Best Program for Copying CD's??

[Soundbuff]

What is the best program for copying (unprotected) audio CD's?

Up until now I've been trying to decide which MP3 player to buy. I've decided to hold off getting a new MP3 player because (1) it looks like a new generation of IRiver, IAudio, etc. will be coming out fairly soon and (2) the weather is pretty bad anyway this time of year so there isn't any need to rush the decision on the MP3 player just yet.

I think for now I will just continue backing up CD's that interest me and later will pick the MP3 player and a program to rip the CD's and organize/play the music files on the computer.

I have Roxio Easy DVD Copy which seems to do an OK just for copying CD's. I also have an older program called NTI CD Maker 2000 Plus. Roxio Easy DVD Copy is a very simple program to use, all you need to do is insert the source and the blank and that's about all there is to it. I mainly use NTI CD Maker 2000 Plus for backing up data files to CD, but it also seems to work fine for copying audio CD's.

Does it really matter what program you use for copying unprotected audio CD's? Does one program pretty much work as well as the next? I've heard of another program which I believe is called Exact Audio Copy, is there any advantage to using that?

 

[Kirosia]

Exact Audio Copy (EAC) is a CD ripper IIRC. Don't know if it copies though. (I'm kind outta the loop too)

 

[pedxing]

Nero is good for piecing data CDs and audio CDs together from scratch. However, its interface is not exactly user friendly. I am not sure how good Nero is at copying CDs. I know it has problems creating CD images on the hard disk with certain audio CDs that have a negative offset.

If you want to create perfect or near exact duplications of CDs, you can try Alcohol 120% or CloneCD. They have ways of getting around certain copy protections and allow people make closer bit-for-bit duplications of their original CDs. You can probably find more information about various CD duplicating software at www.cdfreaks.com.

Exact Audio is good for ripping CDs into wav files, before compressing them into mp3s. However, if you plan to rip each track as separate wavs and then copy them back onto a CDR, you may lose information such as the pauses between tracks and data residing in the subliminal channel.

 

[IstariAsuka]

EAC has the ability to rip the music, even correcting for read/write offsets, and also automatically create a cue sheet for it with all information necessary for a burning program to make a perfect copy of the CD.

EAC also seems to have the ability to write the CD itself, though I believe it just uses Nero to do this, meaning you must have Nero installed. However, having it all in one spot would make it pretty easy, much like any other CD copy program, but more accurate (being EAC and all

)

 

[stevesurf]

I have found Nero works best for CD-Copying, even with multiple recorders of varying speeds.