has anybody used finyl before downloading CD to pc

Foobar 0.8.3 is the preferred playback software for a lot of audiophiles on PC. If your computer is on Window XP, consider the ASIO plug in to override the native sound driver. Other software like WinAmp or iTunes are good as well.

All playback software should have burning capability (that is, burning audio CDs from .flac files). I don't have much experience doing this and am not sure if any are better than others. Since it's just burning a data CD, I don't see where any of the popular ones would have problems so long as your computer has enough memory and a decent burner.

ok,

thanks shazam now I understand. Could you recommend any software for burning or playback? thanks again.

For CD playback, yes, I've heard various enhancements that can make a difference. All of them relate to reducing the read error rate of the transport device (and hence reducing the need for error correction in the digital stream). I found black marker on the top of the disk to work about as well as anything. Differences are nominal to great depending on your CD player.

However, when it comes to ripping CDs to digital format - a computer treats a music disk no different than a data disk. If you have the right software, it will read and re-read sectors until it gets it right - resulting in a bit perfect file.

That, in a nutshell, is the beauty of PC audio - you know you are always starting with a perfect source file that does not rely on expensive transport equipment to read the data and create the digital stream in real time.

Shazam,

Thanks for your reply. It doesn't sound like you have tried a cd enhancement yet, as you would be swearing by it if you did. Here's a cheap way to try it, but only with a disk that is disposable--you need to use a copy of your fav cd, rather than the original. Wipe armor all over your CD until it is shiny, but make sure it is uniform without smudge marks. Play your original and then play your armor all copy and you will notice a huge difference. I am wondering if that will translate to computer upload. Hope so. Either way, I'll try ripping to wav both ways and will post if it is better. Thanks,

my guess is it would not make a difference. The computer treats the CD as a data disk; it pulls off data and goes back to re-scan any sector it didn't get on the first pass. If you are ripping in "paranoid" or "secure" mode, it will keep going back (even dozens of passes) until the software feels confident it got the correct data. A CD player has to stream the data real time and can't go back for a re-scan.

Since CD enhancements are designed to minimize read errors it sometimes makes a difference for a CD player. The only difference you would likely notice on the computer is maybe a faster rip from fewer re-scans.

Of course, if the enhancement has the ability to repair scratches on the disk, you may be able to recover an otherwise unreadable sector.