Music file format?

[AndyC160]

I'm ripping my CD collection so I can stick it on a USB C stick and play in my car.

If I rip them formatted to FLAC (lossless) will they play in the car through the pcm (Gen 2 Macan) or do they have to be mp3 or another format?

[Plyphon]

I can't seem to find it now but I seem to remember reading that WAV is the only lossless format the PCM will read.

[Bluesnose1812]

I'm ripping my CD collection so I can stick it on a USB C stick and play in my car.

If I rip them formatted to FLAC (lossless) will they play in the car through the pcm (Gen 2 Macan) or do they have to be mp3 or another format?

I believe PCM 3 can't but 4 and 5 can.

Why not rip 1 track and see.

[Neil1911]

Does this help: viewtopic.php?t=13690

[AndyC160]

I'm ripping my CD collection so I can stick it on a USB C stick and play in my car.

If I rip them formatted to FLAC (lossless) will they play in the car through the pcm (Gen 2 Macan) or do they have to be mp3 or another format?

I believe PCM 3 can't but 4 and 5 can.

Why not rip 1 track and see.

Not got a USB C stick yet...just thought I'd start the ripping tonight

[AndyC160]

Does this help: viewtopic.php?t=13690

Thanks Neil (and Col for creating that post)

Correct me if I'm wrong but, from reading Col's post it sounds like FLAC files can be played on pcm but it might not be better quality than mp3 when ripping music from a CD? Where are you Col??!!

[Bluesnose1812]

Mp3 was invented in the days when file storage was at a premium and very costly. Now with 1TB USB drives going for a tenner fill your boots and go flac.

[Neil1911]

I'm no expert on this, quite the opposite, but do I recall there being a MAXIMUM size of external drive the PCM can handle?
Lastly, an SD card disappears into the slot while a USB drive will protrude into the binnacle and could be a nuisance.

[Col Lamb]

I have FLAC files on the Jukebox in my Gen 1 and they sound great through the Bose.

As for ripping to MP3 the bit rate is dependent upon what Music you play.

Do note the limitations not on file size but file numbers. I put over 100Gb of music on a high capacity SD card and it played it but odd things would happen.

Now I have multiple SD cards which have about 20-25Gb of music on them, all MP3 recorded at the 320 bit rate.

This for me gives the best practical quality.

The Jukeboxes in Gen 1 Macans started at 30Gb but were reduced in capacity to a miserly 10Gb and in my car that is where my FLAC music reside.

FLAC sounds way better than 320 bit MP3, I did a test and Nick the Nuke and I listened to the results at a Macan meet years ago in Cheshire.

So before you go on a rampant ripping spree select a few of your favourite tracks and record them in different formats at different bit rates and see what they sound like.

Do remember that the text I originally wrote was for a Gen 1 and do check what Gen 2 & Gen 3 can handle, taking note not on file size especially but the total number of files allowed on a single storage device.

Nerdy bit,
MP3 stands for MPEG 1 Layer 3 and it was produced as a sub-set of standards that the industry working party. Who in turn set these standards for the Broadcast Industry and the equipment Manufacturers who themselves were keen to avoid another VHS v Betamax fiasco. These working parties led to standards for DVD’s, Blu-Ray’s, streaming video, 4k, 8k etc with the MPEG 2 standard being DVD whose file format is MPG, and Blu-Ray being MP4.

FINALLY
Do learn how to use the free utility MP3Tag as the ripped CD’s may well not display the track and album cover correctly due to ripping errors that exist in the software, Windows Media Player being the main culprit, but you may also find that Independent Artists are poor at encoding said information, what you will see is Track 1, Track 2 etc instead of the actual track name and this is where MP3Tag comes into play.

Good luck

[AndyC160]

I'm no expert on this, quite the opposite, but do I recall there being a MAXIMUM size of external drive the PCM can handle?
Lastly, an SD card disappears into the slot while a USB drive will protrude into the binnacle and could be a nuisance.

Good call re the SD card...not really thought about using an sd card until now