Why is ripping to FLAC so sensitive? And is there a sturdier ripper out there?

Do your CD's look like this 

or like this

I have some CDs like the bottom picture and both EAC and db seem to take a long time on certain tracks. Don't normally have any problem with either ripper with good CDs. Have you tried cleaning one of them and trying it again? Maybe dirty fingerprints?

Sounds odd.

Scratched CDs might affect the time required by EAC for extracting (copying) the wav file, but once that is done, the compressor just processes (i.e. transcodes) the wav into FLAC or MP3. In my experience, FLAC transcodes faster than MP3. It sounds like the OP is having issues with the extraction part, and if that is the case, the FLAC doesn't really come into play.

I'm having some odd problems with FLAC ripping via EAC too - but that's mainly an issue of random errors reported regarding problems with the external compressor. I've started a thread (http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/544312/need-advice-new-eac-set-up-returns-external-compression-error-for-one-track-from-an-entire-cd) about that (asking for some pro advice ) , but no replies so far.

What make cd/dvd drive are you using? Some are way better than others. Usually when people rip to mp3 they aren't interested in accuracy the way people who rip to FLAC are. Accuracy demands resources.... Having said that I have very little trouble with my ASUS DVD drive and dbpowerAMP ripping FLAC. I rip several discs each day...

mp3

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajreynol 

be sure to set EAC up right. with the right settings, it's just fine.

Quite the understatement. 

Fudge the rippers to be less pedantic about errors - like use burst mode instead of secure mode or tell it be less tolerant of errors.  Also, look for terms in options for "masking" or "interpolating" errors in hopes of filling some of the gaps with bogus data.  Check if your optical drive is not failing about now.  You may want to run a test ripping a good CD you have successfully ripped before and see if the files come out the same.

have you tried CDEX http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/

instructions to get flac working:

http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimserver/cdextip.html

you can pop flac.exe into the cdex program folder and point cdex to it.

I have a question, what eac alternative on linux?

Before using EAC, I ripped CDs with CDex (which was many years ago). Back then, CDex reported that my rips were accurate and ok with no errors BUT during playback skips would be present. This didn't happen all the time, but frequent enough for me to stop using it. Of course, the program might have improved over the years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gardener 

have you tried CDEX http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/

instructions to get flac working:

http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimserver/cdextip.html

you can pop flac.exe into the cdex program folder and point cdex to it.

 

I have a question, what eac alternative on linux?

yes i use eac for flac rip too, but an alternative was asked for

I think if one doesn't need secure mode, then dBpoweramp is an ideal alternative - easy to configure with a clean interface. I think it is more reliable than CDex, but like I said, last time I used it was a LONG time ago and it may very well be decent now.

But really, EAC is worth the trouble, and I imagine most folks who use free rippers probably use EAC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gardener 

yes i use eac for flac rip too, but an alternative was asked for

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jubei 

I think if one doesn't need secure mode, then dBpoweramp is an ideal alternative 

dBpoweramp has secure mode and error correction, just like EAC.

But I don't think dBpowerap's secure mode is included in the free version ...
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by evanft 

dBpoweramp has secure mode and error correction, just like EAC.