[Flac] FLAC CD Archive

[Charles Steinkuehler]

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Peter Edwards wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Bit late to join in the discussion but I've just read through the CD
> archiving discussion and was particular interested in Dax's method,
> described here (also included below):
> 
> http://lists.xiph.org/pipermail/flac/2006-September/000611.html
> 
> So far I've just been flac-ing my CDs to individual one-flac-per-track
> files, however it appears I've been missing some of the other bits of
> info on the CD.
> 
> I haven't been using abcde (i've been using KAudioCreator which is a
> front-end for cdparanoia, AIUI) so I've been a bit lost by some of the
> detailed methods described by others, as well as Dax.
> 
> Given that I've already flac-ed a good many CDs, is it enough to go
> back and run a batch file like this on each CD:
> 
> cd-discid /dev/hdc > discid.txt
> cdrdao read-toc --device /dev/hdc toc.txt
> 
> and save those txt files with the flac albums.  Would that be enough
> to be able to re-generate the CD again later with the same cddbid
> etc.?  i.e. would that extract all info I might conceivably require
> again later?

The cddbid relies only on information contained in the CD table of
contents, so as long as you're ripping a cue file (or similar) you
should be able to create a CD with an identical id.

To make sure you're actually making a faithful duplicate of the original
disc, other data you may want to extract and archive include:

- - Audio data prior to the start of track 1 (and possibly after the end
of the 'last' track, depending on the disc layout)

- - Sub-code index information

- - CD-Text data

- - Any non-audio data present on the disc (ie: data files)

- - Disc "Meta-data", such as ISRC and catalog numbers

Extracting a toc file with cdrdao will get you sub-code info, cd-text,
and the "meta-data".  You can rip any (pre|post)-gap audio with
cdparanoia with an appropriate range specifier, although since this is
normally silence, not having it ripped isn't typically a big deal.  Any
data files you want to archive can simply be copied after mounting the disc.

I'd also check over the ripping script, and make sure the individual
flac tracks you've ripped can be glued together 'seamlessly', resulting
in audio data appropriate to re-create the original disc.

I personally use abcde as a front-end to cdrdao and cdparanoia to rip a
single flac file (with embedded cue sheet) and a toc file (with the
cd-text and index information), should I need to re-create a CD that
somehow got damaged.  I've tested the creation of images that would
match the disc I started with, except I haven't been able to get cdrdao
to account for the write offset of my Plextor CD/DVD burner, so the
audio data comes out shifted by 30 samples (the write offset of my
burner).  Not the end of the world, and I can "pre-shift" the audio data
to fix it.

- --
Charles Steinkuehler
cstein at newtek.com
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