[Spareribs]

I want to rip my CDs and convert them to FLAC files on my Mac Book Pro. I've read that EXACT AUDIO COPY is the way to do it.

Is it considered a legitimate software without any suspicious bugs or viruses or suspicious 3rd party affiliation?

 

[Roseval]

The 2 big guns for ripping CDs are dBpoweramp (paid) and EAC (freeware)
However, EAC is Windows only

As you are on a Mac, have a look at XLD (freeware) or the OSX version of dBpoweramp.

 

[Spareribs]

Cool thanks!

 

[maxtreme]

I am wondering the same thing! But can't you just use foobar?

 

[neo_styles]

I'd recommend dbPoweramp, personally. I've used XLD, EAC (running Windows via Bootcamp), and dbPa, and ultimately decided that dbPa was well worth the asking price. In my opinion, it handles tags impeccably and there were quite a few discs that I'd ripped via EAC with audible artifacts that didn't show up on subsequent rips using dbPa. Ripping speed is also significantly faster, even using Secure Mode.