Santa Cruz owners - need replacement for Audiostation

[Brian48]

Been using Audiostation 4.0 and 5.x with my SC for a long while. Never really been satisfied with it. What are you using for a combo player/ripper. Besides Windows Media player, any similiar programs out there with a comparable feature set?

 

[sathyan]

A comparable program is MusicMatch Jukebox (MusicMatch). It can do ripping, recording, compression, playback, library management, and burning. I only use it occasionally as it is a bit sluggish.

I use the following programs (in Windows) more often:

Ripping: Exact Audio Copy 0.9b11
Live Recording (off radio, etc): Wave Edit (which comes with Nero) or TotalRecorder 3
Compression: LAME 3.91 (192kbps CBR real stereo)
Playback: WinAmp 2.80
Library Management: Album List for WinAmp 1.40
Burning: Nero Burning ROM 5.5

hardware:

sound card - TB Santa Cruz using digital out
DAC - Onkyo TX-SR500 AV Receiver
Speakers - HTD Level One 5.1 System
CD Burner - TDK 24x

 

[Workin']

EAC + LAME for ripping/encoding

Winamp for playing

Cool Edit 2000 for recording/editing

Hey sathyan, unless you need to use CBR and forced stereo for compatablity with some device you are shortchanging yourself on quality and file size vs. using VBR and joint stereo (as used by the alt-preset standard LAME command-line setting).

 

[rApiDShoT]

AudioCatalyst isn't too bad..does the job fast and easy

 

[Brian48]

I've just spent the day playing around with Winamp as the player, Audiograbber as the ripper, and Nero as the burner. I can live with this setup, but with rather have a more all-in-one solution (or close to it) if possible. This is one of the things I like about Creative's PlayCenter 3.0 with my Audigy machine (although earlier versions of PC weren't that great).

 

[Workin']

Originally posted by: rApiDShoT
AudioCatalyst isn't too bad..does the job fast and easy

AudioCatalyst is a mediocre ripper unless our CD's are pristine, and the xing encoder that comes with it is an absolute atrocity, proven to be BY FAR the worst quality you can get. AudioGrabber is also a mediocre choice for ripping. EAC is absoultely the best ripper money can't buy (it's free), CDEX using the cdparanoia libray is a close second (also free), and LAME is the best encoder (also free). Many, many tests have proven this to be the case.

Brian48, there just aren't any all-in-one programs that are worth using - you need to use separate tools to do the best job. While you CAN use a hammer to drive screws, that won't always give you the best results.

 

[Goi]

Nice setup there sathyan. I use almost the same programs as you, and I'll add that while combo players are more convenient, they aren't nearly as flexible and/or powerful as a variety of individual, specialized applications.

 

[Brian48]

I'm playing around with EAC+LAME right now. Not as convenient or as fast as some of the others, but the quality of my rips are excellent. I think I'll stick with this for awhile until something else comes along.

 

[Goi]

Brian, you can automate the ripping+encoding process within EAC itself. Under "compression options", check "Use external program for compression", then enter the complete LAME path, including the executable, and it will rip+encode every CD track whenever you click on the MP3 icon/button.

A good comprimise between size and quality is using the "--alt-preset extreme %s %d" parameter. It uses VBR, and usually generates files with around avg 200Kbps bitrate.

 

[Tominator]

A comparable program is MusicMatch Jukebox (MusicMatch). It can do ripping, recording, compression, playback, library management, and burning. I only use it occasionally as it is a bit sluggish.

Sluggish? In what way. I use it and it rocks! Does it all.

 

[sathyan]

Workin'

I was under the impression my DVD player (Sony DVP-NS315) only supported CBR MP3's but a glance at the manual shows it can handel VBR. I'll use VBR in the future.

Tominator

Sluggish in the sense of slower than WinAmp. Longer to start up. If I just need playback, WinAmp is a better solution

 

[Red Dawn]

I also like and use MMJB for my all in one solution. Sure there are programs that might do each individual job better but MMJB does it all.