Ripping audio CDs. : Othor Games

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 6:06 am

At this age, does it matter which drive you use to rip audio cds?

Hydrogen audio says:

New rippers with secure ripping facilities have emerged in recent years, and it is now difficult to judge compared to some years ago when the only answer was Exact Audio Copy (EAC).

I see that even WMP has an 'error correction' tickbox (at least in current versions).

The drives are another thing, nobody talks about which drive is the best for CD ripping anymore, as if it doesn't really matter at this technological stage.

There is a specific concern for my situation, I'm trying to rip a bunch of CDs that have a "large number of indexed sounds". Basically I think it means each 'track" is a concatenation of many "movements". They say that "misaligned or dirty" cd drives will create "unpleasant noises" in these situations. But these CDs were made in the 1990s, so maybe that "advice" is outdated already?

Thanks.

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 9:39 pm

My DVD-ROM seems to work fine for ripping CDs. My only advice is to try it and see if it sounds good. If so, then awesome. If not, then maybe try ripping them to a higher compression.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:22 am

My only advice is to try it and see if it sounds good. If so, then awesome. If not, then maybe try ripping them to a higher compression.

Lower.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 1:14 am

My DVD-ROM seems to work fine for ripping CDs. My only advice is to try it and see if it sounds good. If so, then awesome. If not, then maybe try ripping them to a higher compression.

Lower.

And if those don't work, try playing it off of a car stereo while recording it as a voice memo on your phone and then bringing your laptop into the bathroom to record it from your phone onto your PC's mic. Then try to make sure it's compressed at 128kbps.

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 7:33 pm

Lower.

Whatever.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 3:38 am

Whatever.

If giving wrong advice to people doesn't bother you, then yes.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 4:08 am

Actually I meant ripping to wav then convert to lossless for archival purposes. Not ripping for mp3 players.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:42 am

If giving wrong advice to people doesn't bother you, then yes.

I'm sure someone with the OP's level of intelligence isn't going to follow it word for word and wonder what's going on.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 5:19 am

Actually I meant ripping to wav then convert to lossless for archival purposes. Not ripping for mp3 players.

EAC will work perfectly fine for that with any relatively modern DVD(/Blu-ray) drive.

I'm sure someone with the OP's level of intelligence isn't going to follow it word for word and wonder what's going on.

I'm sorry for correcting you.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 4:56 am

I'm sure someone with the OP's level of intelligence isn't going to follow it word for word and wonder what's going on.

?

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 6:53 pm

any relatively modern DVD(/Blu-ray) drive.

There was some saying that dedicated CD drives, or even DVD rom drives are better at reading and scanning than all in one writers. Is that still true? I think it was said back in 2006.

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 7:29 pm

There is a specific concern for my situation, I'm trying to rip a bunch of CDs that have a "large number of indexed sounds". Basically I think it means each 'track" is a concatenation of many "movements". They say that "misaligned or dirty" cd drives will create "unpleasant noises" in these situations. But these CDs were made in the 1990s, so maybe that "advice" is outdated already?

1. It doesn't matter what drive you use to rip the CDs.
2. I use CDex (http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/) to convert my CDs to FLAC.
3. CDex will read the CD several times if you ask it to do so, to avoid jitter and errors.

The RIAA has this to say about CD conversion to FLAC / CD-Rs:

Copying CDs

* It’s okay to copy music onto an anolog cassette, but not for commercial purposes.
* It’s also okay to copy music onto special Audio CD-R’s, mini-discs, and digital tapes (because royalties have been paid on them) – but, again, not for commercial purposes.
* Beyond that, there’s no legal "right" to copy the copyrighted music on a CD onto a CD-R. However, burning a copy of CD onto a CD-R, or transferring a copy onto your computer hard drive or your portable music player, won’t usually raise concerns so long as:
o The copy is made from an authorized original CD that you legitimately own
o The copy is just for your personal use. It’s not a personal use – in fact, it’s illegal – to give away the copy or lend it to others for copying.
* The owners of copyrighted music have the right to use protection technology to allow or prevent copying.
* Remember, it’s never okay to sell or make commercial use of a copy that you make.

(Source: http://www.riaa.com/physicalpiracy.php?content_selector=piracy_online_the_law)

Actually I meant ripping to wav then convert to lossless for archival purposes. Not ripping for mp3 players.

Huh? Why would you possibly want to rip to WAV and then convert to FLAC? Why not just convert straight to FLAC?

There was some saying that dedicated CD drives, or even DVD rom drives are better at reading and scanning than all in one writers. Is that still true? I think it was said back in 2006.

For reading a CD, possibly. For ripping a CD to FLAC, not so much. When ripping, the program can read the CD multiple times to correct for errors. Fancy CD drives are meant to read it right the first time.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 2:03 am

Huh? Why would you possibly want to rip to WAV and then convert to FLAC? Why not just convert straight to FLAC?

Or just any lossless format, I'm probably going to use WMAL anyways. I don't have the FLAC plugin installed with EAC.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 1:32 am

Or just any lossless format, I'm probably going to use WMAL anyways. I don't have the FLAC plugin installed with EAC.

You should do yourself a favor and install it. It's the de facto (compressed) lossless format for a reason. Great software/hardware support (except stupid Apple products). Really, only WAV has better compatibility in the lossless arena, but that isn't compressed.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 5:57 am

Or just any lossless format, I'm probably going to use WMAL anyways. I don't have the FLAC plugin installed with EAC.

Windows Media Audio Lossless? Why use that instead of FLAC? Unless you're looking to use your audio solely with a Windows Media Server, FLAC generally produces smaller file sizes and is overall a better lossless format than WMAL. And it has way more hardware support, overall, than WMAL ever will.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 2:15 am

I just downloaded the latest version of EAC, and I see that it has improved a lot since 5 years ago. My question is now nullified and I'll just use that.