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Ripping CD's to FLAC - What program to use?

post #1 of 21
3/17/11 at 10:22am
Thread Starter 

I am looking for a program that can rip CD's in FLAC, is decent at organizing music, allows you to edit incorrect tag information, and also allows you to convert FLAC files to either MP3 (for use with my Zune) or for use with an Ipod (for my wife).

 

I figure that since I am more than likely purchasing a USB DAC (Audnst HUD-MX1 or Yulong U100) shortly I should ensure the source music its getting is the highest quality I can get.

 

I see that it seems the recommended programs to use when ripping to FLAC are dBpoweramp and Media Monkey, however I believe neither is a free program. I have also heard good things about J River Media Player as well, which I believe is free.

 

What is your preferred FLAC player and CD ripping software? I am looking to keep this as easy and cheap as possible for myself as I dont have a TON of CD's anymore and I have more than enough storage space that losing the space required to put them in FLAC wont hurt me. I have a 1TB HDD that could use some music and also then would back up whatever I could onto my 2 320 gig external's

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post #2 of 21
3/17/11 at 10:28am

EAC for Windows or abcde for Linux would be good..

 

If using EAC there are a lot of How to's in the net..like this:

 

http://blowfish.be/eac/Setup/

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post #3 of 21
3/17/11 at 10:29am

I like uLilith best for playback, EAC for ripping regular audio CDs and DVDA Explorer for ripping audio DVDs.

There are EAC guides here if you search, I think.  You'll find some guides easily through a Google search as well.  DVDA Explorer is very straight forward and much simpler and you rip audio DVDs with it.  I then use Foobar with its downmixing DSP to downmix the multichannel audio to stereo.

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post #4 of 21
3/17/11 at 12:18pm
Dbpower amp is another alternative. My vote is for EAC as already mentioned.

BTW, this topic has already been discussed many times. Try a search for your questions before starting a new thread is a good rule of thumb here. Any forum for that matter..
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post #5 of 21
3/17/11 at 12:24pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by J.Pocalypse View Post

Dbpower amp is another alternative. My vote is for EAC as already mentioned.

BTW, this topic has already been discussed many times. Try a search for your questions before starting a new thread is a good rule of thumb here. Any forum for that matter..



I did run a quick search on FLAC in titles, but didnt get lots of hits.  I really didnt feel like searching all posts for FLAC and then trying to piece stuff together.

 

I have some some reading as I was already aware of dBpoweramp (its mentioned in my first post).

 

I haven't heard tons about EAC (or Foobar for that matter) besides its not the most user friendly program...

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post #6 of 21
3/17/11 at 12:30pm

I'll add a vote for dBpoweramp. It has always worked well for me and I really like their converter.

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post #7 of 21
3/17/11 at 5:47pm

Here are two freebies I use all the time for FLAC conversions...

 

http://portableapps.com/apps/music_video/freac_portable

 

http://portableapps.com/apps/music_video/cdex_portable

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post #8 of 21
3/17/11 at 6:01pm

The best free audio ripper is EAC. When set up correctly, EAC will give up the most accurate rips (via secure rip mode) of your CDs. I started with other rippers but if you have a large collection and don't want to deal with errors in rips, then EAC really is the way to go.

 

dBpoweramp is easier to use, but not entirely free. I believe the free version of the software doesn't offer secure rip (http://www.dbpoweramp.com/db-versions.htm) which EAC does offer. 

 

EDIT: mind you, I haven't used dBpoweramp for many years, and I couldn't find the download link for the free version of the website - when I did give a try a few years ago, there was a free version. I did recently install a new version of EAC following the guide mentioned in monoethylene's post (#2 above).


Edited by Jubei - 3/17/11 at 6:05pm
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post #9 of 21
3/18/11 at 4:41am

i use both EAC and dbpoweramp. Prefer the latter simply because it's easier to use

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post #10 of 21
3/18/11 at 6:12am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jubei View Post

The best free audio ripper is EAC. When set up correctly, EAC will give up the most accurate rips (via secure rip mode) of your CDs. I started with other rippers but if you have a large collection and don't want to deal with errors in rips, then EAC really is the way to go.

 

dBpoweramp is easier to use, but not entirely free. I believe the free version of the software doesn't offer secure rip (http://www.dbpoweramp.com/db-versions.htm) which EAC does offer. 

 

EDIT: mind you, I haven't used dBpoweramp for many years, and I couldn't find the download link for the free version of the website - when I did give a try a few years ago, there was a free version. I did recently install a new version of EAC following the guide mentioned in monoethylene's post (#2 above).



dbPoweramp does have a free version:

 

Thank you for registering dBpoweramp, please review before registering:

  • Pay by Credit Card or PayPal securely,
    • Personal details are kept private and are never spammed,
      • Registration is delivered by email containing registered download link, ensure a correct email address is given,
      • All programs have a full trials, before purchasing check the program functions as required, refunds cannot be given after registered program is downloaded.
      • All payments are one off, we do not take payment on a subscription basis (recurring).

 

Its a PITA to find the free download though (so I listed it here :))

 

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm

 

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post #11 of 21
3/18/11 at 6:40am

I prefer EAC too, it works very well and is not so difficult to use, there are very good instructions online to set up the program. 

It's simply the best tool to rip CD and it's free, why to look for something different?

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post #12 of 21
3/18/11 at 7:09am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by quintron View Post

I prefer EAC too, it works very well and is not so difficult to use, there are very good instructions online to set up the program. 

It's simply the best tool to rip CD and it's free, why to look for something different?



mostly because dbpoweramp does a couple things I like a bit better.  Namely the main things I see in dbpoweramp over EAC is firstly ease of use, and secondly the mutiple encoding at one time + secure rip + multiple CPU core usage....

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post #13 of 21
3/18/11 at 8:19am
I have my EAC setup to do secure rips of CD's in FLAC then I convert it to 320 in foobar with LAME, not too hard. EAC can utilize multiple cores as well, the FLAC encoder gives it that option.
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post #14 of 21
3/18/11 at 10:42am

I like EAC as well but fre:ac is easier to set up and I get great results with scratched cd's. I use full cd paranoia mode with jitter correction as the ripping method. It's also free.

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post #15 of 21
3/18/11 at 12:48pm

That's exactly what I do too - rip to FLAC with EAC and convert to MP3 in Foobar if I need it in that format. 
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by cyberspyder View Post

I have my EAC setup to do secure rips of CD's in FLAC then I convert it to 320 in foobar with LAME, not too hard. EAC can utilize multiple cores as well, the FLAC encoder gives it that option.


 

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