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In: Home Theater
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If you want the absolute best sound quality from your digital music files, they need to be bit-perfect rips from CDs stored in a lossless compression format. I recommend using dBpoweramp Music Converter (dBmc) to do this. This page describes how to configure dBmc (version 12 or 13)  for the most accurate bit-for-bit perfect backup of an Audio CD (compact disc). First, you will need to install the following dBpoweramp files: Install dBpoweramp CD Ripper and Music Converter.  You will need to use either The PowerPack Version ($24; 3-week free trial) or the Reference version ($36; 3-week free trail.) I use the PowerPack version. InstallRead More →

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In: Tech
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I recently needed to removed the drive from a Western Digital My Book External USB/eSATA drive enclosure. Unfortunately, this wasn’t an obvious process and this excellent article by Scott Cramer didn’t apply to the newer version (1 TB drive) enclosure I have. So here you go, the steps required to disassemble a new-style Western Digital My Book drive enclosure. 1. Locate the two rubber pads on the bottom of the enclosure near the front, curved surface. Remove these two pads. Depress the two tabs below using a small flat-head screwdriver. 1a. With a couple of credit cards, pry the back edge of the casing apartRead More →

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In: Web
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A few months ago, I noticed I was approaching my bandwidth limits on my hosting account. Switching hosting providers is a pain, so I decided to move some high-bandwidth graphics to Amazon S3, where the bandwidth is cheap and unlimited. All was well until I realized that Google was returning search results pointing to my bucket on s3.amazonaws.com instead of carltonbale.com. Luckily, AmazonAWS has a work-around. You can use your own domain name in an Amazon S3 bucket. Here are the instructions on how to do it, from beginning to end. Introductory Steps for new Amazon S3 Users: First of all, obviously, you need yourRead More →

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In: Web
With: 31 Comments

I recently needed to share some open source files via BitTorrent and wanted to host them on my Amazon S3 account.  For those of you familiar with S3, here is the short-answer: add ?torrent to the end of the URL of a public-shared file to get the *.torrent file, so the link would be http://s3.amazonaws.com/your_bucket_name/your_file_name?torrent If you’re new to Amazon S3, read on for more info and detailed instructions. Why would you want to distribute a file using BitTorrent? I wanted to do this because, when sharing a file via a torrent, you use less of your Amazon S3 bandwidth and lower your monthly expense.Read More →

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In: Web
With: 2 Comments

Despite being around for years, RSS and Atom web feeds have managed to stay below the mainstream radar; a quick poll of my tech-savvy friends proved this to be the case. This article explains what web feeds are, why you care, and how best to take advantage of them. What are web feeds? According to Wikipedia: A web feed is a data format used for serving users frequently updated content. Content distributors syndicate a web feed, thereby allowing users to subscribe to it. Making a collection of web feeds accessible in one spot is known as aggregation. What’s the Benefit? The benefit to the userRead More →

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In: Home Theater
With: 5 Comments

Easier than Building Yourself: Buy a Replacement battery from ProntoWizard.com You can order replacement higher capacity (900 mAh) battery packs from ProntoWizard.com. These battery packs have almost twice the life of the standard battery packs. They are fully assembled and ready to use. My NiMH Battery Pack Replacement Procedure I attempted to replace the NiMH AAA batteries within my ProntoPro battery pack. The procedure is the same for both the standard Proto with AA batteries and the ProntoPro with AAA batteries. Unfortunately, I was unable to get the battery pack to work with the ProntoPro, perhaps due to it producing lower voltage than the PhilipsRead More →

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In: Home Theater
With: 0 Comments

Overview: ReplayGain [Add explanation of lossless ReplayGain, how it does not modify the original music data, only writes a metadata tag, usually uses Ogg Vorbis tags instead of mp3 tags, etc.] WaveGain is an application of gain algorithms to standard PCM wave files. Where it differs from the other applications of this principle is that the gain adjustments are applied directly to adjusting the scaling of the samples. In other words, the option to write tags that can be read by other applications to apply the gain adjustment does not exist, so the adjustments are made directly to the data on-file. Therefore, in the strictestRead More →

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In: Home Theater
With: 16 Comments

Disclaimers: First of all, this project discusses extracting the audio from DVD Video discs, not DVD-A / DVD Audio discs. DVD-Audio discs use an advanced form of encryption than cannot be digitally extracted / ripped. Extracting / ripping may be a violation of local laws. These instructions should only be used for content you own and it should only be used for personal use only. Overview: You think to yourself “why purchase both the CD and DVD of a concert when the DVD contains all the audio you need?” Since you purchased the audio on the DVD, it makes sense that you would copy audioRead More →

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In: Home Theater
With: 102 Comments

Overview: This page describes the most accurate way I know to extract and preserve the data from an Audio CD (compact disc). Two steps are necessary to get the best possible audio quality: Bit-perfect audio extraction from the CD Lossless compression of the extracted audio This 2-step process involves a lot of steps that most people would consider unnecessary. However, if you want to preserve and archive CDs by the most accurate means possible, this may be the page for you. NOTE: If you are not an audiophile and just want to use a lossless format, you probably will not be able to tell theRead More →