's luck of the draw as to which software has the appropriate codec to play them back.

If you MUST compress (a bad idea in my book) then stick to MP3 which is, at least, pretty much universal.
 
If you are just trying to archive your cd's, don't use a compressed format. You will be able to get more than 150 compressed cd's on a dirt cheap 100 gig drive. (if you can find one that small). A $100 megabyte drive will hold well over 1000compressed cd's.
 
I'm confused.

Are you trying to back up your cd's? Or do you have them stored on your hard drive already?

I'm pretty sure you can rip cd's as wav, or flac format.

My 2 cents.
 
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