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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,097
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My Experience with WMA Lossless and the Implications Thereof
For quite some time now I�ve been wondering whether I shouldn�t be ripping my CDs in a lossless format in case something happens to the original CD. I�ve always used Exact Audio Copy with LAME MP3 to produce my MP3s and have always been happy with the results. I knew that EAC was capable of ripping my CDs into lossless formats, so this weekend I decided to bite the bullet and give Microsoft�s lossless WMA format a try. My results both dismayed and delighted me, and I thought I would share them here, since I knew at least a few of you would be interested.
Lossless? Why?
First, a little history: I don�t consider myself an �audiophile�--more of a �music lover� really--and frankly I�ve always thought a high-bitrate MP3 was �good enough�. My wife is a big fan of Annalee Newitz, a proponent of lossless digital audio, and has often asked me �But don�t MP3s throw away data?� I then explain to her that the real-world difference between a 256 kBit/s MP3 and a CD were too small for either of us to hear. My wife�s not that technologically-inclined, so I didn�t bother explaining that lossless formats also take up a lot of space and don�t work with the majority of portable media players. Or that it would take a really long time to re-rip all my CDs, turning my 60GB collection into who knows how large? So for more than a year now, I�ve been resisting the idea of ripping to lossless.
All the while though, there was the voice in my hindbrain telling me �But there must be an audible difference between a CD and MP3, no matter how high the bitrate. That�s why they call it �compressed�.� Well, this weekend I found myself with that rare thing called �free time� and decided it was time to give in to the voice and at least give it a shot. I�m very glad I did.
As I�ve stated, I�ve always been a huge fan of Exact Audio Copy, a free CD ripping program that does exactly what its name says and no more. Together with the also-free LAME MP3 compression codec, it can be a very powerful tool for those wishing to get the best-sounding MP3 files from their music CDs. Although it�s been possible for some time now, I�d only recently learned that EAC is capable of ripping CDs into lossless formats too. I figured if EAC could do it, I should at least see what happens.
The Decision
The first decision I had to make was to decide on a lossless format. I should probably mention here that I don�t own an iPod, don�t use iTunes and really don�t plan to in the foreseeable future. That narrowed a very short list down to the two main competitors: FLAC and WMA Lossless. I had known that this tough decision would be ahead of me, but that didn�t make it any easier to choose. I had experience with FLAC and had never used WMA Lossless before. FLAC is supported on some players, but no current PMP supports WMA lossless (except the ill-fated Portable Media Center). In the end I decided on WMA Lossless, a decision mostly based on instinct. I guess I just have more faith that Microsoft�s format will be around longer. In addition, my current PMP, while not supporting WMA Lossless, does support WMA files. I can still hold out hope that they release a firmware update that gives my player lossless capability. It�s a slim chance, but much better than them giving it FLAC support! 
The Process
So, decision made, the first step was downloading Windows Media Encoder 9. After suffering through the hell that is the Windows Genuine Advantage Validation process, I finally downloaded and executed the file, installing it without problems.
Next, I needed to configure Exact Audio Copy to use the WMA Lossless compression profile. If you�ve never used EAC before, I encourage you to try it. As I�ve said, it�s a very powerful CD ripping program that produces the best-sounding MP3s I�ve ever heard. I won�t go into configuring EAC for initial use here, though if enough people are interested, I suppose I could be convinced into writing a guide to that. :wink: Changing EAC from MP3 compression to WMA Lossless was as easy as going into the Compression Options dialog, selecting �Microsoft WMA9 Encoder� as the Parameter passing scheme and �Lossless� as the Bit rate.
It was so far, so good at this point, so I grabbed a CD off the �to be ripped� pile and popped it in the drive. As usual, the CD contents were read and, after a brief consultation with freedb, displayed in the main EAC window. To my amusement, the CD I had grabbed happened to be almost exactly 60 minutes in length, which I took as a sign that my testing was going in the right direction. Crossing my fingers, I clicked the now-mislabeled �MP3� button. The drive spun up and EAC began reading the first track. Thankfully, it was a short track and I didn�t have to wait long before EAC launched the WM9 Encoder in command line mode. I watched with a small sense of victory as the numbers went up to 100%, the box closed and EAC moved on to the next track. I sat back and relaxed while the entire CD was ripped to the hard drive.
A beep sounded when ripping was complete, and I went immediately into Windows Explorer to check out the results of my experiment. My initial reaction was shock at the massive file sizes, but I had somewhat expected that as I remembered FLAC files being quite large themselves. Then I realized that I needed comparison data, so I re-ripped the same CD into different folders as uncompressed .WAV and 256 kBit/s CBR MP3 files. My results were fascinating, to say the least.
The Results
As I said, I was shocked, but not wholly surprised at the results of my tests. My experiment revealed that a 60-minute CD translated into 413MB worth of Lossless WMA files! To put that into perspective, the uncompressed .WAV files took up 614MB, whereas the MP3 files came out at 111MB. So the Lossless WMA files were almost four times the size of high-bitrate MP3s, and saved just a third of the file size over not compressing them at all. Hmm. Here�s that info put succinctly:
File Type:......................Size:........Time to Rip:
Uncompressed .WAV......614MB.......~10 minutes
Lossless WMA................413MB.......11:34
256 kBit/s CBR MP3.......111MB.......12:34
I now had definitive file size data to work with, and it was telling. What about the sound quality though? That�s what I�m really striving for here, otherwise why bother changing what I�m doing at all? So I closed up my office and cranked up the speakers to 11 and listened.
I�ve stated that I�m not a true audiophile, but I do love music. I�ve always thought (and preached) that a high-bitrate MP3 was indistinguishable from a CD. Well, I�m here to say I Was Wrong. A 256 kBit/s MP3 is widely considered to be �CD-quality�, but I�ll be darned if I didn�t hear a difference between the two. The song I chose is one of my favorites, so I know it well, and it�s full of many rich independent sounds, so I figured it would be a good test. I skipped to a climactic point where I knew the band went all-out. I listened carefully to each type of file, back and forth. It was hard to tell, because I was listening to it much more intently and at a higher volume than I�d ever had before, but I can tell you for sure that at least one sound that I had always figured was noise (this band likes noise) was actually another instrument way in the background! To me this was definitive proof that an MP3, even a high-bitrate one, will throw away sound that might prevent you from properly feeling the full experience. And it proved that ripping CDs into a lossless format might be worthwhile after all.
Once I had done that, I gave the format a more formal shakedown. It loaded into Nero just fine and it burned a copy with no problem. Theoretically, that burned CD should be a 100% exact duplicate of my original. That makes me happier than I expected, for some reason. Although there was no information on it one way or another, I was pretty certain my PMP wouldn�t play the lossless file, but I tried it anyway. Sure enough, I got a corrupted file message. Oh well.
What Does This Mean?
I now knew that WMA Lossless was clearly superior, sound-wise, to the MP3s I�d been ripping and listening to. I also knew that lossless files would take up almost four times the space of the MP3s I�d been listening to, and I knew that ripping a CD into WMA lossless was just as easy, and a tad faster, than what I was currently doing. Take into account that my current MP3 collection is 60GB, and my brain started spinning at the implications. I couldn�t just times 60GB by four and get the size of my collection as WMA lossless because I knew not all of those files were at 256 kBit/s quality. The more accurate estimate would come by multiplying the time factor. When I import my entire MP3 collection as a playlist, WinAmp reports I have just over 31 days of continuous music! Round down to 410MB per hour of music, and you get just over 305GB for 31 days of music.
Now, I keep my music collection on my 500GB NAS, so 305GB is pretty pricey, but not unaffordable to me. It�s not just about the space though. 305GB represents a significant time investment on my part. In fact, at an 11:30 rip-time per 60 minutes of music, that�s over 142 hours (almost 6 days) of straight ripping with no breaks. Heh. Needless to say it would take me considerably longer than that to do it.
In addition, there�s the fact that my new hypothetical lossless collection would not be portable. I would have to convert every file I want to carry on my PMP. Talk about a drag. I�m somewhat used to that though; I already have to convert any videos I want to watch on it.
My Conclusions
So I�ve decided to do it. I�ll take the plunge. From this day forward, I hereby pledge to rip every new CD to WMA Lossless. I do pledge to slowly, one by one, convert all of my current MP3 collection to WMA Lossless by re-ripping every CD I own, starting with the ones we listen to most often. I�ve decided I�ll store my massive new lossless collection on my NAS and store the albums I want to be portable locally on my main machine�s hard drive. I will keep my current MP3s of those albums as I re-rip them, and convert any new ones I want. I used Illustrate�s dBpowerAMP Music Converter, with its WMA codec plugin, to convert my lossless WMAs to MP3s in no time with a simple right-click. For $14USD, its value to me is considerable.
It�s a huge task and a huge commitment, but I think I�m up to it. I only wish I�d done this years ago. Get back to me in 2010 and I�ll let you know how it�s progressing. 
Damion Chaplin is a graphic artist and digital media connoisseur who�s secret identity is a mild-mannered internet manager at a hardware store in San Francisco.
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