Free MP3 ripper

[walrus]

I just got a new PigPony Ipod Nano knock off. I don't have any MP3s on my computer and need to convert some of my CDs to MP3 or 4.
What's a good free ripper with no spyware?

 

[mundane]

CDex

 

[Ryland]

Exact Audio Copy

 

[jlbenedict]

I believe the latest version of Windows Media Player will convert to MP3 now. The function was added back in recently. It used to not be an option with version 9 but after that it was put back in.

 

[walrus]

Thanks!

 

[yosuke188]

Originally posted by: Ryland
Exact Audio Copy

:thumbsup:

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: yosuke188

Originally posted by: Ryland
Exact Audio Copy

:thumbsup:

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[walrus]

I tried both, Exact Audio Copy won't convert my wave files to MP3s. It just copies my files from my CDs wave to wave. And CDex won't open, then crashes my computer to blue screen.
Any other programs? I don't need anything fancy, I just don't want any spyware. There are a lot out there, but I don't know which are safe. Thanks

 

[Zap]

You also need LAME. Exact Audio Copy (EAC) has provisions to control LAME. EAC does not come with any MP3 encoder, it is strictly a CD ripper. Easiest thing would be to uninstall EAC, install LAME (IIRC just create a directory and unzip into it) then reinstall EAC. When EAC installs, it scans your HDD for LAME.

 

[walrus]

Ok I downloaded LAME and EAC says it's saving as MP3 but it still copies it as wave. 33MB, big file

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: walrus
I tried both, Exact Audio Copy won't convert my wave files to MP3s. It just copies my files from my CDs wave to wave. And CDex won't open, then crashes my computer to blue screen.
Any other programs? I don't need anything fancy, I just don't want any spyware. There are a lot out there, but I don't know which are safe. Thanks

Which version of CDex are you using? The 1.7(?) is a beta, the last nonbeta was 1.51, which should be stable.

 

[Zap]

You need to make sure the settings are correct. Once that is done, a song gets ripped into WAV, then EAC is supposed to automatically call up LAME to compress the WAV into MP3 - at this point you'll see what looks like a DOS window open up. It will close after it is done. If it doesn't do that, then there are some issues with EAC's setup. You can go into options/preferences and have it re-find LAME. Also, are you sure you are clicking on the CD>MP3 button and not the CD>WAV button? Beyond that I won't be of much help - it's been a while since I've used EAC and right now I don't even have it installed on my system. I think EAC's official site has some forums with people who may be of more help.

 

[Evander]

I'll clarify on some of the suggestions provided:

CDEX: best balance of quality, speed, and ease of use. It's been around for a long time, and it's what I personally use most of the time

Exact Audio Copy: highest quality cd ripping to prevent skips in the CDs you rip. Slower than CDEX and not as user friendly. Follow this guide:
http://www.chrismyden.com/bestmp3guide.php
The bad news is that it's a bit of a pain to set up correctly at first, the good news is that once you set it up, you don't have to do it again and EAC becomes quite user friendly

Here's another tip for getting track information automatically from the internet. CDEX and EAC use the "free cddb". It's good to have but not as good as the "gracenote" cddb, especially when it comes to foreign cds. If your disc is not correctly identified by free cddb, fire up realplayer- it is free and uses the gracenote database. Then from CDEX or EAC, choose:
CDDB -> read from cdplayer.ini

 

[corkyg]

My favorite is AudioGrabber 1.83 - it incorporates LAME and does the entire process with one click.

Grab

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: walrus
I tried both, Exact Audio Copy won't convert my wave files to MP3s. It just copies my files from my CDs wave to wave. And CDex won't open, then crashes my computer to blue screen.
Any other programs? I don't need anything fancy, I just don't want any spyware. There are a lot out there, but I don't know which are safe. Thanks

Windows Media Player 10 or 11: no spyware, easy to configure.

I really don't know why people overlook this option.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: jlbenedict
Windows Media Player... I really don't know why people overlook this option.

Force of habit.

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: jlbenedict
Windows Media Player... I really don't know why people overlook this option.

Force of habit.

Probably true since previous versions made you purchase a 3rd party mp3 encoder for it.

 

[KoolDrew]

Originally posted by: Ryland
Exact Audio Copy

:thumbsup: