[chann3l]

I have a ton of cds i want to rip directly to flac format to add to my ever growing digital collection. Is there any decent free windows software to do this?

 

[phoenixdogfan]

EAC and it's freeware.

 

[chann3l]

Awesome, thank you.

 

[milosingh]

Foobar should do this as well. Not sure though.

 

[trung224]

EAC for sure. The error checkers and correction ability of EAC is what foobar, jriver, windows media player lacks. Plus it is free.
Dbpoweramp is also another option.

 

[ZMan2k2]

I love dbPowerAmp.  But it's not free.  I'm not sure if the ripping portion of it is free, but I bought the program.  So versatile, you can rip to pretty much any format you want.  Just download the encoding software for it, and you're ripping.  It allows for you to change level of rip on FLAC as well.  I leave it on standard 5, but you can rip quality from 1-10.  And it also has encoder checking in it, to make sure your rip is correct.

 

[obobskivich]

EAC for sure. The error checkers and correction ability of EAC is what foobar, jriver, windows media player lacks. Plus it is free.
Dbpoweramp is also another option.

Windows Media Player, at least 12.x, supports error check/correct for CD ripping, but it will not rip to flac (it will rip to WMA Lossless which is comparable but not as widely compatible these days (there's lots of older "Windows Media Plays For Sure" devices that can do WMA-L, but flac has seriously overtaken it for more modern stuff)).

That said, I'd still vote EAC because it supports more formats, is free (WMP is technically free, but its only available for certain versions of Windows), and is very easy to work with.

 

[chann3l]

Thanks again for all the response, ill go grab eac, sounds like it has a lot going for it other than the fact that it's free.

 

[BRCMRGN]

I started with EAC but had problems with the HIFIMAN HM700 not reading some tracks. HIFIMAN both acknowledged and refused to fix the bug so I switched to dbPoweramp and haven't had any problems since. No more HIFIMAN players either.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

 

[SPLWF]

Windows 10 Windows Media player can rip FLAC, is EAC still better?  Thanks

 

[obobskivich]

Windows 10 Windows Media player can rip FLAC, is EAC still better?  Thanks

Interesting new feature, that. If both are ripping without errors (e.g. if it also has the error correction that WMP12 does) there will be no difference - they're both producing lossless outputs and providing error correction (there's technically no difference between what WMA-L and flac can do either, its just WMA-L has fallen out of favor and isn't supported by a lot of newer mobile/embedded devices - but they're both lossless containers). WMP may provide nicer tagging or organization options out of the box as well, but that's more of a personal preference thing - using EAC + WMP I often find myself fixing tags once things are imported into WMP, but that's neither here nor there for audio quality.

 

[Mython]

When set-up appropriately, EAC's error-correction goes substantially beyond the standard error-correction used by most other ripping softwares (regardless of host platform).
 
EAC is not the most user-friendly software, so it's not for lazy people or those with short attention spans, or wanting a pretty or flashy GUI, but it's definitely a great ripping software for those serious about attaining the best ripping quality.
 
As with anything in life, shortcuts are often available, but shortcuts don't always achieve the same quality, so take yer pick....
 
 
Related post about ExactAudioCopy
 
 
.

 

[Music Alchemist]

I prefer dBpoweramp for its features, interface, ease of use, and speed.
 
I also keep Exact Audio Copy installed for its error correction. Sometimes it's better than dBpoweramp for that, sometimes not.
 
Both are compatible with the AccurateRip database, and both nearly always give you a perfect rip.
 
And of course, foobar2000 and many other programs can get the job done as well.

 

[ksb643]

Has anyone else tried Cue Ripper?

 

[MrBoat]

Feel a bit daft but I when I first got my AK Jr I went straight to EAC which I'd seen recommended on here and continued to rip my whole collection using EAC. Anyway, all seems ok but the initial trial ran out and it's asking me to pay. Further to some more searching on here I've discovered that in my haste I actually downloaded 'Easy Audio Copy' and not 'Exact Audio Copy' as advised. I just downloaded a free copy of 'Exact Audio Copy' but got in a bit of a pickle configuring the setting so I've uninstalled and will go back for a fresh install when I'm armed with more details/advice.
 
Is the 'Easy' version the same as the 'Exact' version, only with the set up completed for you; it was very simple to use?
 
Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.