Ape to AAC noob question?

2003-12-19 08:04:52

I've setup foobar's diskwriter to encode AAC using nero (transparent). My question is in terms of quality, would it be better to decode to wav first or is it fine to transcode from ape since it's lossless?

Another minor thing maybe someone can explain. The "Output filename formatting" in the Diskwriter options is a bit confusing to me. What is the purpose of the 001, 002 default naming scheme? My ape files have track numbers and EAC's naming is setup as "album - # - track"o my mp4 files wind up having two track numbers. I know it can be changed, just wondering if it serve's some purpose (I am a noob  )

Ape to AAC noob question?

Reply #1 – 2003-12-19 08:15:27

As you already said.  APE files are lossless, so it is perfectly fine to encode directly from them and there is no need to convert back to wav first.  Even is they were not lossless, converting back to wav would not improve anything, since any data that is lost cannot be regained anymore.

Another thing is that Foobar would convert the file back to PCM data anyway before converting to the new format.  Meaning your files are actually beeing decoded back to awv anyway.  So no need to do that yourself.

Sorry, am not exactly sure what the use of the masstagger index is exactly.  But as you said, the formatting can be changed.

Ape to AAC noob question?

Reply #2 – 2003-12-19 08:29:58

Thanks for the help, I have a lot of ape files which I will gleefully transcode to aac and then archive to cd.

For now I edited the output filename to leave the name intact.
I'm still getting the hang of things, especially tagging the aac files.
I use the freedb->get tags option and then replaygain them.

Ape to AAC noob question?

Reply #3 – 2003-12-19 08:39:04

Best idea for tagging AAC files is to wrap them in an MP4 container.  AAC is only the raw Audio Stream and tagging is not part of the specs.

In case you own a copy of nero 6 you can use the nero encoder discrwiter output component to encode directly to Nero AAC with proper tagging and wrapping in an MP4 container.

Probably the more advanced codec anyway in comparison to FAAC.  (Sorry am not exactly sure which AAC encoder you are using right now.)

Ape to AAC noob question?

Reply #4 – 2003-12-19 08:50:00

The numbering makes it easier to keep the tracks in the same order. This is most useful when you are creating wavs for songs from different albums with the intention of burning an audio CD.

Example:

001 Slayer - Mandatory Suicide
002 William Shatner - Tambourine Man
003 The RIAA Suits - I'll Sue Your Grandmother
...

Ape to AAC noob question?

Reply #5 – 2003-12-19 08:54:16

DUH, makes perfect sence now.