Just wondering what you all think of Plextools for ripping/encoding with Ogg Vorbis.

I read somewhere that Plextools may not be using the latest version of the Ogg Vorbis encoder (1.1 I believe).

I recently updated Plextools to version 2.21...does anyone know if it is using the latest version of the Vorbis encoder in this version? I don't know how to confirm this.

In general, do you find Plextools is a good program for ripping?

I've used it for about a day and so far am very impressed with it for the most part. It rips much, much faster than EAC with my Plextor drive.

Are there any limitations of the program I should be aware of when using it to rip/encode using Ogg Vorbis?

If Plextools is not an ideal tool for directly encoding, what process would you recommend instead? Plextools to .wav, and then using a separate program to encode in Vorbis (Oggdrop)?

Thanks much.

Edit: just read a lower thread that seems to suggest 1.1 IS incorporated into version 2.21 ...but I am still curious to know what you think about Plextools, including any limitations, or if another process is recommended rather than using it to directly rip/encode...

afaik, plextools is a very good ripper. it is undeniably faster than eac, and both will generally extract a secure rip of a cd. from my reading (alot) and my experience (pretty limited) w/ the two programs, eac is alittle more likely to obtain the secure rip. so when speed is not an issue, id say eac is generally alittle better, but both are excellent, and usually good enough for the secure rip. if speed is an issue, plextools definately has the advantage... i know this is hot topic w/ alot of people, and many would disagree w/ me, but that's my impression. as far as the vorbis compressor goes, i dont know. sorry

edit: if you do continue to use plextools, be sure you set up the main settings as described in westgroveg's [URL= http://users.tpg.com.au/chirano/]plextools ripping guide[/URL].

In my experience I've found on a couple of occaisions that with Plextools and my Plextor drive (PX-708A) that Plextools can retrieve consistent results (read: matching CRCs) when EAC can't.
Also, I ripped over 100 CDs (twice) and never did Plextools produce mismatching CRCs without reporting an error in the log. EAC would do this to me quite regularly (~ every 20 CDs) when using Test and Copy.
EAC is not more likely to obtain a more secure rip with my set-up.

not to be argumentative by any means, because you (evereux) obviously have alot more experience w/ plextools than i do, but just for my own info, are you using your plextor drive w/ both ripping programs? for one, i thought that plextools would have a disadvantage because, afaik, it relies on c2 info for error detection, which i didn't think was always reliable, where as eac always rereads. its very possible im wrong though.