Ripping my CD's, have some questions

[steveinaz]

I have EAC, Flac, and WinAmp downloaded and installed. I think all my settings are optimized in EAC correctly, and I have it configured to use Flac, but I have some questions.

As long as it takes to rip CD's, I want to make sure I do it right the first time. Is there anything I should know? I just created a "Music" folder on my 500GB external HDD, and that's where I want to put all the *.flac files---is this ok?

Any other hints before I dig knee-deep into about 600 CD's? Should I do a certain directory structure, or is what I have fine?

Any help/suggestions is greatly appreciated. I have ripped 3 albums so far, and everything seems fine.

[madmax]

My advice is to start by ripping a limited number of discs at first. I did this and found out after about disc number 10 there was some setting I was not aware of. I was only using the windows software (newbie at this).

[mmadden28]

Read all the FAQ'a from EAC's website.
Go through the post install steps, etc.

I also installed AutoFLAC and it's install also had some suggestions for some EAC command line settings.

I've ripped over 150 CDs in the past week or two - as long as the "confidence' level is more than at least 1 or 2, then you got a good rip (except the less popular CDs that haven't been uploaded into the AccurateRip dB yet). The Confidence level is how many others have ripped their CDs, computed the checksums and uploaded them to Accurate Rip (built into EAC). If the checksum is the same and others are getting the same, then you can rest assured that your rip was good. A lot of the options have to do with how the files are named, log settings, automation settings and compression levels (I left mine at default '6' - the checksums are computed on the uncompressed WAV). A few affect error correctiona dn detections and such. The most imnportant thing is that the rip is accurate IMO.

I've only had a few small issues, but most of them were caused by some of my older CDs that were pretty scratched up. I just did a quick polish on them with McGuire's ScratchX 2.0 and I resolved 98% or any read errors I was getting except for any seriously damaged discs. Of the ones that did not ripp 100% correct, the log report tells you the time in the tracks where the error is, and in everyone I've listened to I didn't hear any anomalies.

You will need a scratched up CD to do a proper C2 test.

[heiney9]

Tagging is important at the time of the rip. I believe EAC allows you to use one of the free internet databases to auto tag your songs.

[m00npie]

http://carltonbale.com/cd-audio-extraction

I use the settings as described on this site and follow the directions where it requires setup locally to your machine such as testing your drive for READ features.

[vc69]

Tagging is important at the time of the rip. I believe EAC allows you to use one of the free internet databases to auto tag your songs.

+1 thousand!

[steveinaz]

What do you mean by tagging? I did enter the recommended command string in EAC when using Flac, is this what you are talking about?

All my titles, file names, etc appear to be correct.

MMadden-so far the confidence ratings have been very good. I did have 1 CD that couldn't be read??? It's in perfect shape, maybe copy protection? It's ABBA GOLD.

[steveinaz]

http://carltonbale.com/cd-audio-extraction

I use the settings as described on this site and follow the directions where it requires setup locally to your machine such as testing your drive for READ features.


Thanks for that guide, I just re-configured mine to match.

[sucks2beme]

What do you mean by tagging? I did enter the recommended command string in EAC when using Flac, is this what you are talking about?

All my titles, file names, etc appear to be correct.

MMadden-so far the confidence ratings have been very good. I did have 1 CD that couldn't be read??? It's in perfect shape, maybe copy protection? It's ABBA GOLD.

Or it's an older disc. I had some that couldn't be ripped. I got errors.
I know for a fact that some CDP's had trouble with them(thePioneer Elites).
No surface damage. The only thing in common is they were all from about
1985-86 era. I really didn't want to re-buy them, so I cheated. I copied
them using cheap software, and then ripped them. I worked, but you can
hear a bit of what was wrong with them (harshness in spots).
I think QC was less than perfect in the early years of CD. God knows
the CD remastering on some of them sound pretty horrid. It's a wonder the
format survived all the stupid hurried rush of the early years.

[heiney9]

Steve, a tag is the song title, artist, etc......that's embedded into the file. You can't "tag" WAV files. If you don't tag them correctly or at all then when you "import" them into a player or music server the name of the song and artist won't show up and then you have no idea what's playing.

Giving each file a name in Windows is not the same as tagging. I know EAC tags, just need to amke sure it's set-up correctly................sound like it is.

If when you play your files using the WINAMP player, if the artist and song title shows up then your files are being tagged. Most times a free music database is used to "auto tag" but sometimes it doesn;t recognize it properly or that particular cd isn;t in the database then you have to manually enter "tag" the information.

[adam2434]

Steve, tagging is independent of the file name and puts all the appropriate metadata "in" the flac file itself. Proper tagging is necessary for managing and playing your library in the playback software.

Most of your CDs will be tagged properly in EAC if you go to Database -> Get CD Information From -> Remote freedb. You may find some spelling errors and other things you may want to edit once freedb finds the info.

You may have some more obscure CDs that are not in freedb. You can manually enter the metadata in EAC so that you will have proper tags.

EAC can be set up to create folders for artist with album/CD folders under each artist. A specific folder structure is not critical, whereas proper tagging is.

How big is the hard drive on your PC? If you have enough space, I would rip to your PC's HD, then back up to the external. As a rule of thumb, you should get around 3 CDs per gb with flac, so your 600 CDs would take around 200 gb, give or take. If you don't have room on your PC, you should still plan to have a back-up on another external HD or some other storage medium. You definitely don't want to lose the files if a HD craps out on you - too much time invested.

Lastly, you may want to consider Foobar as your player software, as it is one of the audiophile standards for PC music playback.

Once you get the ripping down, playback optimization will be the next thing to tackle. How will you be playing the music - Squeezebox or USB DAC or USB to SPDIF converter/DAC?

[steveinaz]

Thanks Fellas

H9, the info displays properly when playing in WinAmp; Artist/Title/Year/Genre, etc so I guess I have them tagged appropriately. The new tags from the guide above also is automatically creating a sub-directory for each artist on my F:\music\*.* drive. Is this ok? ("F" being my external HDD)

Adam, ultimately the music will most likely be used with a Squeezebox. My internal HDD is very small (40GB), my new external is 500GB, this is where I'm writing the *.flac files.

I assume the logitech will have its own cataloging/playback front-end software right?

[heiney9]

I assume the logitech will have its own cataloging/playback front-end software right?

Correct............but tags are universal when done properly, which sounds like yours are.

[adam2434]

Steve, OK.

I would still suggest you pick-up another external HD as a back-up.

You would see a grown man cry if I lost my files (around 700 CDs) due to a drive failure. The thought of re-ripping gives a sinking feeling in my stomach. :)

Edit: and I would only have the back-up drive connected/on when doing a back-up.

[steveinaz]

Will do, given the amount of time it takes, a backup drive will be purchased--thanks for the advice.

H9, thanks man for all the help.

I have developed a number of databases at work, so I'm very familiar with making sure you've got the proper structure, and capturing all the data you want out of the gate; that's why all the questions, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something critical.

THANK YOU ALL for the suggestions and help, as time consuming as this is, it definitely helps to get it right the first time.

[louhamilton]

This is why ALAC with iTunes is so much easier. ;) You put the disc in and it is just "right."

I did FLAC about 5 or 6 years ago and I remember the PITA that it was. Apple was my savior with ALAC and iTunes/iPod/iPhone/Apple TV for management and streaming.

[steveinaz]

How do I edit tagged information?

[mmadden28]

You can edit the tags in any app that works with FLAC, such as MediaMonkey, WinAMP, FooBar, etc.

[steveinaz]

Cool, thanks.

[D.Invax]

Hi Everyone.Just have a quick question about ripping cds onto the mozaic using the software which comes with it.

Im used to ripping cds and loading them onto my creative zen V plus using the software which came with it. It is very simple as the track names are downloaded from gracenote, the cd is ripped and the album is automatically saved onto the player and my computer in wma format. I was wondering is it possible to do so with the Mozaic software?

It is important as i have a large cd collection which i need to rip. And i want to buy the 16gb Mozaic.

Thanks in advance

[steveinaz]

D-
You might want to start a new thread, they'll probably assume this one is concluded...

[sucks2beme]

Note: if you have any mixed media cd's, you would open EAC, hold the shift key
down while loading in the cd, and hlod it for a few seconds after the tray closes. I had to do this to rip the new Beatles remasters. They put a
mini-documentery on the disc to to mess me up!

[mmadden28]

I ran into similar issues when using AutoFLAC with EAC when ripping any CDs that also had data. But when I used EAC by itself I didn't have any issues. I'm guessing you had EAC set to autorip?

[steveinaz]

My Beatles remasters were ripped yesterday with no issues. I'm not using Autoflac, however.

[RandyWilliamson]

I just want to thank everyone.
I came on here looking for a solution and it pretty much seems like that is what this is.
So thanks! and I hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving.


I have a spare laptop that I wanted to use to play MP3'z from on my 2ch Rig and possibly rip some CD's onto....my laptop is not highend it's a little older but should do the trick.

Now it seems I will be building a flac/mp3 player/ripper.

[sucks2beme]

I ran into similar issues when using AutoFLAC with EAC when ripping any CDs that also had data. But when I used EAC by itself I didn't have any issues. I'm guessing you had EAC set to autorip?

Yup. The data file hoses it up pretty good.

[!Jeremy]

I use Windows Media Player 12 and rip my collection to WMA lossless. The tagging software built into WMP works well automatically detecting the CD and populating the files with the correct data. I server the music using a Windows Media Center to a Windows media extender enabled receiver which makes the entire process painless. As long as you have no burn errors WMA lossless will be bit for bit the same data as the PCM data.

[audiobliss]

So, to revive an old thread...

I've now embarked on re-ripping all my CD's using EAC and EAC's included FLAC encoder to rip to FLAC. I set up EAC so my files are named by just the track name, as I don't want the track number to be a part of the file name. However, I do want my music to be sorted (within their respective album folders) in windows explorer to be sorted by track number. Is there anyway to have the files sorted by track number when that is not part of the file name? I feel like there should be a way, but I haven't found it so far.

[wayne3burk]

if you sort your files by date -- they'll be sorted in the order they're ripped... but that won't help you in your audio player software.

If you want them to play in the order they appear on the disc i think you're gonna havta put the 01, 02, 03, 04 ... back in there

-- wayne --

[audiobliss]

Foobar2k recognizes the track numbers and lists them in that order just fine, regardless of the file name. However, I still want the songs to be listed in that order in Windows Explorer. Perhaps your idea on that front will work.

I was expecting there to be some way to get that result using ID3 tags, but I must admit I'm not familiar at with them.

[wayne3burk]

I wasn't aware that foobar recognizes the track number without the number as part of the title..

I'll have to give foobar a test drive

thanks,

[heiney9]

Foobar2k recognizes the track numbers and lists them in that order just fine, regardless of the file name. However, I still want the songs to be listed in that order in Windows Explorer. Perhaps your idea on that front will work.

I was expecting there to be some way to get that result using ID3 tags, but I must admit I'm not familiar at with them.


ID3 tags are exactly why track numbers show up in media players like Foobar. Windows doesn't use nor recgonize ID3 tags, it never has so you have to figure out another way to "name" (notice I didn't say tag) your files in Windows. Whatever you "name" them in windows is not an imbedded tag for when you play them in a media player.

I'm really not understanding what the issue is? I rip my stuff right into a folder and then play it in media monkey. I have no idea why you'd be viewing or playing a file from Windows Explorer.

Even if you want to burn something either the burning software lets you drag and drop files in whatever order (based on the ID3 info from your rip) or you facilitate the burn from Foobar or MediaMonkey. Why does Windows Explorer need to be used?

[heiney9]

I wasn't aware that foobar recognizes the track number without the number as part of the title..

I'll have to give foobar a test drive

thanks,

All media players use info form the ID3 tag which is embedded during the ripping process so it's imortant to get that info correct. One can go back and edit it, but if name your files in Windows that is strictly for identifying the file in Windows...........that info doesn't translate into a media player like Foobar or MediaMoney or Windows Media Player..........it's all based on the ID3 tags embedded during the ripping process.

H9

[audiobliss]

Thanks for the info, heiney9. As I'm trying to figure out how to get this to work, in the back of my mind I'm not really sure why I want it that way. You've convinced me. There really is no point in having the songs sorted like that in windows explorer. I guess my only reasoning was that I usually open my music to play from windows explorer. I generally rather open a folder corresponding to the artist, then the folder with that album in it, and then select the song(s) from that album I want to play, rather than use a media player's built-in album function. Mainly I suppose because I've yet to find a media player other than iTunes that manages your collection how I like.

[heiney9]

Mainly I suppose because I've yet to find a media player other than iTunes that manages your collection how I like.


MediaMonkey is awesome and free. I prefer over Foobar or Winamp by a wide margin.

H9

[ESavinon]

Just download Vortexbox into a old computer.

[audiobliss]

MediaMonkey is awesome and free. I prefer over Foobar or Winamp by a wide margin.

H9

I used the free version of MediaMonkey a while back for a bit. It felt a little bloated and slow to me, and I didn't particularly like the album section. However, I'll have to revisit it once I get my music re-ripped and all my ducks in a row again. Perhaps I'll think more highly of it another time around.

[heiney9]

I used the free version of MediaMonkey a while back for a bit. It felt a little bloated and slow to me, and I didn't particularly like the album section. However, I'll have to revisit it once I get my music re-ripped and all my ducks in a row again. Perhaps I'll think more highly of it another time around.

I have to LOL at that statement simply because earlier you mentioned i-Tunes which is by faaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrr slower and more bloated than MediaMonkey :tongue::biggrin:. i-Tunes is really poor in that regard, IMO.

I have found zero issues with MM as far as speed or being bloated. It's ablility to catalog my music collection is amazing. It's an extremely powerful program and I could see if someone was just looking for a player to play store bought mp3's perhaps Foobar or Winamp is less bloated.

The things MM can do simply amazes me. My audio library is very important to me and I use it with my music server so MM is invaluable to me as a tool and it doubles as a great player for the office rig.

H9

[SCompRacer]

I have found zero issues with MM as far as speed or being bloated.

As a user of both Media Monkey and the wifes iTunes, I agree. I am glad I took your brother Blakes advice and bought MediaMonkey Gold and dBpoweramp ripping software.

Matter of fact, after some iTunes mishaps, the wife wants to learn Media Monkey as it will export to her iPod in mp3.

[heiney9]

As a user of both Media Monkey and the wifes iTunes, I agree. I am glad I took your brother Blakes advice and bought MediaMonkey Gold and dBpoweramp ripping software.

Matter of fact, after some iTunes mishaps, the wife wants to learn Media Monkey as it will export to her iPod in mp3.

I am not that thrilled with i-Tunes, I use it simply because I have an i-Pod Touch and it's necessary. Thinking of selling the Touch and getting an Android based phone that does all the things I use the iPod for only cheaper and easier. I mostly use the i-Pod Touch for the iPeng app which control the Squeezebox Touch. Android based phones have an identical app.

H9

[FTGV]

I recently downloaded the free version of J River as an alternatve to iTunes.Like it so far but I need to figure out how to get album art.

[audiobliss]

Oh, I definitely agree with the consensus on iTunes. Extremely bloated, finicky, and unresponsive. I was just using it as an example of an album management system I like. Perhaps because before I got so picky with digital music I started out on iTunes and became accustomed to its interface.

What're your thoughts on dBpoweramp for ripping? I've used the demo version for converting file formats before, but never for ripping. Is it comparable to EAC? Or am I better off sticking with EAC?

I guess I need to research more into the capabilities of MediaMonkey. I feel like I might would need separate software for ripping my CD's, managing my albums, converting/burning to .WAV, and sending to my iPod. But it seems as though MediaMonkey has a lot of those bases covered. Is dBpoweramp's only use for ripping and converting?

[heiney9]

I use dB poweramp now instead of EAC. Not sure on the other capabilites of dBpoweramp as I really haven't looked into it.


I feel like I might would need separate software for ripping my CD's, managing my albums, converting/burning to .WAV, and sending to my iPod. But it seems as though MediaMonkey has a lot of those bases covered.

MM will do all that and more all in one program. Not sure why you want to rip to .WAV unless you mean copying actual files to play on a cdp. I still do make a cdr here and there for friends...........all done effortlessly from MM.

The greatest thing about MM is it's report feature meaning I can create a report of my music library import it into i-Tunes and load it on my i-Pod and when in the cd store I can pull it up on the i-Pod and see if I already own that music. I have been buying a lot of dups lately.

H9

[audiobliss]

Yes, I was referring to burning CD's for friends or for playing in the car. Sounds like MM's pretty awesome. I will definitely look into it and dBpoweramp again.

Thanks so much for the info!

[audiobliss]

Just out of curiosity, why the move from EAC to dbPoweramp? What do you prefer in the latter over the former?

[LessisNevermore]

Just out of curiosity, why the move from EAC to dbPoweramp? What do you prefer in the latter over the former?

I have the same question as well. Also, what's the deal with dBP, is it modular-each bit bought separately, or what?

[audiobliss]

I'm looking at it on their website, under the "Purchase" section, and it appears that for $38 you can purchase the "dBpoweramp Reference R14" which seems to include the CD ripper and writer, though I'm not sure on the converter. If it including the ripping and converting aspects, I'd be very tempted. But I'm not very interested in paying for both separately.

EDIT: Looking HERE (http://www.dbpoweramp.com/db-versions.htm) where it breaks down the difference in the versions, it seems they all include the format converter.

[audiobliss]

Just as an fyi, I, too, am now using dBpoweramp for ripping CD's. I d/l'd the free version to give it a try, and the overall process seems to be simpler, smoother, and faster, with no reduction in user control and quality of the rip.

Also, I love how when dBpoweramp installed, when I hover my cursor over a music file in windows explorer, dBpoweramp provides me with TONS of information about the file. Also, ripping with dBpoweramp, somehow how track numbers are associated with my music files in windows explorer, if I were to decide to sort by those.

[m00npie]

Just out of curiosity, why the move from EAC to dbPoweramp? What do you prefer in the latter over the former?

I won't speak for Brock, but for me... simplicity in setup and highly efficient over EAC. All the same functionality + more in about a third of the time to rip both .mp3(LAME) and .flac (Lossless). Worth the cost in my opinion.