PDA

View Full Version : Cd Ripping Programs



gcunning
12-08-2004, 11:42 AM
What is the best CD ripping program out there now?
Free would be ideal, but I'm willing to spend money on a good program if its worth it.
Like others, I need to finally get around to copying all my CD's to my computer for backup and ease of use.
I have over 400 CD's that I need to rip so the more automated the better.


I can hunt download.com for the top download,but I'm looking for personal opinions from people who know software better.


So what's the best one.....? :ph34r:

Tomb
12-08-2004, 12:13 PM
I use Exact Audio Copy (http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/) and Audiograbber (http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/). Both Freeware.

I use Audiograbber for general use and EAC for less than perfect discs.

locustfurnace
12-08-2004, 05:33 PM
EAC is probably the best for accurate rips and overall useage. If your planning to archive your music in case of loss, you may want to consider using a lossless encoder. Mp3 is lossy, which means data is lost when encoded. Lossless can shrink the filesize down, you can fit more on a blank CD (not as much as a lossy format) but you won't be lossing any data.

If you just want to listen to your tunes on the Computer. Then go for the lossy encoders. I would recommend ogg-vorbis over mp3 if you only plan to listen to these on your home computer and not on a portable device ( no hardware ogg decoders, or very hard to locate ).
Pick a decent quality on any encoder you opt for.
Dont use mp3 at 128kbps. despite what some say, 128kbps is not "CD Quality." More people chose to go with 192kbps. This is a good decent setting, anything over this, increases the filesize and, once the filesize balloons much higher then your best opting for a lossless encoder.

Bitrate to bitrate, ogg-vorbis sounds better and is a smaller filesize. If your concerned about fitting 400CDs on your system, this might be the format to go with.
I currently have CD's which have 280+ oggs on a single CD. With mp3, I can usually get 150songs per CD.

If your planning to archive the music and want to be able to listen to them years later. then consider using an Open format, such as Ogg-vorbis (lossy) or FLAC (lossless) or a few other choices, But these are the more popular formats in open source circles.
The benefit to using an open source format is that since the source code is freely available you should not have to worry much down the road if the software developers vanish, taking with them their products. And leaving you with a lot of music locked in a format you can no longer find a player for. (Such as 'Liquid Audio' - which was acquired by Microsoft.)

Also, if your arching your music, don't be encouraged into "Normalizing" the original music files. This adds some gain to the volume, but also introduces noise to the signal. As does any manipulation of the audio. If your just ripping them to listen to them, then go ahead and normalize, the noise is minimal, but not a good idea for an archive.

Tomb
12-09-2004, 05:51 AM
Originally posted by locustfurnace@Dec 8 2004, 06:33 PM
I would recommend ogg-vorbis over mp3 if you only plan to listen to these on your home computer and not on a portable device ( no hardware ogg decoders, or very hard to locate ).


i-river portables play Ogg Vorbis and seem to be available on a regular basis.

I too would not normalize my files as this makes permanent changes to your files. I use replaygain instead which is reversible as it writes values to the tags.