December 16, 2003

2:00 PM

I'm looking for a good CD to MP3 ripping program for a Win2K machine. Requirements are small RAM usage on a slow system. What are your recommendations?
posted by DBAPaul to (17 comments total)

I use FreeRIP which is pretty basic but I find it's good enough for my purposes
posted by dodgygeezer at 2:03 PM on December 16, 2003

CDex works terrifically for me, but I'm not sure about the memory requirements.
posted by arco at 2:16 PM on December 16, 2003

I use Exact Audio Copy, it's free, and you can you use your choice of MP3 encoders (LAME is what I use). I've never had a bad rip from it.
posted by patrickje at 2:22 PM on December 16, 2003

I'll second Exact Audio Copy, since it was recommended to me today as "the geek extraction tool of choice." What you would be extracting said geek from, I didn't ask. One assumes it wouldn't be a long-term relationship.
posted by yerfatma at 2:38 PM on December 16, 2003

I use Exact Audio Copy with the WinLAME encoder front end.
posted by turbodog at 2:39 PM on December 16, 2003

I also enjoy CDex, though I hear only great things about EAC.
posted by skryche at 2:54 PM on December 16, 2003

another vote for CDex
posted by Mick at 3:20 PM on December 16, 2003

Again with the EAC and the WinLAME. Works beautifully.
posted by cortex at 3:23 PM on December 16, 2003

A vote for EAC and CDex, as they both have great qualities. I prefer CDex only because I've been using it longer.
posted by eyeballkid at 3:37 PM on December 16, 2003

CDex was my ripper of choice pre-iTunes.
posted by gramcracker at 4:44 PM on December 16, 2003

CDex, it's highly configurable and lightweight.
posted by skallas at 4:45 PM on December 16, 2003

As a point of comparison, for those of us who have not strayed far from the mainstream, what would be the advantages of these over, say, MusicMatch or WinAmp?
posted by briank at 6:37 PM on December 16, 2003

In my experience (I haven't used MusicMatch for this purpose in some time, and I've never tried it in Winamp), more options on how you want the files output is the first difference. You can choose any mp3 encoder (ie. LAME, mp3Pro) rather than being forced to use a specific, sometimes crippled, sometimes ancient encoder. Or you can rip to other formats like OGGs. The other major advantage I've found is that the ripping functions tend to do a much better job, in terms of speed and error correction. They may also provide more options in terms of how the files are named and organized. It's a pity you're using Windows though, really, because Grip / cdparanoia for Linux is the best deal going.
posted by Jimbob at 6:46 PM on December 16, 2003

EAC, here.

The difference between rippers is in their ability to ensure the data is absolutely correct. Many rippers accept the error correction provided by hardware; good rippers know when they're being provided error-corrected information and can ask for it to be re-read. It's akin to tuning the radio bang-on to the station, and being a little off the mark: you can still hear the music, but one stream has white noise while the other is clear.

The difference between encoders is in their ability to correctly discard information. Some simply do a better job of it. Then there are the various formats that can be encoded: again, some better than others, for both size and quality variables.

The difference between writers is in their ability to burn accurately.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:52 PM on December 16, 2003

Another big vote for Exact Audio Copy coupled with the latest version of LAME. I use it to extract orchestrated music at 256K and 320k, and I listened to the output in a blind comparison to musicmatch jukebox at the highest quality. EAC won hands down, and it's frontend is easy to use while staying low on resources.
posted by Keyser Soze at 12:25 AM on December 17, 2003

Is there really that big of a difference between cdparanoia and EAC with full error correction settings, sound-quality-wise? EAC seems pretty configurable, cdparanoia I haven't delved into the various options because the defaults work insanely well. I usually keep my CDs in good condition anyway, but it's nice to know cdparanoia + the furniture polish trick[*] can do a decent job on horribly mangled discs. (Anecdotal evidence: I have a copy of the Wu-Tang Clan's "36 Chambers" so badly scratched, most audio CD players won't touch it. cdparanoia got 9 of 12 tracks, apparently error-free, and flat-out gave up on the other three. Haven't given EAC that kind of torture test yet.)

[*] the furniture polish trick: treat your horribly scratched cds with furniture polish, it'll somewhat improve them.
posted by arto at 12:32 AM on December 17, 2003

Aside from the comic sans Easy CDDA is simple and can rip to Flac / Vorbis / Mp3
posted by holloway at 11:48 AM on December 17, 2003