Ripping CD to FLAC, your opinion?

[ROBSCIX]

I know many here have large flac collections, so I was wondering if you guys think it is better to Rip a CD to:


1. A large flac file, with a CUE sheet

or

2. Multiple files with or without a cue sheet


?

I figured it depended on if you wanted to reproduce the album to another CD exactly as it was ripped but other peoples opinions is always great for conversation.


What say you?

Note: This is not about the politics of ripping or this format is better over that. It is a simple question for people that rip to Flac, so please keep the opinions on topic.

[N0sferatU]

Option 2

Gives me more options as I find most players (foobar) can easily do gap-less playback whereas others don't play as nicely when it comes to a big FLAC file and splicing it with a CUE. Plus, what happens if you accidentally lose the CUE sheet. Lastly, for my car (SD cards for MP3 playback it won't do FLAC) it's easier for me to convert the small files to MP3 tracks when they're individual files.

[LNCPapa]

Option 2 as well. I have a 20,000+ track flac collection and it makes things like transcoding tracks for other uses much easier. Foobar gives you the flexibility you need for playback and as long as your initial ripping process is clean you should have archive quality backups. I firmly believe it not modifying original files so all further alterations are done by tags (such as replaygain).

[Mufflore]

Multiple files.
I like to take a music selection and random play.
Random playing whole albums isnt as much fun.

[Erqury]

2nd choice as well, I like playing usually only 1 or 2 songs from a cd but I will take the whole set. Also playing huge files on portable devices can be a pain.

[ROBSCIX]

Originally Posted by Mufflore

Multiple files.
I like to take a music selection and random play.
Random playing whole albums isnt as much fun.

Some players load cue sheets and process the album as multiple tracks.

[Mufflore]

That would mean I need to work with cue sheets rather than grabbing files to play.

[bballfreak6]

def option 2

[ROBSCIX]

I was just wondering what the people around do regarding CD rips. You can rip a CD in either of the two ways I mentioned above but you require a cue sheet to burn an exact copy of the ripped CD, if that is important.

I figured most would go with option 2...

[Mufflore]

I am reducing the number of CDs I have lying around, they are stashed away safely.
There is no need for music on CD in my life now -although I buy CDs so I have a hardcopy backup and get to control the ripping.
My downloaded music (and my ripped music) is all backed up on magnetic or flash media, no need to burn CDs now.

[Redemption80]

Depends on the album.
Most of the time its as individual tracks, but for things like some Pink Floyd or Mike Oldfield albums I preferred it to be a single flac file and a cue sheet.

Either is good, my pet hate is people who rip only the tracks they like, my GF’s laptop is like that, spent lots of time going “Nice, I like that album” then finding only 2-3 tracks in the folder.

Either way works for me anyway, even my phone can load cue sheets.

[Anarion]

Option 2 definitely.

[sovereignty68]

option 2
there's higher chance that you won't lose the whole album in case of file corruption

[elkosith]

Option 2 also