VinylStudio's gives you a lot of control over where your split-up tracks are stored and how they are named, as well as one or two other things. You can access this dialog via the Options menu. You will also find additional, more specialised options under the Options menu.
Checking the Autosave box tells VinylStudio to save your work every few minutes automatically (recommended). When it does this, VinylStudio saves your album and track listings and suchlike in something called an MCF file. We refer to this as your collection file, although your collection also includes your recordings, album art and any split-up tracks.
The folder in which your split up tracks are stored defaults to your My Music folder but you can change this here if you wish. By default, VinylStudio creates a folder beneath here with the same name as your collection but you can override this if you wish by unchecking the box.
The way in which your split up tracks are named can also be configured in a very flexible way. Choose an entry from the dropdown list (recommended) or if you want more control over where the files are stored you can type in a custom string. Note that albums and singles each have their own separate setting; use the radio buttons to select the item of interest. Changing the setting for albums will make a corresponding change to the setting for singles, as that is generally what is wanted. If not, change the setting for singles subsequently.
File Options for the various file types that VinylStudio supports are listed below in alphabetical order. You can select the file type to configure from the dropdown list which is displayed when you click on the button.
Check Save album art in folder.jpg if you want VinylStudio to copy album art to file folder.jpg when saving tracks. Many media players recognise this file and will display it when the track is played and Explorer will show it as a folder icon. Note that this option only makes sense if each album is saved to a separate folder.
These are the options you can specify when recording to, converting to, or saving tracks in AAC format. When saving tracks you can specify a separate set of options for tracks saved in mono and stereo.
Sample Rate: as described for WAV files.
Bitrate: 128 kbps is generally regarded as 'perceptually transparent', and will almost certainly suffice to use with your iPod. Higher bitrates result in larger files.
Use Variable Bitrate Encoding (VBR): This generally results in smaller file sizes for the same sound quality. Recommended.
VBR Quality: Move the slider to the right for better sound quality (and larger files) when using VBR encoding.
Embed Album Art (when saving tracks): as described for MP3 files.
These are the options you can specify when recording to, converting to, or saving tracks in AIFF format. When saving tracks you can specify a separate set of options for tracks saved in mono and stereo.
Sample Rate: as described for WAV files.
Bit depth: as described for WAV files.
Embed Album Art (when saving tracks): as described for MP3 files.
These are the options you can specify when recording to, converting to, or saving tracks in Apple Lossless format. When saving tracks you can specify a separate set of options for tracks saved in mono and stereo.
Sample Rate: as described for WAV files.
Bit depth: as described for WAV files.
Compression: Higher values give slightly smaller files at the expense of longer processing times. Because ALAC is lossless, this setting does not affect sound quality.
Embed Album Art (when saving tracks): as described for MP3 files.
Sample Rate: as described for WAV files.
These are the options you can specify when recording to or converting to Apple Core Audio format. You cannot save tracks in CAF format.
Bit depth: as described for WAV files.
Byte order: Use native normally, for best performance, but some older applications might only be able to read big-endian files.
These are the options you can specify when recording to, converting to, or saving tracks in FLAC format. When saving tracks you can specify a separate set of options for tracks saved in mono and stereo.
Sample Rate: as described for WAV files.
Bit depth: as described for WAV files.
Compression: Higher values give slightly smaller files at the expense of longer processing times. Because FLAC is lossless, this setting does not affect sound quality.
Embed Album Art (when saving tracks): as described for MP3 files.
These are the options you can specify when recording to, converting to, or saving tracks in MP3 format. When saving tracks you can specify a separate set of options for tracks saved in mono and stereo. The options for saving tracks are also used when burning MP3 CDs
Sample Rate: as described for WAV files.
MP3 Quality: This allows you to trade off file size against sound quality. Variable Bit Rate (VBR) format files offer significant advantages over the Constant Bit Rate (CBR) format more commonly used, but a (very) few players have problems playing these. VBR High is recommended when recording as you want, ideally, perfect fidelity and this setting comes close. VBR Low is generally a good compromise when saving tracks or burning CDs.
Embed Album Art (when saving tracks): If you have looked up or imported album art for the album you are working on, VinylStudio can embed this in the files it generates when saving tracks. Most players are fine with this but a few may object so you can disable it by unchecking the box. VinylStudio can also resize the image it stores in the file and it is generally wise to tell VinylStudio to limit the resolution to around 400 x 400 pixels. This does not change the original artwork file in any way.
Minimum Bitrate: Set the minimum bitrate to use when encoding VBR or ABR files. This is not normally necessary but a (very) few players have problems playing files containing low bitrate frames.Maximum Bitrate: Set the maximum bitrate to use when encoding VBR or ABR files. This is not normally necessary or useful but can reduce file sizes with some types of music (e.g. heavy metal).
Bit reservoir: Enabling the bit reservoir improves recording quality somewhat, especially when generating CBR files. Recommended.
CRC: Include a checksum in every MP3 frame. This reduces encoding quality slightly and is not normally necessary (or useful).
Copyright: Set the 'copyright' flag in every MP3 frame. This has no other effect.
Original: Set the 'original' flag in every MP3 frame. This has no other effect.
Private: Set the 'private' flag in every MP3 frame. This has no other effect.
These are the options you can specify when recording to, converting to, or saving tracks in OGG format. When saving tracks you can specify a separate set of options for tracks saved in mono and stereo. The options for saving tracks are also used when burning MP3 CDs
Sample Rate: as described for WAV files.
MP3 Quality: This allows you to trade off file size against sound quality. Variable Bit Rate (VBR) format files offer significant advantages over the Constant Bit Rate (CBR) format more commonly used, but a (very) few players have problems playing these. VBR High is recommended when recording as you want, ideally, perfect fidelity and this setting comes close. VBR Low is generally a good compromise when saving tracks or burning CDs.
Embed Album Art (when saving tracks): as described for MP3 files.
Minimum Bitrate: Set the minimum bitrate to use when encoding ABR files. This is not normally necessary or useful.
Maximum Bitrate: Set the maximum bitrate to use when encoding ABR files.
These are the options you can specify when recording to, converting to, or saving tracks in WAV format. When saving tracks you can specify a separate set of options for tracks saved in mono and stereo. WAV files cannot carry tagging information or album art.
Sample Rate: When recording, 44kHz is recommended as this provides the best results when burning CDs and is generally more than adequate for digitising records and tapes. When saving tracks, 'as recorded' is normally what you want but VinylStudio can convert your saved tracks to a different sample rate if desired. Lower sample rates give smaller file sizes but you will lose some treble. Converting to higher sample rates generally serves no useful purpose.
Bit depth: The number of bits per sample in the output file. 16 bits per sample is normal. Higher bit depths generate larger files and take longer to process but give a wider dynamic range if you have a 20 or 24 bit sound card or other audio device.
These are the options you can specify when saving tracks in WMA format. You can specify a separate set of options for tracks saved in mono and stereo. WMA cannot be used as a recording format.
Profile: A dropdown list of what the available codecs installed on your machine can do. Note that most hardware players do not support WMA Professional or WMA Lossless.
VBR Quality: Move the slider to the right for better sound quality (and larger files) when using VBR encoding.
Embed Album Art : as described for MP3 files.