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In Reply to: Re: For the audiophiles looking for convenience? posted by xmasparty@mac.com on February 21, 2007 at 21:08:31:
I'm not sure I agree with the 'no compromises' comment. I have three different CD/DVD drives on my PCs (NEC, Plextor and Sony) and use Plextools, EAC and dbPowerAmp for ripping. Regardless of which software/hardware combination I use, the results are bitwise identical to all of the others (based on the response from AccurateRip and Foobar's bit compare facility).Using iTunes, however, the results are always different from the other rips, leaving me to believe that iTunes doesn't understand the nature of my particular drives (such as proper read offsets, etc). I can't say how iTunes responds on a Mac, but on a PC with Windows it doesn't appear to provide the same accuracy as the other tools I mentioned.
Follow Ups:
I should have written that the height of convenience is iTunes running on a Mac. Why? Well just read kjg's post and you'll know.IMHO anyone putting together a music server who does not want to or enjoy or know how to work with a PC should use a Mac - think of it this way, would you rather listen to music or...
Touché. You're absolutely right that digital audio can be too complex for many people. Any tools that lower the barrier to entry are definitely good things. None of the tools I mentioned come even close to falling below that bar.However, my comments were about quality which is apropos to this forum. People that will never understand nor care about the complexities of digital audio do care about the nuances of the sound they get from their audio systems. While Apple does provide a simplified set of tools, they do so at the expense of these nuances, and the folks that buy into using them should understand the compromises. Perhaps Apple will address the issues I've seen in future releases of the software, but with the version out now there is indeed a difference in the rips using iTunes vs other software. Whether the differences are audible is another matter and I'll leave it others to decide about that.
In any case, I agree completely with your current point. Digital audio should be simple *and* accurate. The set of tools available today requires us to choose one side or the other. There's certainly room for improvement.
OK - I am a Mac guy - I have no Win chops - meaning a) no idea how good or bad iTunes sounds on a Win machine and b) no iway to A/B what can be achieved with Win tools that are not available on the Mac...That said the opposite may also be true - would be great to hear from someone fluent in both OS's who can provide some perspective
In the meanwhile, for however pathetic it may be, ignorance is bliss... as is the music coming out of my Brick
And at the end of the day for a noob like our poster one has to wonder if 90% with ease of use isn't better then 100% percent of frustration??? I don't know the answer but as a person who is easily frustrated I have my suspicions!
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