What is the best free program to convert a cd to mp3

[SillyMan]

title says it all

 

[Paulson]

I like and use EZ CD-DA extractor...

 

[silverpig]

Cdex

 

[PliotronX]

The best would be Exact Audio Copy. Of course, this is the ripping program alone (taking the CD audio and making WAV files from it), and an encoder is required. The best MP3 encoder, hands down, is LAME. All the info you need about LAME is here. The best instructions for setting up EAC, and even LAME with EAC, is here. For more user-friendliness, CDex is the best. It comes with LAME prepackaged, so it is the best choice for casual computer users.

 

[silverpig]

Yeah, what I said.

 

[SillyMan]

thanks for the replies will try the cdex

 

[silverpig]

If you want some suggested settings, here's how I ususally rip mp3s

In Tools/Options

Find the ripping settings tab (can't remember exactly how to get there, but whatever).

I use variable bit rate VBR0
min 128 Kbps
max 320 Kbps
J-Stereo

That's all I can remember for now.

 

[Sp3nce]

AudioCatalyst

 

[Platypus]

<< Cdex >>

 

[BlackSoul]

<< AudioCatalyst >>



HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, you are kidding right??? Damn, I shot Dr. Pepper out of my nose when I was reading that! Use Audiocatalyst if you want the WORST possible sounding MP3s. Seriously, it has been proven many, many, many times that Xing encoder along with Blade are the worst encoders to use. Last time I saw AudioCatalyst wasn't free either.


As for the question, EAC for ripping and win32LAME (which contains: LAME encoder and RazorLAME frontend, also some nice presets) for encoding.

 

[KevinMU1]

And the really cool thing about CDEx is that you can get the source for it if you're into that sort of thing. And I will definitely 2nd (3rd?) the motion for CDEx.