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Please test and critique my "CD Ripping" tutorial

D

DigitalMP

Gawd
Joined
Jun 27, 2004
Messages
861
Hey all, I wrote up a tutorial for installing and configuring Exact Audio Copy with the LAME Encoder. I'm going to pass it out to all of my friends, and maybe post it on my website for easy access.

I would like to know if any of the instructions seem ambiguous in any sense. My goal is to make this usable for anyone who can follow directions, whether they have the slightest clue of what an "MP3 encoder" or "ASPI layer" is. (I do not check whether the individual is using an OS that comes equipped with an ASPI layer, so copying the ASPI layer is a non-issue.)

Here's the introduction to the tutorial (also included in the document linked at the bottom):

What is "CD ripping"?

"CD ripping" is the term use to describe the process of extracting an audio CD's contents to your computer. Do you have a CD that you bought from a store that you would like to copy to your computer, in MP3 format? How about a DJ's promo CD, whether it is separated into individual tracks, or even just one long mix set? This tutorial will walk you through installing the program needed to perform this task.

What are these files that you're giving me?

There are basically four parts to the package:

  1. The Exact Audio Copy program (eac-0.95b4.exe): the application that will actually extract the music (or other audio) to your computer.
  2. EAC configuration files: you will only use one of these (in Step 6), but it is necessary to use the appropriate configuration file for your CD-RW drive to ensure proper functionality of the EAC application.
  3. The LAME encoder (lame.exe): LAME is widely accepted as the best MP3 encoder that you can use to convert your audio files into MP3 format.
  4. The Nero ASPI layer (wnaspi32.dll): ASPI allows Windows to communicate with your CD-RW drive. I won't get any deeper into this, because you probably don't care, anyways.
Why, why, why?

Exact Audio Copy is an exceptional choice because of its method of correcting problems before giving up and failing at achieving its goals. LAME, as previously stated, will produce top quality MP3s that sound very close to uncompressed WAV and commercial (Orangebook) audio files. The combination of these two great tools, along with the simple usage that results from using my tutorial, makes it easy to create aural pleasure for your ears out of CDs that you would like on your computer, iPod, or other MP3 player.

What am I actually doing by following your tutorial?

The tutorial will install Exact Audio Copy (version 0.95, beta 4) on your computer, as well as copy the LAME encoder (version 3.96.1), Nero ASPI layer, and the appropriate EAC configuration file to the program's installation directory. It will also allow very efficient and high quality extraction and conversion, with only three mouse clicks!

Do I have to know anything before following your tutorial?

This tutorial assumes that you are familiar with the following tasks:

  • Unzipping a ZIP file
  • Copying and pasting
  • Browsing to a specified directory on your computer
    i.e. C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy​
Tutorial document - link
Zip file package - link
​


Thanks for your time, everyone.
 
Let me also add that this should only take about 10-15 minutes for an experienced user to accomplish. Also, the ZIP file is just over 1MB in size.

If you rip CDs, this will definitely make the process more efficient for you.

Thanks again!

- David
 
No takers? C'mon everyone, this is a quick process, and I'm sure a lot of you rip CDs on occasion.

Thanks...
 
What's your opinion to just using WMP10/11. Both support standard non-DRM's MP3 format?

I haven't ripped a cd in ages, used to use Plextools utility + Lame encoder. But most friends and family these days I surprise them by telling them WMP does it easily and it's already on their systems. Just switch it from wma to mp3 and crank the bitrate up.
 
WMP uses nowhere near as high a quality encoder as LAME. Additionally, you can perform either of these tasks in three clicks or less with EAC:

  • rip an audio CD of tracks into indivdual MP3 files
  • rip an audio CD of tracks into one conjoined and continuous file
  • rip an audio CD consisting of one continuous DJ set into an MP3 file

Again, there is no MP3 encoder that compresses a WAV file (or audio CD) into MP3 format than LAME VBR. And yes, VBR is much higher quality than either of 128, 192, or 256kbps bitrates.

I'm not lobbying for everyone to use EAC, but if you browse such audiophile message boards as hydrogen audio, this is more than just an opinion. Thanks for inquiring, I hope I provided a good answer.
 
The tutorial works pretty well as written. I am ripping some CDs at this moment and getting used to EAC. Very neat program with lots of power.
 
Is there a place to go for more in-depth information on the program?

Some of my tracks are only ripping as .wav files without ID3 Tags for some reason and I cannot figure out why.
 
Menelmarar said:
What's your opinion to just using WMP10/11. Both support standard non-DRM's MP3 format?

I haven't ripped a cd in ages, used to use Plextools utility + Lame encoder. But most friends and family these days I surprise them by telling them WMP does it easily and it's already on their systems. Just switch it from wma to mp3 and crank the bitrate up.
Click to expand...

WMP does it pretty well, but to get decent quality and avoid DRM it actually requires a fair bit of configuration...and then it still doesn't have some of the options that a program like EAC gives you. I've been trying to use WMP recently for a number of things, and I have to say it frustrates me with some of the counterintuitive ways it does things.
 
Ingonuts13 said:
Is there a place to go for more in-depth information on the program?

Some of my tracks are only ripping as .wav files without ID3 Tags for some reason and I cannot figure out why.
Click to expand...

my reply from this PM:

Hmm...are you clicking the MP3 button on the left side of the window to start the whole process?

Also, after each extraction to WAV, the black DOS-like window pops up to perform the encoding to MP3. Do you see this window? Are you closing this window before it closes itself?

Another reply:

That's where EAC differs from other apps - it will error correct on the fly. Where other apps will fail and end the attempt, or result in pops and cracks, EAC will go over the same spot until it rips successfully.

Read here for details. Thanks for the feedback!


PopeKevinI: did you by chance run through my tutorial?
 
DigitalMP said:
my reply from this PM:

Hmm...are you clicking the MP3 button on the left side of the window to start the whole process?

Also, after each extraction to WAV, the black DOS-like window pops up to perform the encoding to MP3. Do you see this window? Are you closing this window before it closes itself?
Click to expand...

yes, using the MP3 button and no, I am not clicking out of the DOS Box at all. Some CDs will rip songs 1-5 as MP3 then 6,7 as .wav and back to MP3 on the rest. It is really weird.

If there is a quality issue, will it default to .wav?
 
If there's a quality issue, EAC won't even rip the track in its entirety until it "corrects the error". It will actually keep cycling through the error correction process until you click "Skip Track".

However, I have one CD that you can actually see light through two pinholes. It took so long through those two tracks that I figured it was hopeless, and skipped the tracks. After the CD was finished, I really wanted those two tracks, so I queued EAC to rip just those two. It took about 18 hours, but it actually ripped the two tracks - when I could see light through those areas!

With regards to your specific issue, it's ironic that it won't encode all of them on the fly. I do recall having that issue with my old PC (though I was new to EAC and only used it for a short while on that machine), but not with my new one.

I do have RazorLame, an application designed simply for encoding audio files using the LAME encoder, configured for drag-and-click ripping with the same VBR settings as EAC. I'll write up an easy tutorial for that one, as I have for EAC, and post it here by the close of business Sunday.

Has this issue occurred with many CDs? How many have you ripped, and with how many have you experienced this issue? If it's more than 1/10, I might suggest to uninstall and reinstall EAC.

It could also be an issue of running a bunch of programs and using a large percentage of virtual memory when EAC is attempting the encoding process. (Ctrl-Shift-ESC - in 2K, XP, and Vista - will open the Task Manager, and on the Processes tab, you can click View > Select Column, and display the Virtual Memory usage of each running process to see if something is hogging your OS' attention.

I hope this helps...let me know. Thanks again!
 
Hi DigitalMP,


I figured out the problem. IT creates .Wavs when the tracks are too difficult to read. Some CDs are worse than others. I have ripped about 20discs so far with good results on those that are in decent shape.

I guess if I really want those tracks I will have to let it take forever to error correct them.
 
What if you want to use a newer version of LAME. Do you just replace LAME.exe with the newer version in the EAC folder?
 
I find it funny how you make such a high priority on sound quality (a difference most people can't really hear/notice) by having a bunch of different programs and all...but you still make it a point to define what ripping a CD is, lol.
 
l3ender said:
I find it funny how you make such a high priority on sound quality (a difference most people can't really hear/notice) by having a bunch of different programs and all...but you still make it a point to define what ripping a CD is, lol.
Click to expand...

I think any good tutorial needs to take a moment to cover some very basic points. There's always the chance it will be picked up by someone to whom audio quality does matter that knows nothing of digital audio formats or ripping CDs. Who knows, maybe your buddy's audophile dad finally decided to try out digital audio and needs a primer. The more information you put in one place, the better for people like that.

There are a lot of reasons to use the LAME/EAC approach rather than just letting iTunes/WMP/et cetera do all the work for you:

  • Quality. While the more popular and newbie-friendly programs can be set up to give excellent quality rips, they don't do it by default and sometimes getting that level of quality is actually more complicated through the popular programs than through an alternative like that used in this tutorial.
  • Control. For those of us who like to tweak, tweak, and tweak some more, the usual ripping software leaves a lot to be desired. Software like EAC lets me fine-tune things like the balance between compression and quality to a much finer point.
  • Organization. Yes, I know that iTunes and WMP both have excellent library management features, but in the end they make some of the organizational decisions for you. If you want full control over how things are arranged during and after ripping, EAC is right down your alley. An example: I don't use software libraries. I prefer to simply organize my music artist, album, and song. If there is cover art, I want a single image in the folder with it for the sole purpose of using it as the folder icon. I don't care to have my file tree crowded with a bunch of ultimately useless data files and duplicate art images.
  • Independence. By not using WMP or something similar, I don't risk tying myself to a particular format, operating system, or software package to continue accessing my music in the same way. By keeping it simple and direct, I am free to make whatever changes I want and not have to worry about having to make any changes to my music in a new operating system or library manager.
 
seems like a thorough guide. It's pretty much what I do when I rip albums to mp3.

Most of the time I'm a FLAC Soldier though :cool:
 
l3ender said:
I find it funny how you make such a high priority on sound quality (a difference most people can't really hear/notice) by having a bunch of different programs and all...but you still make it a point to define what ripping a CD is, lol.
Click to expand...

First, someone can appreciate high sound quality without knowing how to rip a CD. That doesn't mean I can't address both at once for them.

Second, this tutorial is for everyone, even those who know what is mean to rip a CD. However, it doesn't assume that.

Should I write a second tutorial, leaving out the "CD Ripping" definition"? I'll just have to interview everyone ahead of time, then direct them to the proper tutorial to download. That would be much more efficient.​
 
jon3sy said:
What if you want to use a newer version of LAME. Do you just replace LAME.exe with the newer version in the EAC folder?
Click to expand...

Ahhh...sorry I missed this! I saw it earlier, but forgot to answer it when I got back home. Yes, simply copy the lame.exe file, any lame version, into the specified directory.

It actually doesn't have to be in that directory, but that step ensures that if you move the directory where the lame.exe file is lcoated, the encoding process is not affected.

And thanks Kevin! I didn't refresh before replying, so I had not seen your reply.

Thanks to you, Martin, as well!
 
Interesting guide, I ripped all my CDs long ago to 192 MP3s and really dont buy too many CDs though so I dont really have much use for it right now :(
 
So no different additional command line options are necessary when using LAME 3.97 Final?
 
Nice 10 month back from the dead post. :)

EAC has been in perpetual beta since it first appeared nearly a decade ago, still the best ripper of course.
 
I've moved over to dBpoweramp, with AMG tags and a few tweaks, it gets me a little more with the same accuracy. Used EAC for many, many years. Still have it installed, just in case =)
 
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