Anyone know WMA?

WMA is Windows Media Lossless compression. A CD of 700 MB gets compressed into 40-50 MB with no mathematical losses (as long as you have the error corrector turned on in Windows Media Player).

You can transfer WAV into WMA using WMP.

This is a pretty dated post... I've since gone Apple Lossless. My understanding is that you have to be careful with WMA, since it can be configured as lossy or lossless. Incidentally, CDs tend to average about 450-500MB, not the full 720MB capacity (maybe classical CDs run the full capacity). But, even so, I seriously doubt lossless WMA will give you 10:1 compression. Apple Lossless is about 2:1, and even high grade mp3 and AAC only net 10:1.

Thanks! yes, that's right forgot to say that you can choose the level of compression of WMA; and even if you choose lossless, it's quite faulty - specially during the reading part. (Even when installing ASIO4ALL.com and choosing error correction)

This is from Wavelength Audio's website: (http://www.wavelengthaudio.com/Cosecant-eac.html)
"Windows has a terrible little problem called the K-Mixed. It basically is a component of Windows that mucks with the data before it goes out the USB port. To fix that problem there is a little free program called ASIO4ALL.com that replaces the K-Mixer and sends out unaltered data to the USB Port."

About Apple Lossless, I have heard that it's rather lossy as well, and Windows Media Player (WMP) does not accept it. I think I am going to go .WAV. (Hard drive space is rather cheap these days...) The problem is that .wav seems not to like tags.

Have you found a way to rip with EAC and yet be able to manage the library through WMP or Meedio?

Apple Lossless isn't a lossy compression scheme. If you get good rips out of EAC, which should be bit-perfect, you can create m4a files out of iTunes using Apple Lossless (not AAC!) that are reversible into bit-perfect WAV files. Just smaller by a factor of 2. You can even get EAC to call iTunes as an encoder using:

http://www.rarewares.org/files/aac/iTunesEncode46.zip

The kmixer issue is a playback problem, not a ripping issue. EAC should make sure you get perfect copies of your CDs. Using ASIO to bypass kmixer ensures PCs don't muck up the datastream before it hits the USB device.

I used to keep WAV files, but the lack of tags is a serious defect. Since Apple Lossless supported tagging, was smaller, and didn't result in a loss of audio quality, it was a no-brainer for me.

Hi Edesilva,

thanks for the information. Can you tell me how can I get Windows Media Player AND Meedio to recognize the tags from FLAC copmression? I don't use Apple Lossless because I have a PC and use Windows Media Player.

WMP will play FLAC but it won't classify album, composer, etc.

Ideally I would rip everything using Windows Media Player, but many people have told me that it's lossy, with audiable differences. What I like about it, is that it's very simple and it keeps the library clean - but what it´s most important to me is good sound.

Meedio on the other hand allows you to rip on WAV but I don´t trust it as a ripping system.

What do you recommend?