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This article was taken from the February 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Ripping large collections of discs to iTunes is a laborious process. Make it easier with these tips by Kirk McElhearn, author of Take Control of iTunes 10 and a senior contributor to Macworld.
Format
By default, iTunes rips CDs using the AAC encoder at 256kbps, says McElhearn. "You won't want to use the same import settings for ripping audiobooks as you do CDs." Stephen Fry's hushed tones don't require as high a quality bit rate, so you can save hard drive space by doing the following. "Choose Custom from the Settings pop-up menu; for bit rate, choose 64 kbps; leave the sample rate at Auto, and, from the Channels menu, choose either Stereo or Mono -- mono will do for the spoken word."
Compilations
"Tracks in compilations won't show under the names of their artists, unless you have other, non-compilation albums by the artists on the compilation. An option in iTunes Advanced preferences lets you group compilations at the top of the browser: check Group Compilations When Browsing, and you'll see a Compilations entry at the top of the Artists column so you can find your compilations easily."
Rip time
An external CD drive can speed things up. "A Mac Mini SuperDrive reads CDs at up to 24x. With a second optical drive on a Mac Pro, it speeds up to 52x," says McElhearn. Alternatively, rip to a computer with a small iTunes library, then transfer on to your main computer.
Quality
iTunes is perfectly suitable for most CDs, but if you want flawless copies you'll need to look elsewhere, says McElhearn. "The audiophile crowd thinks that a few random bits can ruin a track. If you make an 'accurate rip' you can be sure the files are bit-perfect copies of your CDs." Use the free X Lossless Decoder to do this.
Tags
iTunes uses the Gracenote database to tag your burned songs.
However, that database is limited, meaning more obscure tracks will have to be manually typed in. Other databases such as FreeDB or MusicBrainz cover a wider range of music but you'll have to rip your CDs outside iTunes, on
X Lossless Decoder or other software.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
