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General discussion

Paranoid Newbie Questions

Sep 26, 2005 9:05PM PDT

I'll just start by saying I've never really done any converting, or ripping or creating MP3s but I want to start by archiving my CD collection to a lossless format and then convert that to some format to play on a portable. What I want to understand is how converting ripping, tagging and digital rights managment works. I don't expect a comlete answer but I'm hopping someone will point me to some resources. I've read the Guide on Ars Technica which I found helpful but still leave me with questions. Like how is it that Windows Media Player, MusicMatch and those know all the information about the artist on my CD? When I played with WMP it had to get me a license, but this is a CD that I allready own. If I use it to copy my CD directly to the player it seems to play but if I copy to my hard drive then drag and drop the files to the player they don't play. What's all that abuot and how is it idfferent that how seperate tools work like db power amp converter and Tag&Rename.

I don't expect comlete answers but hopping someone can point me to some good resources to learn more

Discussion is locked

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What I do.
Sep 26, 2005 9:14PM PDT

While this is not an explanation of everything, I use CDEX from google.com to do the rip and it does the tagging. Tags are just the label on the song.

As to DRM, CDEX doesn't so it's a non-issue. I don't like DRM since it could interfere with use of the audio in the future. So I switch that off or use CDEX that doesn't have it.

As to lossless, you may want to listen to a lossless file then a MP3 of a high bitrate then decide. I did.

Bob

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Thanks, what about the mechanics of how they work
Sep 26, 2005 11:35PM PDT

what I want to know is how does dcdex know how to do the tagging? I don't think all that info is onthe CD, there's an external database

Same with DRM how do programs know about it. I tried CDEX but it wont' run on my old win98SE computer I just get a blue screen )-8, time to upgrade

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CDEX does that step.
Sep 27, 2005 12:28AM PDT

Sorry, but how it all works is out on the internet. I may have misunderstood your question. If you want to know how it works, then just research it on google.


As to CDEX failing, that's quite interesting. I've yet to see that happen on good hardware. Or even marginal hardware.

Bob

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The reason I posted the question was I havn't found anything
Sep 27, 2005 12:54AM PDT

I've googled quite a bit and I did come up with Ars Technica guide, as I mentioned but it didn't give the in depth stuff I was looking for. As I said in the original post I was hopping someone cuold point me to a good resource, I didn't expect a reply as I was looking for something farly lengthy

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The really short version.
Sep 27, 2005 1:01AM PDT

CDEX rips the track and asks the CDDB (google that) for the "tag".

It is that simple so I hope this suffices in deep enough detail how that works.

Bob