Importing HDCD

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Level 1

5 points

Importing HDCD

I recently purchased the new Neil Young CD "Prairie Wind" When I tried to import it to have on my iPod my iMac slowed to a crawl, the spinning beach ball was up and it took 90 minutes to import. when I played back the cuts, some were OK but many had pops, skips, etc. I noticed on the CD case that this particular disk is HDCD. Is that format a problem for iTunes? Any suggestions?

Thanks
Paul A

Posted on Oct 4, 2005 8:45 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 4, 2005 10:04 AM in response to Paul Arends

Paul
I too purchased that CD and imported it and it has none of those problems. I am guessing it is the HDCD and your bit rate is too low. I am at 192. A bit of history - Neil Young is a HUGE audiophile and, historically, has never liked CD's because he "can hear the air" between sounds. His last two releases have been in this format and I expect more average artists to go to this in an effort to boost sales of average CD's. Neil, he's about the sound. shannon

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Answer 2

Oct 4, 2005 2:59 PM in response to Paul Arends

Or it could be your settings conflicting with HDCD. Try turning off "playback during import", and see if that works. Shannon

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Answer 3

Oct 4, 2005 4:32 PM in response to Paul Arends

I agree with Shannon. I have imported a few HDCD encoded Audio discs with no ill effects. Notably Neil Young's Road Rock vol 1, and a few Grateful Dead Dick's Picks discs. You should look to your import settings. Such as turning off playback while importing, if that is on.

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Answer 4

Paul Arends Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 4, 2005 8:25 PM in response to Paul Arends

Thanks for your responses. I tried burning the CD again at different bit rates. At 192 it took almost 2 hours and I got the same pops and skips. Finally I tried "Apple Lossless Encoder" and that seemed to work. I still think something is buggy either with this particular CD or HDCD in general as it takes upwards of five minutes for the disk to mount and access Gracenote. While in the drive it renders my mac useless. All other expeiences with importing hundreds of other CDs have gone flawlessly, quickly and while having multiple apps open.

Paul A

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Answer 5

Oct 4, 2005 11:47 PM in response to Paul Arends

Paul, this isn't one of those pesky DualDiscs is it? I didn't think Prairie Wind came in that format.

It certainly should not take that long to access Gracenote, nor should it bring your Mac to a screeching halt. Does your iMac have a slot load or tray disc drive, I can't remember for that model. Although it should not make any difference . What does the surface of the disc look like? I'm assuming it is brand new so should not have any blemishes but you never know.

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Answer 6

NoName

Level 6

12,831 points

Oct 7, 2005 11:07 AM in response to Paul Arends

Here's my best guess...

I believe you have an optical drive that isn't up to snuff. I'll bet that if you try to rip the CD on ANY other computer, you won't have this problem.

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