I would like to create the simplest ripping solution for my wife, all useful options pre-configured.

I used EAC ~2002 and really liked the way it cleaned up my son's scratch-damaged disk.

I have read some about encoders, believe have found good ones in LAME and FLAC and settings with which to start.

Discovered MAREO as way to rip to both FLAC and MP3 simultaneously, saving a transcoding step for her to run FOOBAR.

Could not get the AccurateRip .dll to work in EAC with like 20 reference disks, worked first time out in dbPowerAmp; read here could then take that .dll file back to EAC.

However, read in Wikipedia that Illustrate's testing on dbPowerAmp said better ripping results than EAC. The program's interface and operation were smooth, also, although configuring command lines looked less easy.

What I wanted to find out was if dbPowerAmp had the functionality to go over and over a section of a track if scratched and errors found to record highest quality and accuracy and likeliest replication of original in instance of a scratched or imperfect disk, for example. That seemed an extremely valuable capacity in EAC. Does dbPowerAmp do that?

Thanks much!

Yes. If I understand correctly you will need to purchase the Reference version. The wikipedia article is no doubt talking about the security afforded by dbPowerAmp Reference vs EAC.

I've never used it, but I know that some members prefer it to EAC, and that there does appear to be reason for that.

Note you can try dbPowerAmp Reference version out for free, since it has a fully functional trial period.

I use REACT 2 + EAC with accurate rip, to rip to Wavpack and mp3 (tracks or images) including logs and album art.

a very effective solution once all setup

Thank you for replies! I now see and better understand Illustrate's secure rip methodology based largely on AccurateRip as opposed to just repeated passes, to still yield accurate results, perhaps more accurate, with less drive stress.

I suppose if a disk were particularly goofed by scratches, etc., and did not work well with dbPowerAmp, I could try with EAC and its multi-pass method, to see if that yielded a different result. Illustrate rightly points out some damage errors will be beyond any recovery, and makes some statements about EAC's error reporting that are less easy for me to evaluate.

In any case, it looks like, from your replies, and info about dbPowerAmp Reference secure ripping, that if I can figure out how to set up a command line MAREO likes, that it would be a good choice to try.

Thanks again!