I haven't seen a topic like this in a while, and since then, foobar2000 and iTunes have emerged as valid options. Anyhow, just wondering who uses what.

EAC for me.

How is iTunes a valid option? Is ripping with iTunes worthwhile?

I know a lot of people who use it. Not necessarily people who appreciate security in ripping, but it is user-friendly.

Agreed.

Cdex with cdparanoia. I am going to be in the minority here as my drive doesn't support any special features, so I could care less about C2 error correction and accurate stream. You should also take into account rippers on other platforms like OS/X and Linux (despite the small number of users). Rubyripper has it's own secure extraction algorithm for Linux and Max has it's own for OS/X. They both use cdparanoia for additional functionality. Last time I chcked you couldn't use EAC on other platforms unless, with the exception of using up your CPU usage by making a Wine layer to run on on top of it, which is just dumb IMO. That's the other thing I dislike about it. Granted if your Win32 user your indifferent anyway. That's my two cents.

EAC for me in Secure mode.

I'm addicted to EAC.

Cdparanoia with a special Python script (custom work) ripping the tracks in chunks of about 30s, thus circumventing cache, and bit-comparing the data to find errors and suspicious positions - also does additional checks on error positions reported by cdparanoia. Still a hack - when I manage to clean the code up, add gap control and CUE/TOC sheet creation, it'll be released.

I think it's entirely possible to replicate EAC's Secure mode with cdparanoia.

That's not unlike foobar2000's new Paranoid mode, if I understand it correctly, AstralStorm.

Itunes is NOT secure. I've listened to many rips made using itunes, and quite a few have noticeable and annoying glitches.

EAC all the way, for peace of mind.

That doesn't sound healthy.

I use Max. Can't use EAC.

I like it a lot.

I voted 'other' because I use ISOBuster for ripping the RAW data out of a CD. I wouln't recommend it for anyone other than people who want to rip to RAW PCM format, anyways.

If I wanted to incode right from a CD, I'd use EAC, though.

Other -> Max

I use EAC most of the time for image & CUE. I voted for it here.

Occasionally I also use Plextools since I own both the needed hardware and software. Plextools is very fast even for problematic discs. Quality is good, too.

EAC (+ AccurateRip)

A lot of the (used) CDs I acquire are in poor condition. With EAC I've had great luck with getting a good sounding rip from most of them.
Plus, although they're not essential, I like a lot of the features such as offset correction, gap and cue sheet options, etc.

I wish there was an AccurateRip plugin for foobar2000.

EAC + AccurateRip

My drive (a Samsung) is represented in the AccurateRip database and the rips even from old, scratched discs are excellent.

WinDAC!

I love that I have all these CD-Rs where the null samples between tracks have been removed because I forgot to change the setting from the default!

Then I moved over to dBpowerAMP 'cause it was touted as being the fastest (who cares about accuracy, right?).

>dBpowerAMP 'cause it was touted as being the fastest (who cares about accuracy, right?).

The next release will be both - the fastest and secure (done in a correct way), one to watch out for...

foobar2000 in standard mode provides great results.

EAC secure mode

works fine

EAC in secure mode for me, works fine most of the time.

good thing you didn't include any options for *NIX users

...smug bastards

Other -> Max

Audio Grabber ofcourse!

I really can't understand what advantages Audiograbber has over EAC that would make someone want to use it. More graphics in the interface?

AudioGrabber is useful for ripping Karaoke CD+Gs, becaues EAC doesn't (yet?) have the ability to do that.

I really do like some aspects of Plextools Pro, as it's fast, has accurate and detailed error reports, and has some really cool special abilities, but of course, you need a Plextor drive to use it (and why pay double for the same thing?).

EAC has BAR NONE the best and most efficient user interface of any program out there though, and Andre is constantly making small improvements. I'm a die hard EAC user, occasionally using plextools for problem discs (it's much faster with scratched discs).

I voted EAC as i use EAC's secure mode with the -usefua switch and C2 enabled with my Plextor PX-755A. I have just recently decided to fully trust the -usefua switch since after i found a post where spath stated that he had checked the switch himself, and that it was correctly implemented and identical to the method that PlexTools uses to utillise the FUA bit. I would actually much prefer to use PlexTools as i would like to be able to use C2 pointers also on the extra rereadings, and not just initially, but the reason i haven't changed away from EAC, is that i just love how easy the REACT plugin makes ripping CDs to WavPack images with embedded cuesheets with Album Gain comments + logfiles + Album Gain Scaled MP3 trackfiles at the same time. Also i have read that PlexTools can't detect sub-indices higher than INDEX 01.

EAC - burst mode - test & copy

EAC since 1998
burst test+copy and secure if a CRC mismatches.

-andy-

Yep, found this out the hard way myself. At the time both the AAC encoder and fast ripping speeds seemed so appealing, so I figured that for my new/good condition CDs it was a smart choice. Wasn't until later when I'd be listening to the new rips on my iPod that I'd discover an unacceptable number of annoying glitches, the last track of CDs being particularly succeptible. Since then I only use iTunes for transfering music to my iPod, nothing more.


Amen, brother.

Well you have me holding my breath, can you tell something more about it?

(EAC here BTW)

I will just come with a correction to the previous post i wrote...

I said that i had found a post where spath stated that he had tested the -usefua switch, and that he had found it to be correctly implemented, and because of that then i was beginning to use it myself(as all of us around here certantly knows that spath knows his stuff right !). I have just recieved a reply from spath to a PM i send him, among other things about the -usefua switch, and there he said, that even though the -usefua switch uses the exact same command as PlexTools uses to utillise the FUA bit, then it dosen't neccesarily mean that the whole implementation is correct especially considering the number of problems he allready has found in EAC.

This then sadly means that i have decided to not use the switch anymore, and must live with the slow extraction speed that comes when enabling the cache-overridding radio button

CU - Martin.

Sorry, i'm not spoon, but here's a quote from a previous thread where he explains it :

lol. sure they did, good old "other." and that, my friend, is exactly what i voted. that is what we are anyway, right, others?

it was quite a debate for me, though, because i have not completely decided myself. most of the time now i'm using grip, and overall am very happy with it. i still sometimes run eac through wine, so that is still a very viable option to me. it is a i still may revert back to that... we'll see.

Easy CD-DA Extractor 9 Pro (w/ External Compression), Drive mode set to Error Recovery & Repair plus C2 Info. So far on tracks that have reported errors it corrects them and I have checked the audio file to notice if anything is wrong at the specififed time reported in the C2 info...nothing noticeable.

EAC as a backup for the heavy duty problem CDs...though it does tend to chew away on a disc for extended periods of time. Still, EAC is good.

Hmm...Easy CD-DA is from Finland and EAC is from Germany...seems Europe is the place to go to get your accurate CD Ripper programs from OR at least two really good ones.

- Gow

I once used EAC in secure mode, but changed to CDex (Full Paranoia). Most of the CD's I rip are in excellent conditions so I haven't had a single problem. Maybe if I have to rip an incredibly damaged CD I'll go back to EAC. I basically switched because EAC kinda blew my drive. It put it under so much strain, and I didn't know when to stop ripping... LOL

EAC secure mode... I don't care about speed, I only care about quality.

If people really cared that much about quality they'd rip with accuraterip installed. Secure/Burst mode then becomes irrelevant assuming accuraterip returns CRCs that match yours. It seems to me Burst would be the more sensible solution all things considered. Turn to secure when you run into problems.

That's exactly how I feel. If anything my CD's only have a few scratches on them and full paranoia can handle them.

I was just about to warn you against --usefua. It definitely doesn't work here with the PX-712A and EAC v0.95 beta 3.

What has specifically led you to this conclusion?

I use the switch and have yet to encounter a problem where not using it and checking the cache setting resulted in a better outcome.

My drive: the "inferior" PX-716A.

edit: spelling

Hi Never_Again

Thank you for the warning, i appreciate it

JeanLuc also didn't believe it to be working correctly as can be seen here : http://www.digital-inn.de/exact-audio-copy...ing-thread.html

CU - Martin.

foobar2000 in standard-security mode

See my findings here ... http://www.digital-inn.de/exact-audio-copy...ing-thread.html

-usefua doesn't work at all with my system config ... a test disc with lots of CU errors will only report sync errors (no read errors) in EAC when being ripped with -usefua on all of my Plextor drives.

I do not get these results with my system.

Re-reads occur at a speed similar to what they do with my non-caching drives and EAC will give me read errors as well as sync errors when I use the switch without cache flushing.

When I don't use the switch and don't use cache flushing re-reads occur very rapidly, as they do with my other caching drives when the flushing routine is not implemented.

From this standpoint, the switch makes a distinct difference.

And as I said earlier, my usage of this switch has suggested that it isn't any less incapable of getting a correct rip than using cache flushing.

I respect your findings and have no reason to dispute them but I would suggest to Martin to conduct his own experiments. I have yet to see anything to compel me not to use this switch.

EAC in secure mode.

JeanLuc sez:
>See my findings here ... http://www.digital-inn.de/exact-audio-copy...ing-thread.html

>-usefua doesn't work at all with my system config ... a test disc with
>lots of CU errors will only report sync >errors (no read errors) in EAC
>when being ripped with -usefua on all of my Plextor drives.

That's the test to perform, Jean-Luc. I did a similar one, except in my case the CD was fuxored by less artificial means. EAC would report rip OK, but never get the same CRC twice. This in contrast to the "tests" elsewhere, where Detect Drive Features was used on various CDs - what a ridiculous waste of time, and absolutely meaningless, too.


Martin H sez:
>Hi Never_Again
>Thank you for the warning, i appreciate it

Cheers Martin

<edit: quotes>

I take it you were able to get the tracks ripped correctly and repeatably with cache flushing, or that EAC wouldn't report the rip as being OK?

In terms of accuracy and repeatability I honestly have not seen one method out-performing the other with my fubared discs on my system.


FWIW (NMIK ), I couldn't agree more!

The less damaged part could be retrieved by both Plextools and EAC with matching results ... -usefua failed to report read errors due to the drive cache obviously being active and reporting matching results from multiple re-reads while sync errors occured ...

Sync errors have been reported because EAC will always perform a sector resync ... even in secure mode.

Voted for EAC.
EAC reports that my Plextor PX-W dunno-what caches audio, but when using the --usefua- switch, I can safely turn it off and still have 100% accuracy according to accuraterip. So it doesn't seem too broken to me, though I never tested turning off the caching- checkbox without the switch.