[Empeg-general] Re: I've never ripped CD's and I want to do it right

[Dylan@empegbbs-noreply.merlins.org]

I found the FAQ topics on ripping and naming. I had been through the FAQ before I posted but I must have skipped right over these because I was so eager to learn more about the Empeg.

I read the encoder comparisons at <A HREF="http://www.r3mix.net" target="_new">r3mix</A>. That guy really blasts XING and hypes up LAME. So I tried out LAME and a ripper called <A HREF="http://www.exactaudiocopy.de" target="_new">Exact Audio Copy</A> (EAC). EAC claims to do error detection to guarantee the best rip possible. The software is a little bit rough but still pretty decent for freeware. The problem is that the EAC/LAME takes 4 times longer than AC/XING to rip and encode a CD. I used the recommended encoding settings from r3mix and the file sizes were about the same as XING's VBR Normal/High setting. I didn't compare them for sound quality because I decided that it didn't matter. I'd already compared XING to the original and even if LAME generated a perfect copy it wouldn't be enough improvement to make it worth the added encoding time. At 50 minutes for a full CD I could probably only average a couple a day unless I want to become a CD feeding monkey slave to my computer. So I'll stick with AC/XING because it's fast and I like the interface.

I did try out the other packages recommended in this thread but preferred AC. Thanks for the suggestions, though.

I have a tip for others that may be reading this. Maybe it should be obvious but I'd already ripped a few discs before I realized it. The artist fields from CDDB are all over the place. Some are First Last while others are Last, First. Many groups have "The" in the front. I would guess that it's important for easy searching with Empeg to be consistent with ordering of names and to not start with The. I'll have to retag a couple of my rips.

-Dylan


Queue# 15969