Ok currently im trying out

AudioGrabber
Dbpoweramp
Exact Audio Copy
Easy Cd-Da Extractor.

All free except the last.

Could someone enlighten me a little on Pros and Cons of the above programs.

Also Could someone enlighten me a little on what i should be looking for in a program to convert my music cds to mp3 for my newly acquired mp3 player. I dont care much if its free or i need to pay for it, i just want something GOOD.

Are there other programs that i should maybe be ttrying besides those listed?

I know after reading a little bit here that there are standards for mp3 files, what setting should i be using for the smallest file possible, but with getting a good quality mp3.

also how do i get rid of the fluctuation in volumes from one song to another. Some songs about blow my ears off and other i need to turn way up on my mp3 player?

Thanks for the help,

Mods feel free to move this if i posted in the wrong category.....

My personal favorite of those 4? Exact Audio Copy. If you know how to take advantage of all its features, you'll find it to be the most powerful audio copier out there currently. I also use it to burn CDs.

As far as mp3 encoders go, I don't have as big a working knowledge as others. If I'm not mistaken Winamp has a fairly decent (and free) mp3 encoder. I have picky ears, so anything below 192kbps is noticeable to me.

If you're having volume level troubles, I suggest one of two things: Either take advantage of Exact Audio Copy's "Normalize" feature, or look into getting something called Replay Gain. My working knowledge on the latter is also pretty small but I'm fairly sure that others will suggest it.

The MP3 codec for compression most popular on this board seems to be LAME. Version 3.90.3 is the most tested. Version3.96 is supposed to be as good and compresses faster. The propeller heads in the MP3 section could give advice on this, and lots of it.

I did use 3.90.3 in the past but am switching to 3.96 and re-ripping my albums. Time for me to get a life.

L8R

Exact Audio Copy works really well and is used by a lot of people on this board. I use it to get perfect rips when I'm making a personal copy of a CD. For AAC ripping for my iPod I use iTunes. iTunes MP3 ripper at 128kbps has been proven to be pretty bad but the encoder may perform differently at higher bit rates.

As far as LAME version goes I use 3.90.3 when needed. It's the most tested and quality assured version of LAME. Though I have tested LAME 3.96 and the quality is good. 3.90.3 is just proven to perform really well with test samples compared to 3.96 (which, to my knowledge, hasn't received as much testing). Generally, you'll get a little lower bit rates with 3.96 using --alt-preset standard. --alt-preset standard provides the perfect balance between quality and file size with MP3 in my opinion. But if you want a lower file size/bit rate you can try experimenting with different bit rates and find what is right for your ears or listening environment. Try LAME's ABR presets instead of CBR presets. ABR is average bit rate and gives a VBR file that averages out to be around your desired bit rate and will result in better quality compared to a constant bit rate file.

MP3Gain is what you want to use on your MP3. It will normalize your MP3 files to a specified level and will playback using that volume on any player. The changes are also reversible since MP3Gain stores the original dB values in tags of the MP3.

I have used all those programs, and also CDex, which is an Open Source one. IMHO, there are 2 type of "rippers": fast ones, and secure ones.

If you have CDs that you suspect could have scratches and/or problems, your best bet is EAC, and in second place CDex. But, EAC, in particular, are very slow.

If your CDs are in perfect shape, like it should be most of the time , you should use a fast ripper, and for me, in that case, nothing beats dbpoweramp.

Somebody already mentioned LAME as the BEST* MP3 encoder (and one of the best encoders all around), and even if there is great debate over if LAME 3.96 is better than the recommended 3.90.3, i would feinetivelly use 3.96, cause it is much faster (only LAME shortcoming).

So go and download EAC and dbpoweramp, and then, update both to LAME 3.96.

*: LAME is better now than it used to be, according to the last multi test.

EDIT: as already ponted, use mp3gain to make all your music sound the same.

I second dBpowerAMP as a good alternative ripper but I found the 100% free version to be slow at ripping since you can't disable the jitter correction. That option is only available in the $20 add-on PowerPack.

Hi!

I agree to those people that thinks EAC is slow... but why use two programs? Use EAC in secure mode when need it, otherwise... use the burst-mode, that's much faster and you don't need other programs doing it...