Why is EAC ripping my mp3's into wrong (random) bitrates?

[Jmmmmm]

EAC never worked on my old computer, so I always used a different program to rip cds. I set it up on my new computer, but for some reason it keep ripping cds to the wrong bitrate.

I set it to mp3 w/lame at 224kbps. The first time I ripped a cd (a couple weeks ago), of the 17 songs, 12 were at 320, then a few at 276, 275, 262, and 256. I just ripped another cd, and the same thing happened. Mostly 320, some more 256's.

What is going on here?
And before anyone says, it's certainly not just VBR...

 

[blessingx]

You're probably already on this, but for clarity, what's in the "Additional Command Line Options" field?

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Yeah, exactly. Make sure what you set in EAC is the same that the encoder takes. Sounds like you're off by one or something.

 

[Jmmmmm]

Yeah, it could certainly be in the additional line comments. I thought it was odd, but didn't know if it affected anything since it didnt change when I specified the lame.exe encoder. Mine says this:

%l--alt-preset 128%l%h--alt-preset standard%h %s %d

not sure why it says aps, but I don't see anywhere that specified that or where I can specify something else, unless I just type it in myself.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jmmmmm Yeah, it could certainly be in the additional line comments. I thought it was odd, but didn't know if it affected anything since it didnt change when I specified the lame.exe encoder. Mine says this: %l--alt-preset 128%l%h--alt-preset standard%h %s %d not sure why it says aps, but I don't see anywhere that specified that or where I can specify something else, unless I just type it in myself.

What those comments specify is -aps VBR encoding with a minimum bitrate of 128kbps. The 224 that you've entered manually merely sets the target average bitrate. And due to the wacky nature of VBR, your actual average bitrate usually exceeds your set 224kbps bitrate.

 

[blessingx]

If you're targeting 224 VBR, it's likely better just to put "--alt-preset insane" or "--alt-preset fast insane". I don't use EAC much anymore, but I always thought the "Additional Command Line Options" field overwrote the other settings? If you're trying to really nail 224 down (for file size or whatever), give "--alt-preset 224" a shot for preset 224 ABR.

 

[Jmmmmm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eagle_Driver What those comments specify is -aps VBR encoding with a minimum bitrate of 128kbps. The 224 that you've entered manually merely sets the target average bitrate. And due to the wacky nature of VBR, your actual average bitrate usually exceeds your set 224kbps bitrate.

If it is due to it being vbr, then EAC is the most unreliable encoder I've seen. Obviously my files are not going to be 224, but I would be surprised it is due to natural variation. Using the 5+ other encoders I've had as a basis, I would expect it to vary between ~200-270, and nearly all of them being 320 is pretty far outside of that to be normal. I guess if that's just the way eac is, then I'll go back to using dbpoweramp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessingx If you're targeting 224 VBR, it's likely better just to put "--alt-preset insane" or "--alt-preset fast insane". I don't use EAC much anymore, but I always thought the "Additional Command Line Options" field overwrote the other settings? If you're trying to really nail 224 down (for file size or whatever), give "--alt-preset 224" a shot for preset 224 ABR.

It doesn't have to be 224 exactly, but I Don't want 320.
So I can just manually change that 'addition....' field? I've never heard people complaining about this before, I dont know why mine is being weird..

 

[blessingx]

Jmmmmm, just be aware VBR means different things for different encoders. Sometimes it's just ABR and will average out to your setting. Other times it will kinda target it. Sometimes it means minimum bitrate and VBR approve (iTunes does this). So arguably with the latter with only 224, 256 and 320 settings to run around in, VBR would tend to average out (usually what the reading is in players) between 225 and 319. LAME gives you the flexibility to do several of these at once with it kinda sounds like what you did by accident. Just clear out the command line and put the above or "--alt-preset standard" or "--alt-preset fast standard" (what I use over the above insane). EACs helping with an "interface" while also giving the command line option can be a little confusing. I never understood why the default was "%l--alt-preset 128%l%h--alt-preset standard%h %s %d"

 

[pauls]

Jmmmm

i use "--alt preset-extreme" in the command settings line, and I reckon I get an average of around 220-250 (or an approx compression of 5:1). Different songs will give different compression rates, but I find this to give me the best balance between quality vs file size.

I'm pretty sure the "--alt preset-insane" setting mentioned is 320 CBR.

pauls

 

[blessingx]

Pauls you're right. My bad. I reversed it. Substitute "extreme" for "insane". Insane is indeed the 320 max.

 

[wolfen68]

I tried EAC/LAME for awhile and thought it was OK, but had a similar problem. I configured it for aps and it alwways yielded totally unpredictable bit rates (245 kbps +). I wanted to hone in on 192 - 225 kbps, so I moved on to other software which has always been more predictable for me.

The other wierdness I had was that even if I deleted EAC from my computer and then reloaded it later, it always retained certain settings I didn't want. It must keep a profile file somewhere I never found.

 

[notnormal]

What sort of music are you tyring to rip? That can have a large effect on the average bitrate, especially when transparency is trying to be achieved.

Also how are you determining the bitrate? Many programs only report the current bitrate (or the starting bitrate) and not the average bitrate of a VBR encoded file. Windows explorer is a bad example of this.

 

[Twombly]

Windows Explorer does not correctly display VBR MP3 bitrates, yeah.

 

[wolfen68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by notnormal What sort of music are you tyring to rip? That can have a large effect on the average bitrate, especially when transparency is trying to be achieved. Also how are you determining the bitrate? Many programs only report the current bitrate (or the starting bitrate) and not the average bitrate of a VBR encoded file. Windows explorer is a bad example of this.

In my case, I was using the bitrate as reported by Musicmatch and my Archos Recorder DAP. They always reported within 5-10 kbps of each other so I assumed they were "generally" accurate.

 

[notnormal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolfen68 In my case, I was using the bitrate as reported by Musicmatch and my Archos Recorder DAP. They always reported within 5-10 kbps of each other so I assumed they were "generally" accurate.

I don't know about musicmatch, but most mp3 players don't report the average bitrate. Foobar2000 does report things accurately. The easiest way to determine the bitrate, without using another program, is to take the file size (kilobits) and divide it by time (seconds).

For example (I know it's a horrible example

): Black Eyed Peas - Don't Phunk With My Heart
Size: 4910 KB (Kilobytes)
Length: 3:59

bitrate = (4910 kilobytes)*(8 kilobits/kilobytes) / (3 minutes * 60 seconds/minute + 59 seconds) = 164.35 kbps