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Stateless
08-03-2007, 02:24 PM
I'm a bit of a novice at this because I have been using a dual disc stand alone burner for a long time. So if this question sounds overly basic, I apologize. Anyway...

If I rip a CD with Windows Media Audio Lossless to my PC, is the file an exact duplicate of the CD? Is it really "lossless"?

Thanks.
StyxCollector
08-03-2007, 02:28 PM
Yes. Lossless is lossless no matter what lossless codec you choose.

If you have doubts, transcode it to lossless and back to WAV. You'll see the file will be the same are the original WAV.
Stateless
08-03-2007, 02:46 PM
So there is no difference in using Windows or Apple Lossless? Same thing, different name, still CD quality?
StyxCollector
08-03-2007, 02:53 PM
Lossless is as it is described.

Use the codec (ALAC/FLAC/WMA Lossless/others) you want.
Stateless
08-03-2007, 02:54 PM
Good to know.

Thanks!
Grant
08-03-2007, 02:57 PM
Yes.
gordolindsay
08-03-2007, 05:15 PM
And if you rip it to one codec and find you don't like it, you can transcode it to another lossless codec and not loose anything.

If you go with Apple Lossless or Windows lossless, it's harder to go to other formats because of their licensing and propriatary-ness (:confused: :p ). The most popular is probaby FLAC becuase of the amount of software and hardware support.
EddieVanHalen
08-03-2007, 05:47 PM
It's definetely lossless, I made a test one day, took the Titanic soundtrack on DTS CD, ripped it to Windows Media Audio lossless. Then I burned an audio CD with Nero with resulting WMA lossless files, it decoded perfectly when played on my A/V Receiver, so no data was lost.
I did the same with Van Halen's S/T rermastered on HDCD, after compressing/decompressing and burning with Nero the resulting Audio CD was 100 % HDCD decodable.
It's a pity no WMA players or DVD players (even the ones that decode WMA) can decode WMA Lossless.
Stateless
08-03-2007, 08:56 PM
It's a pity no WMA players or DVD players (even the ones that decode WMA) can decode WMA Lossless.

What does that mean exactly? I burned a cdr with my WMA player. Is the cdr I made still lossless?
StyxCollector
08-03-2007, 09:03 PM
There are some MP3 players that do WMA lossless - I am pretty sure the Zune does ... but it's not gapless. One or two may also (one of the Creative Zen series possibly?), but you are right, it's few and far between.
Stateless
08-05-2007, 08:31 AM
There are some MP3 players that do WMA lossless - I am pretty sure the Zune does ... but it's not gapless. One or two may also (one of the Creative Zen series possibly?), but you are right, it's few and far between.

But when I rip using WMA Lossless, and then burn with Windows Media Player, what goes on the CDR is still lossless correct?
Feisal K
08-05-2007, 09:16 AM
what goes on the CDR is uncompressed PCM (i.e no question of it being lossy or lossless)
Stateless
08-05-2007, 09:18 AM
Thank you sir. Is the above post saying certain DVD players don't play back lossless Cdr's?
Feisal K
08-05-2007, 09:48 AM
not many players decode (convert) losslessly compressed audio to PCM - most play MP3, some play WMA9 but as the above post says - none decode WMA lossless

not heard of a DVD player that will decode FLAC but, if you have a lot of FLACced (!) audio perhaps a Squeezebox is in your future


edit: apparently there is http://www.z500series.com/