Music file format?

[samg]

I spent many months ripping my collection of CDs about 10 years ago for home HiFi use - it's simple but tedious. I'd suggest ripping to FLAC in the first instance as you have lossless.

If you do decide for whatever reason to change the format this can be done quickly and automatically in batch from the FLACs and you won't have to revisit your CDs again.

I created my iPhone library (MP3) of 2000+ albums from the FLAC masters with a few clicks.

While you can convert MP3 to FLAC format - you've already lost the lossless (if that makes sense!).

I use XLD (for ripping/converting) and Tag Editor on a Mac - works a treat.

Sam

[AndyC160]

I have FLAC files on the Jukebox in my Gen 1 and they sound great through the Bose.

As for ripping to MP3 the bit rate is dependent upon what Music you play.

Do note the limitations not on file size but file numbers. I put over 100Gb of music on a high capacity SD card and it played it but odd things would happen.

Now I have multiple SD cards which have about 20-25Gb of music on them, all MP3 recorded at the 320 bit rate.

This for me gives the best practical quality.

The Jukeboxes in Gen 1 Macans started at 30Gb but were reduced in capacity to a miserly 10Gb and in my car that is where my FLAC music reside.

FLAC sounds way better than 320 bit MP3, I did a test and Nick the Nuke and I listened to the results at a Macan meet years ago in Cheshire.

So before you go on a rampant ripping spree select a few of your favourite tracks and record them in different formats at different bit rates and see what they sound like.

Do remember that the text I originally wrote was for a Gen 1 and do check what Gen 2 & Gen 3 can handle, taking note not on file size especially but the total number of files allowed on a single storage device.

Nerdy bit,
MP3 stands for MPEG 1 Layer 3 and it was produced as a sub-set of standards that the industry working party. Who in turn set these standards for the Broadcast Industry and the equipment Manufacturers who themselves were keen to avoid another VHS v Betamax fiasco. These working parties led to standards for DVD’s, Blu-Ray’s, streaming video, 4k, 8k etc with the MPEG 2 standard being DVD whose file format is MPG, and Blu-Ray being MP4.

FINALLY
Do learn how to use the free utility MP3Tag as the ripped CD’s may well not display the track and album cover correctly due to ripping errors that exist in the software, Windows Media Player being the main culprit, but you may also find that Independent Artists are poor at encoding said information, what you will see is Track 1, Track 2 etc instead of the actual track name and this is where MP3Tag comes into play.

Good luck

Thanks Col....very informative as usual

Ripping a 17 track CD to FLAC format is 440 MB. Mp3 format is 100 MB, so just over 4 times the file size. I should therefore be able to get approximately 45 albums on a 20GB sd card in FLAC format...is that too many files for the pcm to cope with? I guess you've got alot more files on a 20GB sd card if you've saved them as mp3?

I'll try a FLAC, WAV and Mp3 and see if I notice any difference.

[Col Lamb]

I have FLAC files on the Jukebox in my Gen 1 and they sound great through the Bose.

As for ripping to MP3 the bit rate is dependent upon what Music you play.

Do note the limitations not on file size but file numbers. I put over 100Gb of music on a high capacity SD card and it played it but odd things would happen.

Now I have multiple SD cards which have about 20-25Gb of music on them, all MP3 recorded at the 320 bit rate.

This for me gives the best practical quality.

The Jukeboxes in Gen 1 Macans started at 30Gb but were reduced in capacity to a miserly 10Gb and in my car that is where my FLAC music reside.

FLAC sounds way better than 320 bit MP3, I did a test and Nick the Nuke and I listened to the results at a Macan meet years ago in Cheshire.

So before you go on a rampant ripping spree select a few of your favourite tracks and record them in different formats at different bit rates and see what they sound like.

Do remember that the text I originally wrote was for a Gen 1 and do check what Gen 2 & Gen 3 can handle, taking note not on file size especially but the total number of files allowed on a single storage device.

Nerdy bit,
MP3 stands for MPEG 1 Layer 3 and it was produced as a sub-set of standards that the industry working party. Who in turn set these standards for the Broadcast Industry and the equipment Manufacturers who themselves were keen to avoid another VHS v Betamax fiasco. These working parties led to standards for DVD’s, Blu-Ray’s, streaming video, 4k, 8k etc with the MPEG 2 standard being DVD whose file format is MPG, and Blu-Ray being MP4.

FINALLY
Do learn how to use the free utility MP3Tag as the ripped CD’s may well not display the track and album cover correctly due to ripping errors that exist in the software, Windows Media Player being the main culprit, but you may also find that Independent Artists are poor at encoding said information, what you will see is Track 1, Track 2 etc instead of the actual track name and this is where MP3Tag comes into play.

Good luck

Thanks Col....very informative as usual

Ripping a 17 track CD to FLAC format is 440 MB. Mp3 format is 100 MB, so just over 4 times the file size. I should therefore be able to get approximately 45 albums on a 20GB sd card in FLAC format...is that too many files for the pcm to cope with? I guess you've got alot more files on a 20GB sd card if you've saved them as mp3?

I'll try a FLAC, WAV and Mp3 and see if I notice any difference.

Try ripping the same song (a quiet ballad) to MP3 each at a different bit rate and play them back one ofter the other in your Macan.

You should then hear how bad low bit rate MP3 music is.

The max number of tracks on one storage medium was listed as 10,000 but you will need to check this and by my simple guess at 15 tracks per CD gives 66 as the number of CD’s that can be placed on a memory device and still stay within file limitations.

BTW Playlists that relate to the music on the storage device can also be copied onto said storage device

EDIT

My man maths are out, should be 666 ie the number of the beast

[Bluesnose1812]

I have FLAC files on the Jukebox in my Gen 1 and they sound great through the Bose.

As for ripping to MP3 the bit rate is dependent upon what Music you play.

Do note the limitations not on file size but file numbers. I put over 100Gb of music on a high capacity SD card and it played it but odd things would happen.

Now I have multiple SD cards which have about 20-25Gb of music on them, all MP3 recorded at the 320 bit rate.

This for me gives the best practical quality.

The Jukeboxes in Gen 1 Macans started at 30Gb but were reduced in capacity to a miserly 10Gb and in my car that is where my FLAC music reside.

FLAC sounds way better than 320 bit MP3, I did a test and Nick the Nuke and I listened to the results at a Macan meet years ago in Cheshire.

So before you go on a rampant ripping spree select a few of your favourite tracks and record them in different formats at different bit rates and see what they sound like.

Do remember that the text I originally wrote was for a Gen 1 and do check what Gen 2 & Gen 3 can handle, taking note not on file size especially but the total number of files allowed on a single storage device.

Nerdy bit,
MP3 stands for MPEG 1 Layer 3 and it was produced as a sub-set of standards that the industry working party. Who in turn set these standards for the Broadcast Industry and the equipment Manufacturers who themselves were keen to avoid another VHS v Betamax fiasco. These working parties led to standards for DVD’s, Blu-Ray’s, streaming video, 4k, 8k etc with the MPEG 2 standard being DVD whose file format is MPG, and Blu-Ray being MP4.

FINALLY
Do learn how to use the free utility MP3Tag as the ripped CD’s may well not display the track and album cover correctly due to ripping errors that exist in the software, Windows Media Player being the main culprit, but you may also find that Independent Artists are poor at encoding said information, what you will see is Track 1, Track 2 etc instead of the actual track name and this is where MP3Tag comes into play.

Good luck

Thanks Col....very informative as usual

Ripping a 17 track CD to FLAC format is 440 MB. Mp3 format is 100 MB, so just over 4 times the file size. I should therefore be able to get approximately 45 albums on a 20GB sd card in FLAC format...is that too many files for the pcm to cope with? I guess you've got alot more files on a 20GB sd card if you've saved them as mp3?

I'll try a FLAC, WAV and Mp3 and see if I notice any difference.

Try ripping the same song (a quiet ballad) to MP3 each at a different bit rate and play them back one ofter the other in your Macan.

You should then hear how bad low bit rate MP3 music is.

The max number of tracks on one storage medium was listed as 10,000 but you will need to check this and by my simple guess at 15 tracks per CD gives 66 as the number of CD’s that can be placed on a memory device and still stay within file limitations.

BTW Playlists that relate to the music on the storage device can also be copied onto said storage device

You're a factor of 10 out. 15x660 =9,900

[Col Lamb]

Thanks Col....very informative as usual

Ripping a 17 track CD to FLAC format is 440 MB. Mp3 format is 100 MB, so just over 4 times the file size. I should therefore be able to get approximately 45 albums on a 20GB sd card in FLAC format...is that too many files for the pcm to cope with? I guess you've got alot more files on a 20GB sd card if you've saved them as mp3?

I'll try a FLAC, WAV and Mp3 and see if I notice any difference.

Try ripping the same song (a quiet ballad) to MP3 each at a different bit rate and play them back one ofter the other in your Macan.

You should then hear how bad low bit rate MP3 music is.

The max number of tracks on one storage medium was listed as 10,000 but you will need to check this and by my simple guess at 15 tracks per CD gives 66 as the number of CD’s that can be placed on a memory device and still stay within file limitations.

BTW Playlists that relate to the music on the storage device can also be copied onto said storage device

You're a factor of 10 out. 15x660 =9,900

Cheers

Inaccurate posted edited

[Guy]

I'm ripping my CD collection so I can stick it on a USB C stick and play in my car.

If I rip them formatted to FLAC (lossless) will they play in the car through the pcm (Gen 2 Macan) or do they have to be mp3 or another format?

I believe PCM 3 can't but 4 and 5 can.

Why not rip 1 track and see.

PCM3.1 (the one with the 40GB hard drive) could not read FLAC files. Only supported formats were mp3, WAV , WMA and AAC-LC.

Early 2016, PCM4 brought FLAC compatibility, plus CarPlay capabilities etc but smaller hard drive.

[AndyC160]

Looking at SD cards...going for either 32 or 64 but are SDXC cards compatible or SDHC?

Would this be compatible?

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1122633?clickPR=plp:2:7

[Neil1911]

Looking at SD cards...going for either 32 or 64 but are SDXC cards compatible or SDHC?

Would this be compatible?

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1122633?clickPR=plp:2:7

I'm using an SDHC and it works.

[AndyC160]

Looking at SD cards...going for either 32 or 64 but are SDXC cards compatible or SDHC?

Would this be compatible?

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1122633?clickPR=plp:2:7

I'm using an SDHC and it works.

Went to Curry's and got a SanDisk ultra plus sdxc 64gb 150mb/s, class 10, V10 blah blah!!!

Guys working there knew less than me about these cards!

What's the worst that can happen?....£15 down the drain!

[AndyC160]

Tested in the car this morning...all seems to work well.

ripped CDs to FLAC format and copied them across to the SD card...a SanDisk ultra plus SDXC 64gb 150mb/s.

Thanks Col and Neil...Good suggestion re the SD card rather than a USB C stick

Album cover artwork appears on the pcm and track listing seem to be in order as well