Best CD to MP3 ripper?

itunes works well. and it saves alot of time by getting the cd info off their servers… but alot of people dont like it…

Never even thought of the need to get the CD info… thanks!

yeah, iTunes works perfectly fine.

If you are a real stickler, many people feel that the LAME MP3 encoder is the best in terms of quality and style. There is even an iTunes plugin, I believe.

But since buy into Apple’s whole system I’m fine with the iTunes ripper. I do used the custom setting for 160kbs AAC though.

iTunes.

No!

iTunes is definitely one of the worst ways to go. Being an audio hobbyist, I value the bitrates of my ripped CDs. So here is what I have done for about 300 or so CDs.

Downloading Exact Audio Copy, a free open source CD ripper. This software will allow you to rip all of your CDs in pristine, flawless audio. FLAC format, or Free Lossless Audio Codec, allows you to store your music in high quality archival format—another words, a rip in FLAC will sound exactly like it does when played in your CD player. The only way to get better quality than that is vinyl rips (which is another debate entirely; suffice it to say that there is no technology sufficent right now to reproduce the effects of acoustic vinyl!).

Follow this guide to learn how to set up your settings. While a bit more complicated than regular rippers, this program ensures that you can either rip to FLAC or MP3, including codec profiles like V0 or V2. To give a comparison of compression types:

FLAC is large, mainly used by people with large hard drives. It is not ideal for MP3 players, as it is incompatible with many. However, from FLAC you can convert to any format without transcoding (transcoding: converting from a lower bitrate to a higher bitrate, resulting in horrible compression loss).

MP3 V0 has the best quality, but is the largest file size, around 100mb for most 1 disc albums. By comparison, V2 has admirable quality but is smaller, the same album might be 60–70mb.

Both MP3 V0/V2 and FLAC have variable bitrates which mean they are dynamic and change constantly throughout the track, which ensures that high bitrates are only used for parts that require it; i.e., some parts of V0 may drop below 100kbps, though not very often.

Long story short? iTunes rips to an inferior bitrate quality and is not good for anyone serious about listening to their music. While EAC (Exact Audio Copy) is a bit more complex, the results are worth learning to use it, and allow for various possibilities in terms of archiving and compression.

Feel free to PM me for further questions!

@binary

dunno,

in iTunes, 256kbps AAC with error correction on works just fine for me, and I’m pretty picky when it comes to sound.

But true, *.mp3 and *.flac are “industrial grade” if you will. However, a full FLAC takes roughly 25 Meg for a 5 minute song, dunno if that’s all that practical for a large library.

And of course it really depends on your output device.

A good McIntosh will prolly make good use of even the lousiest of MPEGs, while most streaming devices don’t deliver enuff output quality to even notice the difference between mp3 and mpeg-4.

For professional reproduction I’d certainly go your route, but for household use I think it’s overkill IMHO.

Rip with EAC and LAME to V0
Never rip with iTunes, or to CBR.

@binary: Barring any DRM reservations, doesn’t Apple Lossless accomplish the same thing?

@andrew: There’s no DRM on Apple Lossless, though it may be more limiting in overall compatibility. But quality-wise, lossless == lossless.

Well whenever this topic comes up I try to educate people as best I can.

Why reinvent the wheel? Anything that plays ALAC likely plays FLAC as well, but not all FLAC equipment may play ALAC—I’m excluding Apple products for obvious reasons; if you’re an a Mac and have no intention of distribution, (ahem, piracy) then by all means ALAC is great. In personal experience, though, people prefer congruity, and many people who care enough to keep lossless audio, usually do so in FLAC.

Also important to note: on subpar speakers, earbuds, headphones, or other audio equipment, FLAC vs. MP3 quality is nonexistent. So if you’re listening to the music with 20$ speakers or factory default headsets, don’t bother with FLAC. On a proper system, you should be able to notice a strong difference.

If you’re really hardcore into lossless sound, though, vinyl is as flawless as possible since it is purely acoustic and natural sound!