Ripping Music from CDs - Best Way

Frankski

Frankski

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Hey all

I was going through my house cleaning up stuff, since a recently discovered leak will necessitate some work, and found a HUGE cache of my wife's and my old CDs. What is the best way to rip these bad boys and put all this music on my computer?

My wife has an iPod that she loves, but I do not have a portable music player. I'm more likely to burn music in mp3 format to blank audio CDs and listen to them in the car.

I'm concerned because I'd love a program that titles and names all the tracks without me having to go in there and do it manually, but I've heard that iTunes (which my wife uses) doesn't let you burn mp3s to CD/DVD.

Basically, my heart and the music in it is up to you CAGs. Help me out!

-Frank(ski) out-
 
[quote name='Frankski']Hey all
but I've heard that iTunes (which my wife uses) doesn't let you burn mp3s to CD/DVD.
[/QUOTE]

Yes, you can in iTunes.

I used to use dBpoweramp as a standalone ripper/burner. Try that.
 
I want to rip some CD's without losing audio quality to then reburn onto CD-R's that will still play in all my car, stereo, cd/dvd players, etc. Should I rip them into
MP3
WMA Pro
WMA Variable Bit Rate
WMA Lossless
WAV Lossless

I'm guessing WMA Lossless or WAV Lossless but which is better for quality and playability when reburned? I would also like to be able to play the files on Itunes and Ipod without having to rip each CD twice.
 
iTunes does everything you need to do, and it allows you to make copies of CDs, just make put all songs on a playlist and hit burn CD. Couldn't be easier.

No need to fuss with all that technical stuff.
 
[quote name='J7.']I want to rip some CD's without losing audio quality to then reburn onto CD-R's that will still play in all my car, stereo, cd/dvd players, etc. Should I rip them into
MP3
WMA Pro
WMA Variable Bit Rate
WMA Lossless
WAV Lossless

I'm guessing WMA Lossless or WAV Lossless but which is better for quality and playability when reburned? I would also like to be able to play the files on Itunes and Ipod without having to rip each CD twice.[/QUOTE]

Do Apple Lossless if you want to play the files on iTunes & iPod without reencoding.

MP3 isn't lossless, WMA is shit and WAV is loseless and would play in iTunes/iPod but it would be double the size of an Apple Lossless file since WAV uses no compression.
 
[quote name='2DMention']iTunes does everything you need to do, and it allows you to make copies of CDs, just make put all songs on a playlist and hit burn CD. Couldn't be easier.

No need to fuss with all that technical stuff.[/QUOTE]

This.
 
yeah WMA shouldn't be considered an option for anyone. A guy a church as ripped all the gospel songs they use in WMA format and it's caused me no end in headache. But his version of WMP doesnt rip MP3s so it's not like I can even blame him.

For high quality ripping I used EAC
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

depends on how hardcore you want to go, Basically you can use EAC to rip the audiofiles whole.. then use lame or something to compress them once their on your HD. I kinda want them in AAC format but the only AAC encoder I can find that isn't outdate is iTunes.
 
The only person that I know that insists on WMA files is someone who is working on his PhD is music.

Only a trained ear can tell the difference.
 
I used to use Windows Media Player to rip CD's... (yeah.. really).

From there I was able to put them into iTunes and then on my phone or whatever I wanted.
 
[quote name='Wolfkin']yeah WMA shouldn't be considered an option for anyone. A guy a church as ripped all the gospel songs they use in WMA format and it's caused me no end in headache. But his version of WMP doesnt rip MP3s so it's not like I can even blame him.

For high quality ripping I used EAC
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

depends on how hardcore you want to go, Basically you can use EAC to rip the audiofiles whole.. then use lame or something to compress them once their on your HD. I kinda want them in AAC format but the only AAC encoder I can find that isn't outdate is iTunes.[/QUOTE]

Here is a good site to rip it with EAC.

http://blowfish.be/eac/index.html

Most of the cds you will be ripping are probably in the database. If you have a brand new cd or some rare local cd you MAY have to enter the data in yourself. That is not common though.

FLAC is best quality (lossless) but you may have to find the right plug in to burn the FLAC to play on a cd. I dont burn cds like that anymore so cant say. You can rip the cds to FLAC and sell or trash the cds. With FLAC you and then use dBpoweramp to convert to any other bitrate later on if you so desire.

v0 is perfect if you just want to listen to music on your computer. If you decide later that you want to listen to music on an MP3 player v2 would probably be the best bet since the file size is a little less than a v0 rip.

I would never rip a cd with iTunes, WMP, foobar, or winamp. I suppose if you download the right plugins you could get an equally good rip as EAC, but using the default options probably not. EAC takes a few minutes to config properly but once you follow the guide you have an easy way to rip properly.
 
[quote name='2DMention']The only person that I know that insists on WMA files is someone who is working on his PhD is music.

Only a trained ear can tell the difference.[/QUOTE]good grief. I'm not saying you can't get a decent sound from WMA but the best sound? that's crazy sounding. Sound like he's the sort of person who should be insisting on formats only the geek use like FLAC or APE or something equally obscure but a music man insisting on WMA over even something like AAC that's new to me.[quote name='Phelmo']I used to use Windows Media Player to rip CD's... (yeah.. really).

From there I was able to put them into iTunes and then on my phone or whatever I wanted.[/QUOTE]WMP is a capable ripper i guess. I have bigger beef with WMA format which I doubt you're using as those don't go into iTunes or most phones without double converting.
 
[quote name='2DMention']iTunes does everything you need to do, and it allows you to make copies of CDs, just make put all songs on a playlist and hit burn CD. Couldn't be easier.

No need to fuss with all that technical stuff.[/QUOTE]
EXACTLY!

....but....if you're a tag stickler like me....

after you're done ripping in itunes, run the music folder through mp3tag and get the amazon style tagging with covers typically.
 
i dunno I actually like iTunes for tagging. what is meant by this aMaZOn style tagging? and i think iTunes does covers now.
 
Use eac. Exact audio copy. It's a bit technical but it's what the Nazi audiophiles use. You can rip it to either mp3 vbr or for true lossless, use flac. iTunes and windows media really blows
 
I'd like to second EAC, or XLD if you are on a mac. I love itunes as a player / organizer, but am not crazy about it's ripping.

Before you go ripping tons of CD's, read up a little bit on lossy / lossless audio encoding.

If all you want to do is ensure compatibility between your wife's ipod, and any other device, a high bitrate MP3 will be good. (probably a V0 (variable bit rate, high) , or 320 constant bit rate ) both are a good trade off between size and quality, and provide compatibility with pretty much everything.

If you are going to be burning them back to CD's often, and care at ALL about the quality, use a lossless codec. ALAC (apple lossless audio codec) will play back on your wife's ipod, and any "idevices" and burn back to a CD with no discernible loss in quality from the original source. FLAC (free lossless audio codec) will do the same, but will not be compatible with your wife's ipod.

When you encode audio using a lossy codec (mp3 / aac / wma etc...) and then Re-encode to an Audio CD, you worsen the artifacts that take place in the encoding process and it will sound like balls.

Personally, I don't listen to audio CD's ever, so I encode stuff using XLD to MP3 V0, using the tagging built in, and then import into iTunes, and share on my home network for playback on everything, including my iPhone.
 
[quote name='evildeadjedi']If I'm listening to them on PC, FLAC all the way.[/QUOTE]

FLAC is great, but not if you need to put it on an ipod.
 
yeah and i got hooked on iTunes back when it was light-weight, fast and could drill thru huge databases of songs like nothing. now only the last is still true. -_-
 
[quote name='J7.']Which of these other superior ways to rip will work on Itunes and Ipod as well?[/QUOTE]

[quote name='Sporadic']Do Apple Lossless if you want to play the files on iTunes & iPod without reencoding.

MP3 isn't lossless, WMA is shit and WAV is loseless and would play in iTunes/iPod but it would be double the size of an Apple Lossless file since WAV uses no compression.[/QUOTE]

EAC + FLAC is nice if you are making an archival copy but FLAC won't play natively on iTunes or the iPod.

You can rip to Apple Lossless with iTunes or foobar2000.
 
[quote name='J7.']Which of these other superior ways to rip will work on Itunes and Ipod as well?[/QUOTE]

most of them.
you can use EAC to rip. it's what you do after you rip that matters.
EAC gives you many options. for what you want (itunes+iPod) you can do MP3, or AAC. (192kbps or higher) those are your easiest options.

unless you're an audiophile or you have a really expensive audio playback equipment those should be perfectly fine.
 
[quote name='Sporadic']EAC + FLAC is nice if you are making an archival copy but FLAC won't play natively on iTunes or the iPod.

You can rip to Apple Lossless with iTunes or foobar2000.[/QUOTE]

I did see your original response, sorry for not being clear or responding to it earlier. By other superior ways I meant really EAC and FLAC and whatever else was mentioned to be the very best. I quickly read those last posts and need to read them more carefully. TY.

[quote name='Wolfkin']most of them.
you can use EAC to rip. it's what you do after you rip that matters.
EAC gives you many options. for what you want (itunes+iPod) you can do MP3, or AAC. (192kbps or higher) those are your easiest options.

unless you're an audiophile or you have a really expensive audio playback equipment those should be perfectly fine.[/QUOTE]

So EAC allows you to rip as EAC files and then it will allow you to convert those to MP3? If I need to have 2 files of each song I might just do Apple Lossless instead if I wouldn't be able to tell the difference for the most part. Maybe just do EAC for my favorite albums. TY.
 
basically EAC just copies the entire CD to your HD. it's better to copy and THEN convert so you don't have to worry about CD skipping.

We like EAC over other programs because it's good at error correcting and all that anti-skip stuff you read about.

once it's ripped you can do anything. you can do AL or MP3 or both.
 
Cool. Do you know if PS3/360 will let you import music from EAC rips on your PC without converting them to MP3?
 
short answer is doubt it. I'll run some tests but I think the PS3 will play MP3, AAC, and ATRAC I don't know if it will play WAVs
 
[quote name='Wolfkin']short answer is doubt it. I'll run some tests but I think the PS3 will play MP3, AAC, and ATRAC I don't know if it will play WAVs[/QUOTE]

PS3 definitely supports WAV, i'm not sure about the 360, have to try it
 
If I have ripped cd's that are full of mp3s and shit downloaded off kazaa and napster from way back that may have had viruses (the files before they were ripped) would they be transferred to a new PC or did it convert them when I ripped the files onto the cd into a format that did not carry the virus onto the CD itself?
 
I ripped 200+ CDs with iTunes and have noticed no "skipping" or errors after four years of listening. I ripped to Apple Lossless, but transcoded to 256k AAC for daily use. The lossless files sit on a network drive (with an USB drive backup) untouched.

I, too, spent a lot of time stressing about file formats, rip errors, etc. Eventually I tried iTunes and realized that I was stressing for nothing. End the thread here. Get iTunes, rip to AAC, and enjoy the music.
 
I ended up doing Apple Lossless last night. I just wanted to get it over with and not fuss over the technical stuff, particularly because I wanted songs asap on my ipod. Quality be damned. Oh well. How did you transcode them?
 
[quote name='Zing']End the thread here. Get iTunes, rip to AAC, and enjoy the music.[/QUOTE]this has been mostly an academic discussion i felt. Quite frankly I think even the foobar people would agree that iTunes to the default (AAC) is perfectly fine for the OP, but it is interesting to hear different ways others preserve who are super paranoid about that stuff. For instance I like AAC format and even now the only encoder i can find is iTunes. I've looked for that underground encoder and none is out there.

[quote name='J7.']If I have ripped cd's that are full of mp3s and shit downloaded off kazaa and napster from way back that may have had viruses (the files before they were ripped) would they be transferred to a new PC or did it convert them when I ripped the files onto the cd into a format that did not carry the virus onto the CD itself?[/QUOTE]
I'm not sure what your'e saying here.. but I'm going to say no. Sounds like you're worried about a virus of some sort. Quite frankly even if they do have viruses on it.. any virus that old you can clean out very easily.
 
[quote name='J7.']I ended up doing Apple Lossless last night. I just wanted to get it over with and not fuss over the technical stuff, particularly because I wanted songs asap on my ipod. Quality be damned. Oh well. How did you transcode them?[/QUOTE]

Apple Lossless is... well... lossless. So I wouldn't be too worried about quality.

To transcode (in iTunes) go into preferences, change your import settings to what you want to transcode to, select the songs you want to transcode, and then under the "Advanced" tab, there will be a "Create (CODEC) version" option in there.
 
[quote name='Wolfkin']this has been mostly an academic discussion i felt. Quite frankly I think even the foobar people would agree that iTunes to the default (AAC) is perfectly fine for the OP, but it is interesting to hear different ways others preserve who are super paranoid about that stuff. For instance I like AAC format and even now the only encoder i can find is iTunes. I've looked for that underground encoder and none is out there.


I'm not sure what your'e saying here.. but I'm going to say no. Sounds like you're worried about a virus of some sort. Quite frankly even if they do have viruses on it.. any virus that old you can clean out very easily.[/QUOTE]

I had music files on a PC that was infested with viruses and spyware, those files were from napster and kazaa. I burned them to CD-R's as playable music files in cd players. I want to put them on a new PC, but I'm afraid that they still carry the viruses. I recently spent a lot of time fixing this PC so I don't want to have to deal with any trouble.
 
i see i see. short answer is yes there's a good chance the virus is on the burned CDs. but the good news is this isn't a problem. you can easily scan the CDs using something like ClamWin (http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/clamwin_portable) that will tell you if you have any thing to worry about. If you do here's what happens. Copy the CD to your HD. Scan and Fix the folder, Burn back to CD.
 
How about using Norton? I was always under the impression once you put the disc in, it reads it to see what it is and its too late by the time it does that to prevent a virus from getting onto your HDD.
 
technically true. It's possible for a virus to hit just when you plug in but it's really really unlikely and rare. Especially if you've been updating your computer. If you hold down the 'shift key' while you put in the CD you turn off "Autoplay" which is how many (but not most) windows viruses/worms can be activated.

Norton is fine but it's a waste of money. There are plenty of free programs (http://www.ninite.com) that do the trick just as fine or better. that's my only issue with Norton.

If you do have Norton (and it's updated) then sure, use it to scan. There are very few computer viruses that are that bad*. Even fewer of them are currently active. It IS a risk but it's a minor one.

* so bad I would say don't risk it because it's a pain to remove them
 
iTunes works fine for me. I changed the settings for the ripping to 360kbps MP3 for better quality though. If you keep it on default, it does AAC, which I believe is Apple's format, and doesn't work with all media players/portables such as MP3 will.
 
[quote name='sealionnn']it does AAC, which I believe is Apple's format, and doesn't work with all media players/portables such as MP3 will.[/QUOTE]MP3 is more popular but technically you have to pay a license to use it. That's why the DSi doesn't playback MP3. AAC is the free open format so in theory MP3 should be dying down in favor of AAC. It's not really happening but AAC is getting popular. Lately every phone I've tried plays back AAC but again nothing wrong with MP3 it's not going away.
 
FLAC just seems like a PITA to me. Whenever I d/l something in FLAC (which makes the files 4 times a big as just an mp3 or aac format) I have to use something other than Nero/Itunes to burn it, and I can't load the files directly to my mp3 player.

For listening to music in the car with kids talking or at night on headphones with my mp3 player I can't tell the difference between FLAC or anything else. And that's even on 'speciality' ECM type recordings.
 
[quote name='Wet Ninja']Does anyone have any experience using Songbird? I'm planning on using it for music playback, but it also supports ripping, from what I understand.[/QUOTE]

Songbird is a pretty good music player and will play just about any format. It has user created skins and tons of optional plug-ins like lyrics. The layout is much like I-tunes and it supports many portable media players also. It has a plug-in for Last.fm that shows what you have been listening to anytime. I used it for awhile then switched back to Foobar.
 
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