Hello,

In the past I've used EAC and LAME successfully to rip CD's. I haven't done any ripping in about a year and I'd like to start again, so I just grabbed the latest stable LAME version (3.98.2) and now I'm ready. The thing is that a year or two ago I researched what the best settings would be for me and came up with the following "additional command line-options:"

%l-V 5%l%h-V 2%h --vbr-new %s %d

Please bear in mind that I don't really know what all that means and that it was a cross between stuff I read in various LAME tutorials and on a wiki somewhere. But it worked fine for me back then and I was happy with the resulting files.

I was just reading on the EAC and LAME wiki here that "--vbr-new is now the default setting and is no longer explicitly required." So I guess some of the command line options are different now and I'm hoping someone can help me with what I should put in that box. I know for the vast majority of people here that questions like mine are probably considered lazy and annoying, but to many people like myself the command line settings are like a very hard to learn foreign language. I've read the wiki here, and a couple of tutorials elsewhere, and I still don't really understand what all those percent symbols and dashes mean or how they work. So...

1. Can someone please tell me what my old command line options (above) actually mean/do? And what would the equivalent settings be under the current 3.98.2?

2. I understand that under Drive Options, Secure Mode is the best choice. However, I have a lot of CD's that are badly scratched and one track alone took more than an hour because the error checking kept going over and over the same areas. So I did the same track again in Fast Mode and it was done in a couple of minutes. The resulting file sounded fine, but I'm wondering if Secure Mode is just more thorough with the error checking, or if it actually works differently and results in a better quality/sounding file?

3. Do any of the experts here have an opinion on the ripper built into iTunes? Or on mp3 vs. AAC/m4a? I remember the last time I was ripping CD's, there was talk that AAC might replace mp3 someday. I don't have iTunes installed (I use SharePod), but I'm curious as to what more knowledgeable people think about it.

Thank you very much for any help you can provide.

1. This configuration would send LAME the following command lines, for EAC's low and high quality settings respectively:


Parameters between "%l" or "%h" pairs are passed depending on the quality setting; "%s" and "%d" represent the audio files.

You've surmised "--vbr-new" is now defaulted and not required, so remove it (assuming you're satisfied with the other settings).

2. Secure mode is just that; it attempts to verify audio sectors by extracting them repeatedly and comparing. If the CD is so damaged that identical results are difficult to achieve, (AFAIK) fast mode is likely to just settle for the first one and move on.

3. iTunes' ripper isn't generally recommended for secure extraction, but is probably fine if the source CD is in good condition and you're ripping it to a lossy format. AFAIK, its AAC encoder is well thought of, but its (Fraunhofer) MP3 codec discouraged. As for MP3 vs. AAC, the latter tends to perform better at lower bitrates (128 kbps or less), but at higher bitrates (such as -V2 MP3 or iTunes Plus AAC) both are usually transparent. I think it then comes down to compatibility and personal preference.

1. It means LAME encodes to -V5 if you pick low quality and to -V2 if you pick high quality. Just use the same for 3.98.2.
2. Secure mode will tell you automatically if there was an error in the rip. It will also tell you which part of the track has the error so you can listen to it and decide if the error is audible or not. If you use burst mode, to confirm that there were no errors in the rip, it has to be either Accuraterip verified or used with Test & Copy to see if CRCs match. If you're only concerned with audible errors, you'd have to listen to the whole rip.
3. The ripper in iTunes is just like EAC's burst mode. There's no way to tell from iTunes alone if it went fine. As for MP3 vs AAC, most people find them at the same quality level at 128kbps up. Since MP3 has the upper hand in compatibility, that's what most people pick.

Matching CRC's do not guarantee error-free rips! It only tells you that the read data is exactly the same in both T&C, correct or corrupt data.

Just as secure mode also does not guarantee error-free rips, just makes them more likely.

If you can't get an Accuraterip and you don't have another drive with a different chipset, then burst T&C is the next best thing.

Thank you very much for the replies. I think I had my ah-ha moment and I get it now. I forgot about the High/Low quality buttons and was trying to get it all figured out just using the command line options box. So my command line would just look like this:

Which, of course, is the first recommended setting in the wiki entry. I think what was throwing me was having the "%l" and "%h" pairs with different numbers in there. Does anyone ever really opt for "low quality" anyway? I doubt it.

Regarding the drive options/extraction method, is it better to use burst than fast mode (if secure is just taking way too long)? Secure is on top, then fast, then burst is third. So when secure was not feasible, I just assumed that the next one would be the logical second best. No? I read the tooltips but that didn't clear up much for me other than that burst is the fastest. Thanks guys!

Edit: Why is that code box so huge?

Actually I would say that most people who go to the trouble of really comparing the different settings by a double-blind test like ABX, tend to settle on files that are somewhat smaller with no audible quality difference to them. Often this will be -V4 or -V5. Others will use -V2 or better for listening on their computer, where storage space is cheap, but have a second copy at lower quality for portable use.

That's more accurate description. Your initial sentence put AccurateRip verification on the same level as the matching CRC's. Also the "confirm" with matching CRC's is IMHO wrong word to use. Hopefully I'm not nitpicking here, I honestly think that your initial wording gave wrong impression.

BTW, wouldn't a burst test (w/o C2) and a secure copy (w/ C2 if available) CRC comparison be better?