converting cd`s to different format?

[SectorVector]

^Then downloaders will join the party. Two will become twenty. :-p

OP, possible rookie, has about 100 CDs. 90 of these are already mp3. He can just copy-paste them, i guess.
For the rest he needs "a program to change the format without changing quality".

* OP has (probably) left the building.

[SmashAndGrab]

The program you want to use to do things correctly is EAC.  EAC can be hard to get working right and you will have to do research into what are the best settings to go with depending on the type of drive you are using to copy...

Correction, high quality mp3 is actually one third of the size of a FLAC file.  I can prove it to you if you want I have a torrent that contains both MP3 and FLAC exactly the same rips but just the 2 formats and I've already measured each track and they are one third the size in comparsion.  FLAC is more for archiving purposes, MP3 is totally fine and you're right you'll only hear the difference on some ridiculous priced speakers like something you would find in some fancy hifi store.  For Mr. Average you'll find that MP3 is totally great and much saving in size also leaves more space for more tracks...

I know this is a debate and people say you cannot tell the difference between FLAC and MP3 of a certain bit rate blah blah blah....

But I seriously must have super hearing because this has never even been a contest for me (and I have shitty speakers).  Of course you can enjoy an MP3 okay depending, but it almost always feels less than and not quite as crisp and satisfying.  With the size of storage most people have access to these days -- if you are a fan of the music you are listening to I cannot understand why you would want to listen to anything but a lossless format like FLAC.  You get good sound at a reasonable size.

The size of your MP3 files may on average be one third the size of your FLAC files, but that should be determined mainly by the bit rates and to some extent the FLAC file compression level.  In the case of MP3 V0 the size can swing because it is dependent on what sound is being compressed at what time.  To store the absolute most music using a given amount of space and also have it sound decent, I guess V0 makes the most sense.

I agree with good enough when you cannot tell enough of a difference.  I can tell the difference between 16.44 and 24.96 but I don't appreciate it enough more that it is worth the space to me.  I don't really feel like I am missing out listening to 16.44 but I do feel that way when I listen to MP3.  It is possible that is the experience most people have when comparing MP3 to 16.44 FLAC.  If that is how most people hear it then I guess people should listen to MP3, but that blows my mind because I can tell and feel the difference.

To settle the debate on the entire subject, why not just release a torrent and put both the FLAC and the MP3 at the highest bitrate of 320kbps at a constant bitrate setting and then let the people who download from you decide if the same rips are difficult to tell apart?  Just let the people who download from you decide for themselves and then the debate will be decided by your downloaders, the people who take interest in your files?

I think it's subjective -- it just always surprised me how people disagree on being able to actually tell the difference because one format sounds obviously better to me than the other.  I get choosing MP3 for space reasons. With video I watch stuff pretty heavily compressed.  I only need enough quality to enjoy watching -- I doubt my memory of watching a movie at some lesser bit rate 1080p is any different than the memory of someone watching a 4K remux or whatever K people are watching.

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^Then downloaders will join the party. Two will become twenty. :-p

OP, possible rookie, has about 100 CDs. 90 of these are already mp3. He can just copy-paste them, i guess.
For the rest he needs "a program to change the format without changing quality".

* OP has (probably) left the building.

Or.........

OP is now a master of using EAC to make flawless rips of CDs and is currently rocking out to their favorite Finnish bands in all their lossless glory through an old pair of creative speakers

[RodneyYouPlonker]

Oh well fair enough...  Subjective like you say.  At the end of the day it is the sound of the CD which is better and always will be.  If you want the best then buy the CD, the FLAC isn't technically lossless it's lossy actually.  When you rip a CD you are converting to Lossless but the term 'Lossless' isn't the real quality.  If it was actually Lossless like the name describes then it would technically mean you weren't actually throwing anything away but the facts are that Lossless means actually just 'Lossy'.  If it bothers you about not sharing an MP3 simply because you are 'throwing away' sound quality then also sharing a FLAC 'Lossless' file means you are also throwing away sound quality, maybe not as much but still you are doing that to a certain extent.

The term Lossless is a lie from the start.  It's the same as if you share a movie with a DTS-HD Master Audio track.  Technically a DTS-HD Master Audio track is actually lossy the same as a FLAC file.  The only true way to share the full sound experience is to listen to the PCM audio and then you are 'not' throwing anything away.  Most people who rip movie tracks tend to convert the sound and spoil the original usually by using a conversion program which downgrades the audio and spoils the whole cinema experience.  I mean convert it however you want but at the end of the day still very lossy anyway whatever it is you're sharing.

The truth is that most things are compressed for various reasons simply because they are shared 'online' and these matters are down to the amount of speed and broadband bandwidth you can carry in one go.  The internet is not all that great at the moment and sadly is lacking in lots of ways.  Maybe one day 4K sharing might be a 'thing' but until things change I'm afraid keep compressing things to fit on a server because it is how people do their torrenting...

[dueda]

To settle the debate on the entire subject, why not just release a torrent and put both the FLAC and the MP3 at the highest bitrate of 320kbps at a constant bitrate setting and then let the people who download from you decide if the same rips are difficult to tell apart?

Guess it's one of those neverending debates, like Apple vs PC, Nissan vs Ford, Nixon vs Reagan, etc

But which parameters?
There're people that only take high quality encoding with handpicked hardware and software. Others don't even check if a file named ".mp3" is actually a sound file in said format.

Democracy has a price, and in media it comes as fragmentation and redundancy.

[RodneyYouPlonker]

To settle the debate on the entire subject, why not just release a torrent and put both the FLAC and the MP3 at the highest bitrate of 320kbps at a constant bitrate setting and then let the people who download from you decide if the same rips are difficult to tell apart?

Guess it's one of those neverending debates, like Apple vs PC, Nissan vs Ford, Nixon vs Reagan, etc

Something that happened to me a few weeks ago.  I found out that the market is completely shot.  No more decent music players anymore my former company has gone down the pan.  In the end after several days of searching around found out that infact Apple is the only sensible choice now which clears up the entire debate.  In reality a good music player now a digital audio player will cost you in the UK at least £600 and above.  This pricing is completely insane just like most of things in 2023.  The best solution now is to buy an Apple player because all other options are off the table.  The whole thing now with DAP is that these things are costing the earth and they are usually made in China and if it breaks like in the UK there's nowhere to take these things as nobody is prepared to repair them.  My former music player company, they had a repair guy in the UK, this guy is now gone and won't be coming back.  It's all total disaster if you fancy spending all that money on a player and it goes wrong and a fault happens then you can't just send it back to China as China don't do returns infact China won't have anything back period to their country they only export items.  The Apple option is the only sensible option and the only one that makes sense as the prices are pretty good you can pick an Apple up on Ebay and get one from China they have loads, if it breaks it breaks you just throw it away Apple products are not good to repair as I found out a while ago.  Best thing is don't spend too much money and just get an Apple and when it breaks like the battery is shagged then into the bin it goes and order another one etc..

With all that being said the key point to this is that as everybody knows Apple products don't support FLAC format which everybody seems to do now and this is a huge mistake as a world that is moving currently backwards and not forwards the whole MP3 situation was the right path all along.  If you do want a DAP then be prepared to be conned out of huge chunks of money the market is broken now.  People have lost all kinds of jobs because of this.  If you're sensible the Apple option is the one to go down, stay away from players which cost in the region of £1200 as these things are a ridicule of modern times and should be avoided.  If you want portable music and on the go music in your ears of portable carry around listening choices then Apple makes sense.  I'm just glad, personally, that I went with the MP3 choice as now FLAC options are off the table, the whole FLAC movement was a mistake all along due to the lack of products and how bad the pricings have become.  Buy a DAP and be prepared to get conned and have no money left.  The world is becoming more and more evil as time goes on...

[Anoid]

Itunes can import into Apple lossless with error correction (M4A audio)

ALAC is about 2:1 compressions which is an advantage over some other CODECs

[bubanee]

Read the whole thread and a lot of usefull information, especially using EAC for that eXact Replica and yes what a pain in thye backside when clicking what you need to 'set' in EAC but the info is far and widely available... Another useful program is dBpoweramp and here's something for all of you if you don't know already https://codecguide.com/download_kl.htm which dBpoweramp uses... and also on the computer i rip a lot using the 'Opus' music codec at 144vbr and even use it on my mobile phone using foobar2000 (android edition) and even VBRV2 and V0 for mp3 which like someone mentioned earlier, can't tell the difference from Flac to MP3..... you'll figure something out it's always trial and error when you first learn anything...

[Q91]

if it's fairly new CD album, I'd just rip it to Vorbis ABR 480kbps. Higher quality than mp3, but not as much harddrive usage as FLAC.
If it's an old CD, or a CD-R, I'd attempt to rip to FLAC, as they are more likely to start failing.