Hi all,
This is my first post here, sorry if this has been answered before but I was unable to find anything on the subject. I was wondering if there is a program (or programs) that allows me to rip from a cd to a lossless format entirely from command line? I really don't care what format it is so long as it is lossless. If this is possible using the more common programs like EAC and Monkey's can somebody please explain to me the command line syntax? Thanks in advance.

Take a look at the Compression Guides listed on the EAC wiki page.

Post back if you have any further questions.

Edit: Sorry, I can't work out whether you mean totally command line or not. I thought you did and then you mentioned EAC.

If you do mean totally command line then I'm not sure. CDRDAO or AKRIP spring to mind - but I'm not sure they'll do what you want.

Sorry I'm kind of a newb when it comes to audio ripping so I don't really know the steps involved...By totally command line I mean that I would like to be able to pop in a CD and be able to have a backup on my pc without using a gui whatsoever. The reason being that I am creating a front end for my personal media-server and I would like to be able to automate the ripping process. Doing the ripping via command line seems to be my best option.

Akrip looks promising, will have to try over the weekend. I'm assuming the wav files created will be identical to what is on CD?

I've no idea - depends on the quality of the CD. EAC ensures a good rip by reading each sector over, etc.

foobar uses AKRIP, but foobar now has the ability to rescan sectors as per EAC, to ensure that the read was correct.

You could always rip each CD twice, and binary-compare the two WAVs to ensure that the rip was accurate (or at least uniformally inaccurate...). This is basically what EAC does with "Test and Copy".

Good idea. Will try that over the weekend and update. Thanks for you help. A media server wouldn't be the same having to listen to terrible sounding MP3s!

The only fly in the ointment I can see is that, if you are ripping to images (i.e.: one WAVE per CD), you really need an accompanying cuesheet, in order for you to be able to split into tracks.

I don't know whether AKRIP can do this, or whether you may be able to find another command line application that will create a cuesheet from a CD.

Good luck anyway.