Prepping for Zune Arrival

[Paul Martin]

Just won an auction on ebay for a Zune so it should be on it's way next week. I'm pretty excited since I've never owned a DAP before! But, because of that, I've not bothered with ripping many CD's to put on my computer. So, where should I begin? Any recommendations on ripping bit rate - what can the Zune support? Also, how do I incorporate album art so it shows up as well? Thanks!

[Aaron Roma]

Keep in mind that you can also go ahead and download the Zune software from www.zune.net (http://www.zune.net). That way you can go ahead and build your library while you are waiting for your Zune to arrive. It would also give you an opportunity to play around with some of the different bit-rate options to see what combination of quality and size works best for you. Album art is fairly automatic. As you import or rip music into the Zune software, it will take care of downloading album art and track information. (You may need to help if the track or album is more obscure.) You also have the option of using high quality embedded album art, which is something Jason is passionate about, but you'll have to talk to him about that.

[Paul Martin]

Thanks, Aaron. I did download it last night, but didn't install it. I may go ahead and do that. At Head-Fi, someone recommended using EAC to rip to FLAC, then transcoding it to LAME MP3 so at least I'll have a lossless version there and won't have to re-rip later. Just curious, what rate did you rip yours too?

BTW, I'll be glad when the instant e-mail notifications start working. Mine never do.