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Best Way To Import A CD Track

TV's Frink

TV's Frink

You Catch On Pretty Quick
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Hiya!

I want to import one song from a CD onto my computer so I can put it in my edit. Usually I import using Itunes as an AAC file.

1) Is a lossy format like AAC or mp3 a bad idea?
2) If I should import as a lossless format (WAV?), what's a good free program to do so.

Thanks.
 
They say AAC is better quality than mp3. If I had a choice I'd avoid mp3.

For lossless ripping, Exact Audio Copy is free and even has basic sound editing abilities. It is old and slow but accurate. http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

I like to rip the songs in lossless format to have a reference copy. If I need a lossy version later I can always convert it.
 
So, do what Throw said? ;)
 
I rip using lossless WMA now in Windows Media Player, and it's what I'm planning to use to rip the tracks from Queen's "A Kind of Magic" album to use in my "Highlander: Endgame" edit. Would this be fine, or does Exact Audio Copy do it better?

I was considering re-ripping a track as lossless WMA when I was editing "Carly's Story" (to play over the closing credits), but I went with a high-quality MP3 that I'd ripped years ago instead, which is just as well, I suppose, because the audio quality for the Transformers DVD episodes is actually lower than that of the MP3!
 
For most sources your Media Player rips are probably fine. If the source is damaged or corrupted, or if your optical drive is low quality, the extra error checking in Exact Audio Copy can help to get a better quality rip.
 
A note about that Windows Media lossless, or any other lossless audio format (aside from uncompressed WAV). A lot of editing programs can get a little finicky with the lossless codecs (like WM, FLAC, APE, etc). Its best just to rip to uncompressed WAV to include in your editing. Since the files are relatively small compared to uncompressed video, you don't gain a ton of space by working with a lossless codec, especially if you need 1 or 2 tracks.

Bottom line, if you want the best quality, and least amount of potential problems, just rip to WAV. and for that I use Exact Audio Copy.
 
For ripping stuff for an edit; everything Throw has said. for general audio I think high bitrate (225 and above) mp3 is great.
 
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