[Eleven13]

Hey everyone,
 
I've been ripping to my iTunes library for a while now in ALAC format, and two days ago my laptop hard drive had a physical meltdown that lost all of my data (which I foolishly didn't back up).
 
I saw that as a sign that now would be a good time to go ahead and re-rip my CDs into FLAC format so that I can rockbox my iPod 5.5gen and never have to deal with iTunes again. I have used EAC a few times in the past on my PC due to finicky CDs that wouldn't stay in my Macbook drive, but I'm not sure if I had setting optimized or anything like that. 
 
My question is, I found this tutorial (http://filesharefreak.com/tutorials/properly-ripping-to-flac-with-eac-099) online for how to rip to FLAC using EAC. Is that link out-dated or is it actually a good way of doing it? Do you guys have any better suggestions for how to rip my CDs than that?
 
Thank you!

 

[tomb]

  Hey everyone,
 
I've been ripping to my iTunes library for a while now in ALAC format, and two days ago my laptop hard drive had a physical meltdown that lost all of my data (which I foolishly didn't back up).
 
I saw that as a sign that now would be a good time to go ahead and re-rip my CDs into FLAC format so that I can rockbox my iPod 5.5gen and never have to deal with iTunes again. I have used EAC a few times in the past on my PC due to finicky CDs that wouldn't stay in my Macbook drive, but I'm not sure if I had setting optimized or anything like that. 
 
My question is, I found this tutorial (http://filesharefreak.com/tutorials/properly-ripping-to-flac-with-eac-099) online for how to rip to FLAC using EAC. Is that link out-dated or is it actually a good way of doing it? Do you guys have any better suggestions for how to rip my CDs than that?
 
Thank you!

Yeah, I don't know about EAC directly to FLAC.  To tell the truth, I use EAC to directly rip to *.wav (totally lossless, no compression).  Then I convert to FLAC using Foobar in a few seconds (that's all it takes).  Finally, I blow away the wav files.  I don't know if this is the best thing to do, but if FLAC is truly a lossless convertor, then I have everything in the highest fidelity possible, while using the most convenient methods to achieve it.  JMHO.

 

[Eleven13]

 
Yeah, I don't know about EAC directly to FLAC.  To tell the truth, I use EAC to directly rip to *.wav (totally lossless, no compression).  Then I convert to FLAC using Foobar in a few seconds (that's all it takes).  Finally, I blow away the wav files.  I don't know if this is the best thing to do, but if FLAC is truly a lossless convertor, then I have everything in the highest fidelity possible, while using the most convenient methods to achieve it.  JMHO.

Thanks for the reply, I plan on archiving my music on a 1TB external HD, so do you think I should just use EAC to rip all of my CDs to .wav, put them on my external HD, then use something like Foober to convert them all to FLAC for use on my iPod?

 

[cel4145]

Thanks for the reply, I plan on archiving my music on a 1TB external HD, so do you think I should just use EAC to rip all of my CDs to .wav, put them on my external HD, then use something like Foober to convert them all to FLAC for use on my iPod?

No. Just rip them directly to flac. EAC works fine for that.

Sorry. I have no idea if that tutorial you listed is the best one to use.

 

[adisib]

Using EAC to convert to FLAC already rips as wav and then compresses to FLAC. Whether you are doing it with Foobar or letting EAC do it automatically shouldn't make a difference.

 

[Eleven13]

Thanks for the replies guys, like I said I'm pretty new to EAC and have only used it maybe 3 times so I wasn't sure if setting it to rip to FLAC was complicated. 
 
The only thing confusing me is that it says "download and install both EAC and FLAC".....what exactly are you installing when you download "FLAC"? Is it the ability for EAC to rip into the FLAC format that isn't there by default?

 

[tomb]

  Thanks for the replies guys, like I said I'm pretty new to EAC and have only used it maybe 3 times so I wasn't sure if setting it to rip to FLAC was complicated. 
 
The only thing confusing me is that it says "download and install both EAC and FLAC".....what exactly are you installing when you download "FLAC"? Is it the ability for EAC to rip into the FLAC format that isn't there by default?

What he's not mentioning is that FLAC is an individual program by itself.  It's not proprietary, but by the same token, other software can't include it as part of their product.  So, you always have to download/save the FLAC encoder file separately, then define its location within the software products that use it.
 
I'd say it's debatable, really, which string of processes is more convenient, EAC + Foobar-FLAC conversion vs. EAC + FLAC conversion + Foobar loading.  That's assuming you use Foobar as your media player.

 

[Eleven13]

 
What he's not mentioning is that FLAC is an individual program by itself.  It's not proprietary, but by the same token, other software can't include it as part of their product.  So, you always have to download/save the FLAC encoder file separately, then define its location within the software products that use it.
 
I'd say it's debatable, really, which string of processes is more convenient, EAC + Foobar-FLAC conversion vs. EAC + FLAC conversion + Foobar loading.  That's assuming you use Foobar as your media player.

 
Thank you for the clarification. To be honest I've never heard of Foobar as I don't listen to music on my PC currently. I mostly listen on my macbook or on my iPhone, but now that my macbook is wiped and I have the 5.5gen iPod I figured I'd rock box it and make that my primary player now.
 
So it's basically as simple as downloading the FLAC encoder and then telling EAC where it is and I'm all set? 

 

[cel4145]

So it's basically as simple as downloading the FLAC encoder and then telling EAC where it is and I'm all set? 

It's been so long since I've installed it, but that seems about right. It's easy enough, and there are enough tutorials, that you should quit asking questions and start installing and THEN figure out if you have any problems

 

[cel4145]

Oh, and for a very user-friendly and free music player for your PC that plays FLACr, try MusicBee

 

[Eleven13]

Oh, and for a very user-friendly and free music player for your PC that plays FLACr, try MusicBee

 
Thanks for the link, I'll definitely check it out!
 
And the reason I asked the initial question now is because I won't have access to my PC until this coming weekend, so out of boredom I figured I'd get everything figured out now so I can waste no time and get right to ripping my CDs come the weekend 

 

 

[br34kb34t]

Hi all -
 
Can anyone tell me if EAC works with Windows 8.1??
 
As I'm reading the above posts, I'm wondering if I need EAC at all for FLAC conversion.....it sounds like Foobar can convert to FLAC as well? Is that true? Sorry, I'm new to the FLAC world and don't know a whole lot.
 
Is EAC the best way to convert CD to FLAC?
 
Thanks!!

 

[tomb]

  Hi all -
 
Can anyone tell me if EAC works with Windows 8.1??
 
As I'm reading the above posts, I'm wondering if I need EAC at all for FLAC conversion.....it sounds like Foobar can convert to FLAC as well? Is that true? Sorry, I'm new to the FLAC world and don't know a whole lot.
 
Is EAC the best way to convert CD to FLAC?
 
Thanks!!

EAC is intended to accurately rip from a CD.  The FLAC conversion is simply an accessory choice of output.  It has nothing to do with EAC.  I regularly rip to WAV from EAC, use Foobar to convert the WAV to FLAC (about a 5-10 second operation), then blow away the extremely large WAV files.

 

[br34kb34t]

 
EAC is intended to accurately rip from a CD.  The FLAC conversion is simply an accessory choice of output.  It has nothing to do with EAC.  I regularly rip to WAV from EAC, use Foobar to convert the WAV to FLAC (about a 5-10 second operation), then blow away the extremely large WAV files.

Got it. Makes perfect sense. Just waiting for an external optical drive to be delivered before I give it a whirl. Is there a noticeable difference in quality between wav files and FLAC? I understand that FLAC is way smaller and that wav files are not compressed at all, but I'm just wondering if the conversion is obvious in terms of quality. Thanks!!
 
I'm also still wondering if EAC plays well with Windows 8.1....and Foobar for the matter.

 

[cel4145]

Got it. Makes perfect sense. Just waiting for an external optical drive to be delivered before I give it a whirl. Is there a noticeable difference in quality between wav files and FLAC? I understand that FLAC is way smaller and that wav files are not compressed at all, but I'm just wondering if the conversion is obvious in terms of quality. Thanks!!

I'm also still wondering if EAC plays well with Windows 8.1....and Foobar for the matter.

Flac=lossless. Lossless means that no audio quality is lost. Conversion from wave to flac is bit perfect.