Hey all,

I am looking for help with ripping a CD catalog and using MP3Gain for other collected MP3s through the years.

I have been reading all the post and FAQs and am still confused on some things. Here are my questions:

- What is the best ripper? I've tried several and am thinking of using CDex. Recommendations on settings? Is there better quality using the command line?

- I want the best quality MP3s as space is not an issue. These will be going on my 80gb ipod. I've read about VBR and CBR. I started ripping at CBR 320kbs in iTunes first then CDex. Other recommendations?

- I'm confused on MP3Gain. Is Album Gain preferred?

- My albums are in their own subdirectories under their artist and then an MP3 folder. If I check the 'use subdirectories' option will the album analysis treat the folder as as 'album'? Is this the preffered method?

- Can someone clarify the difference between the 'Clipping' and then the '(clip)Track' or '(clip)Album'? I've read the help files and several posts already.

- Target Volume in MP3Gain will be set to 93. Should I look for a lower volume and look for less clipping marks? Any reason not to use 89db?

Please help. I am a software executive, but this stuff is really confusing, especially since there are so many different opinions and options using LAME, etc.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Mike - Seattle

..what's going on in seattle?

Welcome to HA msh26

Instead of writing and telling I want to refer to List of recommended LAME settings even though you might have read the given informations.

The general recommendation around here is to use EAC (perhaps with AccurateRip plugin) for secure ripping. In my opinion, it is necessary when creating a perfect lossless backup, but not so necessary when ripping to mp3. For a normal (not secure) ripping, any program is as good as any other, so CDex should be fine.

Regarding settings. I haven't used CDex for ages. If it uses the lame_enc.dll then you should be careful which dll version you use and how CDex handles it, because some older versions didn't really support the same set of options as the command-line lame.exe


Can iTunes encode using Lame encoder? If yes, then it's fine. On the other hand, iTunes own mp3 encoder was shown to be worse than Lame.


It depends entirely on your taste and listening habits. It's your choice.


If you are doing "album gain analysis" then the mp3gainGUI treats all files in a folder as an album (regardless of whether the files actually belong to one album or just a bunch of files)


IIRC, "clipping" shows if the mp3 file "as it is" already has clipping. "Clip (track)" will be marked if this mp3 will have clipping after track gain have been applied, and "clip (album)" -- after album gain have been applied. This is based on calculations during the gain analysis and then you can decide if you still want to apply the calculated gains.


"89 dB" level will ensure that almost all modern pop music will not have any clipping introduced by applying the gain.
The only reason to raise this target level is that if your mp3 player output volume becomes too quiet. But then you run the risk of introducing clipping. A little bit of clipping maybe not audible, a lot of clipping is audible. Unfortunately, mp3gainGUI doesn't provide any information about how severe the clipping is actually, so you have to listen yourself.


By the way, there is an option in mp3gainGUI to save "undo" information in tags. I would recommend NOT to use this options because it appends an apev2-tag (instead of saving it to id3v2) and it may confuse some software later on.
However, I would recommend to keep track of mp3 gain changes in a log file (there is such option).

KDO,

Thanks for addressing each question. Your input is really helpful.

I may just dive in and give MP3Gain a go and then continue ripping my CDs based on your recommendations.


Uh, it's raining. Go figure! The sun was out yesterday.

You're welcome!

Just one more note:
I noticed you're making 320CBR mp3s, which might place you in a camp of users who treasure their mp3s very much and want them to be as perfect as they can be. Such users typically prefer to go through the troubles of secure ripping.
So, I suggest you consider EAC and secure ripping after all.

Just to throw my £0.02 worth in...

I use LAME with options -b32 -mj -q1 -V0 - which produces a very high quality output. Playing this through my main hi-fi (Arcam AVR-250, Mordaunt-Short Avant 908/905C/903S speakers) I'm hard pushed to tell the difference between MP3 and CD.

ReplayGain - I use Album gain, except when ripping CD singles or compilations when I use Track gain.

I use the same files on the iPod (60GB 5th gen) which is mainly for use in the car (aftermarket setup, can hear artefacts at 192 CBR even over the road noise!).

The Squeezebox (which I use in my kitchen and bathroom) does "smart" gain adjustment, even though the MP3 files have already been ReplayGained it'll read the RG values. If you play a complete album it uses Album gain, if you play random tracks out of sequence it'll use Track gain. All works rather well.

I'm using EAC, secure mode, LAME external.
I love music above everything, and the fact that command lines are so confusing, and I still haven't found a page that gathers and most of all explains them, it's frustrating..
Until today I thought that I did find a perfect way to rip & encode my beloved CDs, but now I'm really no more sure..
This is my actual string:

-V0 --vbr-new --add-id3v2 --pad-id3v2 --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" %s %d

First thing:
as someone asked before: is -V0 and -V 0 just the same?

Second and most important thing:
this part of the string is just about the tagging

--add-id3v2 --pad-id3v2 --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" %s %d

but I'm not sure of which options should be ENABLED in EAC (e.g. compression options -> external compression; I selected just to delete the *.wav, how about "add ID3 Tag"?).

The problem comes when selecting the VBR method & other stuff: what is -q(0) switch? And the -b(32)?
And you added the -mj, which I swear, it's the first time I find it O_O
Can you explain them?
Would my sting be better like this and why?

-V0 -q0 -b32 --vbr-new {+ tagging string}




I'm thinking about making a Ita\Eng guide to LAME & EAC settings, that will gather all the informations found around and pass it around \ put it on my web page, so it would be definitely GREAT if you answered, and possibly the more accurate you can.

Thanks in advance!!

Guì

Yes. You can always test these sort of things by simply giving it a try.

The closing %s %d are actually the source and destination files. --add-id3v2 means that you will have ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags, while --pad-id3v2 means that some padding will be added to allow room for expansion, if you should add further tags at a later date (without padding any increase in tagging would result in a file rewrite, which is time consuming). The --t* switches set specific tags.

You certainly don't need "Add ID3 tag" with the command line above. Just "Delete WAV after compression" is fine.

Take a look at the switch reference on the LAME website (or you should have the docs with the file you downloaded). -mj just specifies to use joint stereo, while -b32 specifies to use a minimum bitrate of 32kbps. Both are default anyway, so are totally superfluous. -q0 will use the best possible algorithms at the price of speed. The default for -V0 is -q3. The consensus of this board is to simply use -V0 --vbr-new, and rely on the LAME dev's superior knowledge.

Have you looked at the EAC and LAME guide in the wiki?

Thanks *very* much for the answer.
Yes I did check the wiki and I actually copy\pasted the string from there.
Regarding the joint stereo (sorry for the question) but is it better then simple stereo (that's how without specifying -mj in the string it would be?)..?

And last but not least: the default for -V0 is -q3, and it's the suggested one i assume, though -q0 would result in better quality, theoretically or practically speaking?

Thanks again

You certainly do when Lame encounters a genre that it doesn't like.

EDIT: Not when the command line in question doesn't specify a genre, duh!

When it comes to writing both v1 and v2 tags, you're probably better off simply letting EAC handle the tagging.

IOW, I recommend
for your command line options.

Regarding -q0 vs. -q3, search the forum to see if anyone has been able to determine a difference through blind testing.

-V0 --vbr-new %s %d

I never really cared about genres (and never used customs), thence I never even realized that EAC wan not actually writing them :'D

BTW, why is wiki string different from the "EAC and LAME suggested config" thread...?
That's the reason why I incurred in this problem -.-''

FROM WIKI
-V0 --vbr-new --add-id3v2 --pad-id3v2 --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tg "%m" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" %s %d
FROM THREAD
-V0 --vbr-new --add-id3v2 --pad-id3v2 --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" %s %d

[I changed 2 to 0, though I now that maybe it's too much, but it's just to be sure it's the best compromise between quality\space possible.. is it intelligent\realistic or not..?]

!Syllogism!
~ -tg in the thread thing is missing.
~ -tg is for the genre.
~ i'm using the thread string so I'm idiot as it's my fault if it doesn't add genre (correct..?)

Second thing:
why -tl [album?] picks up info from "%g"..? isn't it the genre referrer..?
and then, why in wiki string, for the genre, the referrer is "%m"..?

all of this is getting me mad.
couldn't the just say
"with -ta it goes "%a" etc" instead of THIS

Can you help?

On the contrary, unlike Lame, EAC will write custom genres.

I have no clue.

To be honest, I didn't realize that the genre was omitted until now. Sorry 'bout that (to Synthetic Soul also)!

%g is the CD title (%c is already being used for CRC checksum). %m is the genre (%g is already being used for CD title). Makes perfect sense, no?

"-ta" is a Lame thing. "%a" is an EAC thing.

BTW, here's the link for EAC's variables:
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/en/index.php/...sion-questions/

Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks, you're great

Greetz!

I would use dbpoweramp, if you don't want to pay, EAC, but is a little more difficult to setup.


No sense on going 320kbps ... i would go VBR v2.


In very rare situations, where it makes sense to keep the sound difference between songs, it does.

I couldn't disagree more about album gain only being better in very rare situations and would go as far as to say that kwanbis's opinion about this probably falls in the minority (IMO).

...and you're welcome, Kjn_Wds.

I should damn well think so too. In truth, I only meant that there was no point letting both EAC and LAME tag; it needs to be one or the other.

I can only assume that the genre switch has been omitted for fear of an invalid genre. 3.90.3 didn't have the --ignore-tag-errors switch.

Your mission to educate people about ID3 tagging with EAC is commendable. I'd like to see a resolve, and discover exactly why it has such a bad reputation.

Interesting; I didn't know that.

This is why I disagree with maintaining a post and wiki article. It doesn't make sense.