How do I rip an entire CD to a single mp3 on a Mac?

August 5, 2009 12:57 PM

How do I rip an entire CD to a single mp3 on a Mac?

I have a few dozen CDs that contain interviews that I'd like to convert into mp3 format for archiving. Each CD contains a single interview, which is split into several tracks.

Is there any easy way to rip the entire CD into a single mp3 file? Mac software is preferred. Thanks for your help!

posted by kaufmajm to computers & internet (10 comments total)

Quick answer is (to my knowledge) no; the easiest option would be to:

a) import the CDs using, for instance, iTunes. Make sure you have your iTunes (or whatnot) import settings aligned to convert imported material to mp3, not the default Mac format.

b) Using Audacity, open the mp3s and paste them back together. Re-save the composite file as a new mp3.

The good news is that this is all free software and relatively easy, and since you're working with Audacity anyway, you may be able to optimize sound files on your "way through" the project, raising audio levels on quiet files, eliminating some hiss or ambient noise, etc. I think Audacity has that kind of filtering functionality, but I could be wrong.

Mac ninjas may have better information than I.
posted by Shepherd at 1:08 PM on August 5

Not exactly what you're asking for, but File Stitcher will let you merge mp3 files without recoding.
posted by kanuck at 1:13 PM on August 5

For archiving interviews you could play the cd using Itunes & capture the soundcard output using one of these or the recomendations here. I use Audio hijack pro for such things.
posted by zenon at 1:14 PM on August 5

From iTunes Help:

To join tracks:

Insert an audio CD into your computer's CD or DVD drive.

When the songs on the CD appear in the iTunes window, select the ones you want to join (hold down the Shift key to select multiple songs).

Choose Advanced > Join CD Tracks.
posted by @troy at 1:18 PM on August 5 [5 favorites has favorites]

What @troy said. It's the best and easiest method though you will likely want to turn on error correction as when ripping entire CDs in this method, on 4 different Macs, I seem to end up with skips on the last tracks
posted by arniec at 1:43 PM on August 5

Turn it into an mp3s audiobook with Join Together. It works really well. Select the tracks in Itunes and launch it from the script menu. You can set sampling rates and so on...
posted by bonobothegreat at 2:30 PM on August 5 [1 favorite has favorites]

...the free version will do the job well. Added bonus is that the individual tracks are chaptered.
posted by bonobothegreat at 2:32 PM on August 5

Maybe WireTap would work. There might also be a free version still available if you look around.

On the down side, you have to let the whole CD play for it to be captured, and also make sure you turn off all alert sounds while it's running, because it captures any sounds going through your system.

I use it to capture DVD concert soundtracks to listen to on my iPod, and it works great.
posted by The Deej at 3:30 PM on August 5

XLD will do this, ripping straight from CD to a single track (+ cue sheet) in any format. XLD probably matches EAC on the PC for ripping fidelity, so it's a program you're going to want to have around anyway.
posted by scruss at 3:39 PM on August 5

scruss has a good point, using XLD with the LAME encoder will give a better sounding MP3 than iTunes at any bit rate.
posted by dirm at 7:27 PM on August 5