[ismelllikepoop]

I don't know which forum this is supposed to go under, so i'll put it here. I've been trying to encode my stuff onto mp3s in preparation of getting a hd-dap. I've been using cdex so far, and it seems ok, but I'm wary of getting a bunch of skips. I've been backing up some cd's that I've had a while that are scratched up and skip in hopes of getting a non-skipping copy. That didn't seem to work out too well with on-the-fly recording, but so far (only done like 3 cd's) CDEx has been working out ok (encoding to wav then back to cd). I was told to use EAC, but for some reason it won't start on my computer (gives me a blue screen sometimes). It annoys the crap out of me that I might have to buy another copy of the cd's I already bought a while ago. It is also annoying to think that the copy is good, and then hear midway thru that there is a skip (or lots of skips). Anyone know what the best solution for this is? What about a new cd-burner? (ive been using my friends sony 500 dvd-r. Thanks in advance!

 

[erikzen]

I would try uninstalling EAC and reinstalling it again. I've managed to rescue some CD's that were horribly scratched and made good copies of them. Are you following these instructions when you install EAC?

What speed are you burning your CDs at? Try writing to them at a slower speed.

 

[James]

EAC used to give me blue screens when I installed it over an older version without uninstalling first, and also when I didn't install the ASPI layer. See Chris Myden's site here.

Given that you actually have physical damage on your CDs, I'd recommend getting a cheap CD buffer to help reduce the effect of the scratches on ripping. Combined with EAC on burst mode (lenient on scratches but far from precise) you should probably be able to avoid all skips. More to the point, EAC will log all skips as "Timing Errors" so that you don't have to manually listen for skips in your rip.

I personally have not had a CD that refused to rip properly after a severe buffing and resorting to EAC's burst mode. Hope that helps.

 

[ismelllikepoop]

I didn't know about moving that file (aspi or whatever) into the eac directory. That did the trick, wow this forum is awesome. THanks for the help guys.

 

[ismelllikepoop]

Does EAC work ok with external usb drives? i was thinking about getting a plextor or lite-on, any suggestions? I dont want to keep using my friends comp to burn stuff.