[MarkO]

I myself use EAC and LAME to rip and convert.

But I have a friend who lacks the patience to install and configure that setup, and wants an easy cd to mp3 solution -- something as easy as iTunes, but for the PC.

Do any of the all-in-one programs combine ease of use with decent sound quality? Which is best?

Thanks,

MarkO

 

[emlee]

I don't understand, once you set it up, you can rip and encode a CD in three steps. If he doesn't have the patience for the EAC ripping duration, set his CD to Burst Mode. If you set it up for him, then it's really easy to use afterwards.

 

[RunsWithScissors]

I personally use EAC with LAME (release 3.92 or 3.90.2 as they are the only release that have been extensively tested and verified so newer is not necessarily better in this case).

If you or your friends want 'simple' then you might want to explore CDex or RazorLame. Lots of info is available on the web - you just have to look - here is some to start you out:

welcome to hydrogenaudio's ripping and encoding 101 - see section on MP3 in particular:
http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/features...P3/MP3-p5.html

Newbie guide to mp3:
http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/features...P3/MP3-p5.html

Hydrogen audio info on LAME settings:
http://www.audio-illumination.org/fo...ST&f=15&t=203&

Coaster Factory tutorials:
http://www.ping.be/satcp/tutorials.htm

cloning CDs with EAC and CDRWIN: make perfect copies of CD (for backup purposes - of course - nothing illegal implied here

)
http://pages.cthome.net/homepage/eac/clone.htm

just what it says:
http://www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/cd.shtml

CD-R Dyes: How to tell what's what
http://www.mitsuicdrstore.com/Dyes.htm

great mid-high end blank media:
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/cdrsavings/taiyoyuden.html

mp3 guides:
http://www.chrismyden.com/nuke/modul...DAE&file=index

very easy and clear walk through/setup:
http://www.chrismyden.com/nuke/modul...&file=painless


If you "can't get there from here" than you don't deserve to enjoy the benefits of MP3 compressed audio - and yes there are lots of other compression options available such as MPC, ogg vorbis as well as lossless compression such as monkey audio, flac, etc just to name a few.

EAC can act as a versatile front-end for many different codecs and is the *BEST* choice for ensuring quality digital audio extraction from source CDs and this is the most crucial point of the process where degradation can occur due to extraction errors.

Hope this helps

 

[MarkO]

Thanks. That's a great collection of links for me. For my friend, I think I'll just tell him to use EAC and Lame, as I do.

 

[ssblood]

Cdex is nice and easy too...

 

[Squalish]

CDex and EAC are the best two mp3-ripping tools IMO.

 

[a1leyez0nm3]

Windows media player ... i use that because eac doesnt name the songs right, which i have to have done correctly, or my brother will have a hissy fit when he burns his mp3 cds. i just encode at a high rate (250 or something.)

 

[Joe Bloggs]

well... if you ask me, I think you can afford to skimp on the CD extraction but not the mp3 encoding--LAME is just *the* one to use!

 

[ssblood]

You have full control over how the cd is named with Cdex

 

[emlee]

I fully concur that one of the biggest weaknesses of EAC is it's use of FREEDB... if there was only a way to use GraceNote's CDDB or something... I often get mistitled songs/albums from FREEDB.

 

[ssblood]

They have to pay for licensing for gracenotes which is why they don't use it, if you worry that much about it and are too lazy to type them in yourself get a different program

 

[prankster]

This step-by-step way of setting up EAC and LAME was originally posted in another thread by..someone helpful

, and I just set it up and used it tonight w/ nary a question.