i've been using EAC for a long time now, but a while ago it hasnt been able to get album info from freedb and i've had to manualy type in all the information. is there another ripping program that's as good as EAC that does get the info from freedb? i'm kinda lazy.....

i'm specifically looking to know if itunes is a good ripper, along with other good programs.

I'm quite sure that EAC is the best ripper you can get now.
Strange enough is that I've recently noticed the same problem...

Freedb works fine with my EAC. Have you verified that the freedb options (press F12 in EAC) are OK? 'OK' means an email address and a working server address are given (e.g. http://freedb.freedb.de:80/~cddb/cddb.cgi).

EDIT: To be sure, I now insert a CD, and it works...

I had the same problem recently.
I fixed it by changing the freedb server (in freedb options, F12) to "http://us.freedb.org:80/~cddb/cddb.cgi".
Now it works fine.

I too have had no problems. I am accessing http://freedb.freedb.org:80/~cddb/cddb.cgi.

As liekloo and esa372 say: try changing the freedb server you are trying to connect to.

Check this page to see if there is a local server for you: http://freedb.org/modules.php?name=Section...article&artid=9

http://freedb.freedb.org should always work though.


That said, if I click to "Get active freedb server list" I get the response "Error - HTTP protocol failure"...

If your cd drive doesn't cache audio, then CDex (using cdparanoia) is also a good ripper to try. Not as fancy or accurate as EAC, but it does a respectable job with lightly scratched CDs. I'd imagine it is better than the ripper in iTunes.