Best (free) Audio MP3 decoder/audio ripper?

[Schadenfreude]

Well, I wanted to rip a few CDs into my HD since it's a pain in the ass to have to change CDs all the time - and I owm these bad boys BTW, so it's all legit.

Anyhoo, don't tell me to "google it" - I am seeking the wisdom and experience of the ATOTers, not to mention the fact that there's a bunch of them to pick from . . ..

Please help a computer n00B out!

 

[minendo]

EAC with Lame.

 

[igowerf]

The AnandTech FAQs suggest suing EAC with LAME, but according to the many threads in the Software forum, a lot of people prefer CDex.

So you didn't need to Google it... you could've just searched Anandtech.

 

EAC + Lame. Best solution I've found. However, I prefer EAC + MAC for lossless encoding.

 

[aircooled]

EAC + LAME

 

[cthulhu]

I've used EAC/lame and cdex. Both are good.

 

[Schadenfreude]

thanks for all the replies!

Another question that yet again proves my n00Bish tendencies . . . .tar.gz files are compressed files, right? Well, the EAC config asks for a LAME.EXE, which is an executable, and winzip doesn't read it . . ..

Now, before I install something else to the computer, is there another way I can just get the .exe file?

EDIT: n/m, got it

 

[randomlinh]

i prefer cdex...altho, haven't tried eac in over a year, so dunno if anything has changed

 

[Amorphus]

I like ripping into WMA with windows Media Player 9. better quality than my MP3s, and smaller file sizes (using same bitrates)

 

[PowerMacG5]

EAC + LAME = best sounding. If you want speed, and ease of use, I suggest iTunes.

 

[WTT0001]

CDex + Lame for me

 

[Night201]

Originally posted by: WTT0001
CDex + Lame for me

Same here and I use RazorLame as a Lame frontend.

 

[dr150]

CDex using the LAME. VERY easy to use. Bulletproof software. There's a reason why it gets raves.

 

[thomsbrain]

I prefer CDEX. EAC has a crappy interface, fails to work a lot of the time, and I can never seem to make it control LAME properly. Plus CDEX encodes on the fly as it rips, so it's faster by a considerable margin.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: Night201

Originally posted by: WTT0001
CDex + Lame for me

Same here and I use RazorLame as a Lame frontend.

wait, why use cdex+lame+razorlame?

 

[boran]

and smaller file sizes (using same bitrates)

quite a contradiction u have there

 

[Chad]

Cdex + Lame is all I could ever want.

 

[Sid59]

Originally posted by: lnguyen

Originally posted by: Night201

Originally posted by: WTT0001
CDex + Lame for me

Same here and I use RazorLame as a Lame frontend.

wait, why use cdex+lame+razorlame?

its more work.