What do ya'll use to rip/encode cd's?

[aphex]

I've been using iTunes, but i hate the lack of control you have over the folders/file names.....

I used to use EAC back in the day, but is there something better out now?

 

[Schadenfroh]

WMP 10

 

[Schadenfroh]

but i should be using CDex with LAME

http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/

 

[DaveSimmons]

Exact Audio Copy + FLAC for my lossless music server

dbPowerAmp + LAME to transcode from FLAC to MP3 for my new Create Nomad Zen Xtra.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Exact Audio Copy + FLAC for my lossless music server

dbPowerAmp + LAME to transcode from FLAC to MP3 for my new Create Nomad Zen Xtra.

If you don't mind me asking, roughly how large are each of the FLAC files you create?

 

[BlueWeasel]

Cdex + LAME for me.

 

[JetBlack69]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Exact Audio Copy + FLAC for my lossless music server

Yep, then I transcode to ogg for my laptop and aac to my ipod.

 

[Gurck]

EAC + dbpoweramp -> ogg & the occasional flac, the latter reserved for my favorites due to filesize, you need plugins for it to do either. I've found flac to range between about 50 - 70% of original wav size, though others have claimed more; 70-90%, possibly due to different tastes or settings, or encoder version used - ymmv.

 

[randomlinh]

CDEX+LAME

 

[drag]

ripperX

uses a combination of cdparanioa data ripping software (compinsates for scratches and eliminates stuttering and skips by resampling over and over again till it gets a clean copy, does it directly thru the IDE channel instead of a analog or digital connector), and uses CDDA to automaticly assign id3 tag information to the resulting files. (of course).

Supports different encoders and codecs. Several different mp3 encoders (including lame). I prefer either Ogg Vorbis or Flac files over Mp3's.

Vorbis is a lossy format like mp3, but just plain better. (better sound for same file size, smaller file size for better sound)

Flac is for lossless compression, so that you get 100% sound quality you can get from cdroms, and can be used to record new cdroms with no loss of quality like you'd get thru mp3's or Ogg. Results in much larger file sizes though, I use this for backups (cd's have a short violent life around me, apparently.), use Ogg for my laptop so that I save space. (and the occasional network streaming. My cable connection is decent enough now that I can stream out into the internet, especially if I multicast)

plus it's Free software.

 

[Armitage]

GRip

 

[daniel1113]

EAC + lame = yummy

 

[randumb]

CDex

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Exact Audio Copy + FLAC for my lossless music server

dbPowerAmp + LAME to transcode from FLAC to MP3 for my new Create Nomad Zen Xtra.

If you don't mind me asking, roughly how large are each of the FLAC files you create?

Pop / rock CD's average about 300 MB each. My music server box has 2 x 250 GB music drives with about 900 of my CDs ripped so far. I still need to rip the jazz, blues, and classical -- still trying to decide on the classical whether to preserve CD tracks as separate files or clump them into full symphonies, concertos, etc.

With a Tualatin Celeron 1.3 it takes about 8-10 minutes to rip a CD and encode to FLAC which isn't bad. I did wish for a faster CPU when I was transcoding about 300 CDs from FLAC to MP3 over the holidays to fill up my Zen Xtra though -- that took about 10 minutes per CD in dbPowerAmp (using LAME -aps extreme).

 

[Megatomic]

Add me to the CDex/LAME group. Been using it for a long time now, excellent freeware.

 

[drag]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Exact Audio Copy + FLAC for my lossless music server

dbPowerAmp + LAME to transcode from FLAC to MP3 for my new Create Nomad Zen Xtra.

If you don't mind me asking, roughly how large are each of the FLAC files you create?

Pop / rock CD's average about 300 MB each. My music server box has 2 x 250 GB music drives with about 900 of my CDs ripped so far. I still need to rip the jazz, blues, and classical -- still trying to decide on the classical whether to preserve CD tracks as separate files or clump them into full symphonies, concertos, etc.

With a Tualatin Celeron 1.3 it takes about 8-10 minutes to rip a CD and encode to FLAC which isn't bad. I did wish for a faster CPU when I was transcoding about 300 CDs from FLAC to MP3 over the holidays to fill up my Zen Xtra though -- that took about 10 minutes per CD in dbPowerAmp (using LAME -aps extreme).

I done a test to see what different file sizes you have to deal with...

I took a 3 and a half minute song and encoded it using FLAC.. 29megs.
took oggenc and did it at default setting and got around 5 megs.
took oggenc and did it at quality 0 (about 64kbps) and it was 1.7megs.

 

[PlasticJesus]

I agree that CDex w/LAME is really good stuff but for some reason if I rip with CDex and then load the resulting files into my Lyra, in the file menus the files will sometimes include no file type or it will read .mp3 or .MP3 after the song title. I can't stand those kinds of inconsistencies.

Once again, I believe CDex is excellent freeware, but I have to use WMP9.

 

[Vad3r]

I see a few mentioning CDex & EAC with LAME.

I've found a few settings that may help others useing EAC/Lame.
-------------------------------------------------
Recommended encoder settings:
-------------------------------------------------

--alt-preset standard (~190 kbit/s, typical 180 ... 220)

--alt-preset fast standard (~190 kbit/s, faster but potentially lower quality)

--alt-preset extreme (~250 kbit/s, typical 220 ... 270)

--alt-preset fast extreme (~250 kbit/s, faster but potentially lower quality)

--alt-preset insane (320 kbit/s CBR, highest possible quality)

For high quality on portable MP3 players, you may use --alt-preset medium (around 160 kbit/s). The medium preset is only available in the modified LAME3.90.3.


These are "presets" built into lame that you can use. There are more, just posted the more popular ones. An example of the compression line would be -
--alt-preset extreme --id3v2-only --pad-id3v2 --tt "%t" --ta "%a" --tl "%t" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" --tg "%m" %s %d -V %0

I was using this for a while. But I wanted higher bit rate, but not max of file size.
Took some searching, but found out how to get 320 max bitrate at vbr.

The used lame parameters mean:

* Join stereo (-m j)
* Variable bitrate (-v)
* Minimum bitrate (-b [bitrate])
* Maximum bitrate (-B [bitrate])
* High quality (-h)
* Quality setting for VBR (-V [arg])
* Strictly enforce the -b option (-F)

This kinda tells you whats being told to lame on how to compress your mp3s.
Mine is now like this -
--id3v2-only --pad-id3v2 -b 128 -F -B 320 -h -V 0 --tt "%t" --ta "%a" --tl "%t" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" --tg "%m" %s %d --V %0

-b tells it to use minimum of 128
-B tells it to use the max of 320
you can change these to whatever suits your needs best.

you can find the suggested versions of Lame Here

You want either the newest (3.96.1) or where the original authors left off (3.90.3)
The newest being the fastest, I'm using it, works great.
The original being most true to the presets as they were made to do by original authers of lame. 3.90.3 is very slow compared to latest.
With this list of settings, you should be able to get the quality vs file size you want.
I haven't tried CDex myself, I think it's all setup for you when installed. Exact Audio Copy, you just need to tell "where" Lame.exe is located.
You'll know it's working correctly when you rip a track, and Lame kicks in (dos window), and starts doing it's compression. If Lame doesn't kick in, you have something wrong in compression line, or it's not pointing to correct location of Lame.exe.
Hope this helps.

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: daniel1113
EAC + lame = yummy

A couple others have also said EAC + lame, but I think the OP's asking about the front end, not the actual encoder. I'll agree that lame sounds better than fraunhofer, but people are doing themselves a disservice by not trying ogg, it just plain sounds better than either.

 

[Confused]

EAC + Ogg Vorbis 256kbps

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Gurck

Originally posted by: daniel1113
EAC + lame = yummy

A couple others have also said EAC + lame, but I think the OP's asking about the front end, not the actual encoder. I'll agree that lame sounds better than fraunhofer, but people are doing themselves a disservice by not trying ogg, it just plain sounds better than either.

Well my biggest concerns are sound quality, compatability, and ease of use. Unfortunately, since neither my iPod nor my fiancee's sandisk mp3 player play ogg, its not something feesable for me.

 

[daniel1113]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: Gurck

Originally posted by: daniel1113
EAC + lame = yummy

A couple others have also said EAC + lame, but I think the OP's asking about the front end, not the actual encoder. I'll agree that lame sounds better than fraunhofer, but people are doing themselves a disservice by not trying ogg, it just plain sounds better than either.

Well my biggest concerns are sound quality, compatability, and ease of use. Unfortunately, since neither my iPod nor my fiancee's sandisk mp3 player play ogg, its not something feesable for me.

If you use lame to create a VBR mp3, it will sound just as good as any ogg file.

 

[imported_mitch2891]

WMP 10 but I have crap hearing so there is no point in me using anything fancier as I just can't hear the difference.

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: daniel1113
If you use lame to create a VBR mp3, it will sound just as good as any ogg file.

No, sorry.

Originally posted by: mitch2891
WMP 10 but I have crap hearing so there is no point in me using anything fancier as I just can't hear the difference.

Equipment & source play a large role. I had no idea what I was missing until I had a decent speaker system, sound card and especially headphones.

 

[daniel1113]

Originally posted by: Gurck

Originally posted by: daniel1113
If you use lame to create a VBR mp3, it will sound just as good as any ogg file.

No, sorry.

Yes, sorry

Unless he happens to be playing his music through a $50k audiophile setup, he will not hear a difference. Even then the difference would be awefully small, and probably not worth using ogg.