[TCC-2k7]

Okay, I am sick and tired of my computer and its MP3 stupidity. I've been trying to use MusicMatch v7.5 to encode MP3s at 192kbps, but this is getting absurd. If I raise the buffer levels too high, the program sh!ts itself. If I don't raise them, my MP3s come out with static bursts and other imperfections. This is driving me CRAZY.
Please, what do you guys use to encode MP3s, and what are the links that I can use to get these programs? Freeware programs are preferrable as I am a student, and money isn't exaclty overflowing from my wallet.

 

[Trounce]

Exact Audio Copy.

www.exactaudiocopy.de

Rips to wav perfectly, then encodes to MP3 using LAME.
The best sound and the best size.

www.hydrogenaudio.org forums for more info. A great resource.

 

[Sugo]

EAC for audio extraction and LAME for encoding. Both are freeware. They are very popular among series mp3ers. Enjoy!

http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
http://lame.sourceforge.net/

 

[Lisa]

I'm very satisfied with CDex

Download the .exe installer of beta version 1.50 b8
1.9 uses a buggy LAME version and 1.10...I didn't like it. No 'on the fly' if you would want that and takes ages to rip a song.

 

[OriginalReaper]

http://www.chrismyden.com/nuke/modul...&file=painless

Many consider this the best best ripper out there.

 

[Sweet Spot]

If EAC works for you then great..happy ripping. However, if you happen to run into constant bugs or glitches like I did and got tired of them, you can also try
Audiograbber
It's not free, but don't let that keep you down *cough, cough* What ? Stop looking at me like that people...damn....

And yes, Lame 3.92 or I guess 3.93 at this point..I'm still using 3.92 cause it's nice and safe and besides that, I usually encode to Ogg these days right after the rip.

 

[JiPi]

EAC + LAME!!! Best way to rip, believe me!

Look here for a very helpful tutorial about it - not that you RELLY need to read it, but if you want to 'fine-tune' your EAC, you can read about it there.

 

[TCC-2k7]

Okay, so EAC is working fine at ripping files into WAVs. But when I go to compress them, it says it has, but does absolutely nothing. I'm using the latest "stable" version of LAME. Any thoughts?

 

[stereth]

What did you tell LAME to do? I use LAME through EAC...I rip to wav and then use the Tools -> Compress WAVs option. Make sure EAC knows where LAME is, and what compression to use (hit F11). Enter your preferred command-line option and try again. I use "--alt-preset standard", ends up around 220k for my rock and metal mp3s

 

[JiPi]

Quote:

Originally posted by TCC-2k7 Okay, so EAC is working fine at ripping files into WAVs. But when I go to compress them, it says it has, but does absolutely nothing. I'm using the latest "stable" version of LAME. Any thoughts?

Edit the compression options, and put 'use external compressor' and browse to get your 'lame.exe'
file. Then just look for the option saying you want to convert every wave file to mp3 right after
it's extraction and delete wave file after compression option. Should do it. To make it even more
simple, just go on the site I suggested you in my previous post right above your last one.

 

[Patchmaster]

I prefer to let EAC rip all the tracks to .wavs and then batch encode them using LAME with RazorLAME as a front end. I find this to take much less of my time as I can rip five or six CDs in an hour and then let the computer take its time with the encodings while I'm off doing other things. It does require a fair amount of free disk space to do it this way.

 

[NewSc2]

Quote:

Originally posted by Patchmaster I prefer to let EAC rip all the tracks to .wavs and then batch encode them using LAME with RazorLAME as a front end. I find this to take much less of my time as I can rip five or six CDs in an hour and then let the computer take its time with the encodings while I'm off doing other things. It does require a fair amount of free disk space to do it this way.

Depends on the computer - my computer usually takes about 12-18 seconds to rip an average wav to mp3. (2.75ghz p4

)

I never got the hang of RazorLAME, but some people might find this more convenient.

 

[Patchmaster]

Quote:

Originally posted by NewSc2 Depends on the computer - my computer usually takes about 12-18 seconds to rip an average wav to mp3. (2.75ghz p4 )

Yes, I suppose I'm way behind the times with my dual 550MHz machine. With --alt-preset extreme I'm looking at closer to 1:1 between song length and encode time. If it only took an extra couple minutes per CD to do the full encoding there wouldn't be much point to batching it. Real soon now I'll be ordering that dual 2.66GHz machine.

Quote:

I never got the hang of RazorLAME, but some people might find this more convenient.

One of the early versions of RazorLAME I tried was a bit confusing, but the latest version (which isn't all that new anymore) couldn't be simpler. And it has a nice graphical display showing the percentage of frames in the various bit rates (assuming you're using VBR).

 

[Stephonovich]

Really, now. We all know lossy compression sucks on cymbals, applause, to name a few

Nah. I've used EAC w/ LAME 3.90.2, and it's not bad. Quite good for rock, actually. I find the compression (--alt-preset standard) gives it a little mellower sound, at least to my ears. Not quite so harsh. I like it, anyway. But for symphony music, I find it to detract.
I myself use FLAC to encode, and of course, EAC to rip. This way, I figure, if I were to lose both my copy and original CD, I can take the FLAC files, decode them, and have a perfect quality CD. Well, as perfect as humans can achieve.

(-:Stephonovich

 

[zowie]

I thought I'd revive this thread to get into the question of ripping/encoding time a bit more.

Having recently bought a Nomad Jukebox 3, I've been using EAC/LAME on my P4 2.0 computer, and its and awfully slow and frustrating process. I haven't timed it, but its probably a good 40 minutes per disc.

Last night I used the "rip to" function on the supplied Creative software thinking I could quickly transfer a bunch of CDs to wav faster, and then leave them encoding to MP3 overnight. It took about 8 minutes to transfer a CD.

However, when I went to the files I found that they were
already encoded as VBR MP3s. I can do 7 CDs in around an hour instead of 1 (although it wouldn't grab the track titles from the service). The quality indeed wasn't as good as EAC/Lame, but it was still very acceptable for portable use, I'm talking about losing some sound stage and air, not tizzy artifacts or anything like that.

Why such a big time difference? Am I doing something wrong?

I'm a little frustrated with the lack of a quick and convenient way to get my CD library into the NJB.