I have been using EAC for years without any problems and I love it but now I am having a problem that is more than slightly frusterating.

I did an install of EAC on hardware that it had working just fine before with a custom LAME command line option that worked just fine before. I think the only thing that changed is that I downloaded the new version from Jan 2008.

It rips the CD just fine but then starts to use LAME to compress the waves and stops giving me this error:

The external compressor returned an error!

Options : -V0 --vbr-new

I have used both LAME 3.98 and 3.97 with the same failed results. Anyone have any ideas? Are these even valid options anymore?

An initial guess is that you don't have a space between the V and the 0. Here's my command line option:

-V 0 --vbr-new --id3v2-only --pad-id3v2 --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" --tg "%m" %s %d

The command should work fine either with or without the space (-V0 or -V 0), so this isn't the problem.

Maybe you need to fill up that command line with more information so EAC will properly tell the codec what to do (this if using the 'User Defined Encoder'). Just putting -V 0 --vbr-new won't do. I'm using the following command line with EAC:

--verbose -V 2 --vbr-new -q 0 --id3v2-only --pad-id3v2 --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tg "%m" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" --tc "EAC & Lame 3.97" %s %d


PS: Beware that since LAME version 3.98 there's no need to add the --vbr-new switch since it will use it as the default parameter for the presets.

Instead of confusing the issue by adding switches for tagging which aren't necessary (EAC can tag mp3 files just fine), especially when both of you have given a line that will result in an error if you try to pass a genre that is not approved by Lame 3.97 (it should work ok with 3.98, though), let's get to the crux of the problem.

thezfunk, please tell us exactly what you have entered for the additional command line options. Did you make sure to include %s %d at the end so that it looks like:

-V0 --vbr-new %s %d

???

Is the parameter passing scheme set to "User Defined Encoder"?

Feel free to check the wiki:
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=EAC_and_Lame

PS: A space is not necessary between the V and the 0, btw.

Holy cow...that worked. Since when is the %s and %d needed and what do they stand for?

We are just trying to make it easier for him greynol so he could just copy and paste the entire given command line and make it work.

Anyways I'm almost pretty sure the guy is trying that command line in the 'User Defined Encoder' scheme since I have tested it and it won't work probably because of the missing %s and %d at the end of course, whereas if using that same command line in the 'LAME MP3 Encoder' parameter scheme it works.

The %s is a placeholder for EAC to pass the path and filename of the source file and %d is for the path and filename of the destination file.

Here's a link to some examples on how one would use Lame from the command line:
http://lame.cvs.sourceforge.net/*checkout*...l/examples.html

Here's a link to the various things that EAC can pass to the command line (check the bottom of the page):
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/en/index.php/...sion-questions/

You're right. I hadn't thought that through very well, though Lame will still enforce a minimum bitrate based on what is chosen in the drop-down list as well as either a -h or a -f depending on the quality setting, so it won't work exactly as desired.

Oh really? Well I didn't know EAC would enforce to a minimum bitrate when using the 'LAME MP3 Encoder' parameter scheme. I thought that if the user manually added a switch related to the bitrate that would be enough to ignore or bypass what's in the dropdown list option from EAC.

Thanks for the additional information mate.

Wed. 08/08/17 12:53 EDT
.post #4

How, for example, could I configure EAC to write track #, track title, artist, album title, and album year into the ID3v2 tag?

Edit:

I've been experimenting with different command line options in the Compression Options section of Exact Audio Copy (version 0.9 prebeta 11).
This combination:
-V0 --id3v2-only --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tl "%g" --tn "%n" (I've found that I can eliminate the %s %d at the end by selecting, as the Parameter passing scheme, "LAME MP3 Encoder", rather than "User Defined Encoder")
produces an ID3v2 tag in the generated mp3 file, with track #, track title, artist and album title filled in...but what appears in those respective fields? Not what I expected, but rather this:
%n, %t, %a, and %g - those literal characters.

Interestingly, eliminating the quotation marks, for example:
-V0 --id3v2-only --ta %a --tt %t --tl %g --tn %n
produces exactly the same results.

What am I doing wrong?

I recommend you upgrade to at least 0.95pb5 if not 0.95b3. I'm assuming you still want the ability to retrieve the native TOC, otherwise I'd go with the current version (0.99pb4). What version of Lame are you using?

Answering your first question, you don't have to do anything but tick the option to have EAC add the ID3 tag on the External Compression tab and tick the option to additionally write ID3v2 tags on the ID3 Tag tab. There's nothing else you have to do, EAC does it automatically. Yes it adds an v1 tag as well, but so what?!?

For the command line, just put in -V0 %s %d (add --vbr-new after the -V0 if using Lame 3.97) and tell EAC to go with the User Defined Encoder.

Thurs. 08/08/28 09:38 EDT
.post #5

Why?
3.98
That worked perfectly! What also works is choosing LAME MP3 Encoder and eliminating %s %d from the Additional command line options field.

Beautiful! Thanks very much, greynol.

A whole slew of reasons including my suspicion that its the reason why those command line parameters aren't being passed as expected (though I guess this really doesn't matter), but let me counter with: why not?

I already explained earlier why this is a bad idea.

You're welcome. Glad to be of help.