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Best CD-Ripping App on the MBP?

H

hevaKmaI

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 15, 2006
302
159
I used to use exact audio copy with LAME to rip my CDs to MP3s with Windows, since I made the switch to my MBP, I'm just looking for a replacement to this. Exact Audio Copy was unique in that it made perfect rips with no error or jitter, anyone have any recommendations?

BTW, I've run Exact Audio Copy in Parallels and it works beautifully, I was just looking for an OS X native application.
 
T

TonicAngel

macrumors regular
Jan 1, 2003
163
0
California
I use itunes to rip my audio off cds. I just go into the itunes preferences and then change the settings from aac to mp3, then click import cd. It's that easy :D
 
V

vniow

macrumors G4
Jul 18, 2002
10,266
1
I accidentally my whole location.
H

hevaKmaI

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 15, 2006
302
159
vniow said:
Too bad the OP was talking about ripping CDs, not DVDs.



And too bad the MP3 encoder included with iTunes is crap. :D

Try this instead: http://blacktree.com/apps/iTunes-LAME/
Click to expand...

Exactly....nothing beats LAME for an mp3 encoder. I'm just looking for the other half, Exact Audio Copy goes the extra mile with "Accurate Stream" and C2 Error info. I haven't seen that in any of the OS X apps I've looked at yet. I dunno how iTunes is as a ripper, but if it just does a straight one pass rip, that's not what I'm looking for.

Also, I'm not entirely sure that iTunes LAME encoder is a universal binary, since it's old I'd suspect it's PPC.
 
V

vniow

macrumors G4
Jul 18, 2002
10,266
1
I accidentally my whole location.
Merlyn3D said:
I dunno how iTunes is as a ripper, but if it just does a straight one pass rip, that's not what I'm looking for.
Click to expand...

iTunes sucks as a MP3 ripper. That's why I suggested the app I linked to. It bypasses iTunes completely in the ripping process. Its quite configureable, you should check out some of the options it'll let you do.

Also, I'm not entirely sure that iTunes LAME encoder is a universal binary, since it's old I'd suspect it's PPC.
Click to expand...

Its mostly a fancy Applescript so it shouldn't matter. Don't have a Mac around to test ot so I dunno for sure...

Edit: try this too:

http://www.thalictrum.com/index.php?pageid=6&artid=6

or this

http://sbooth.org/Max/

or

http://www.funkatron.com/apps/lamebrain/LameBrain.dmg.gz (direct download)
 
H

hevaKmaI

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 15, 2006
302
159
vniow said:
iTunes sucks as a MP3 ripper. That's why I suggested the app I linked to. It bypasses iTunes completely in the ripping process. Its quite configureable, you should check out some of the options it'll let you do.



Its mostly a fancy Applescript so it shouldn't matter. Don't have a Mac around to test ot so I dunno for sure...

Edit: try this too:

http://www.thalictrum.com/index.php?pageid=6&artid=6

or this

http://sbooth.org/Max/

or

http://www.funkatron.com/apps/lamebrain/LameBrain.dmg.gz (direct download)
Click to expand...

I think MAX is exactly what I"m looking for. LAME encoding with CD-Paranoia ripping. PERFECT!!!! Thanks a lot!
 
H

hevaKmaI

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 15, 2006
302
159
WildPalms said:
....and mp3 is also crappier sounding. I can hear the difference. Is disk space really that much of an issue for you?
Click to expand...

Well what do you use to encode your mp3s? With the highest quality VBR setting on the LAME encoder, it's almost indistinguishable from CD unless you have really really high end sound equipment.

Plus you can send mp3's to anyone nowadays and they'll be able to play it, as well as any device.
 
eji

eji

macrumors 6502
Jun 8, 2004
403
60
INW
Yeah, MAX was the first app that popped into my head when I read the title of the post. I've been using it more and more these days, simultaneously ripping one Apple Lossless copy for my iTunes library and one MP3 copy for my PDA.

Now the question is, when will iTunes finally support FLAC?
 
EGT

EGT

macrumors 68000
Sep 4, 2003
1,605
1
Yeah, and is it just MP3 that sucks or does AAC etc. suck too? I haven't tried ripping MP3s in iTunes but AAC sounds quite good.
 
H

hevaKmaI

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 15, 2006
302
159
dllavaneras said:
Excuse my complete illiteracy on this, but why does the iTunes ripper suck? Mp3s at 256-320 kbps don't sound that bad
Click to expand...

When you rip a song from a CD you're doing two things. The first is ripping the audio off the CD in it's raw and uncompressed format. MAX is far better than itunes at this because if there are any read errors (caused by scratches normally) MAX can read and reread as many times as it needs to get an accurate rip. The last step is compression to an mp3. LAME is renown as the best MP3 encoder available today for the algorithms it uses and the way it's implemented. Apparently, the iTunes one just isn't as good.
 
iBorg20181

iBorg20181

macrumors 6502
Apr 5, 2006
281
0
Minneapolis, MN
Merlyn3D said:
When you rip a song from a CD you're doing two things. The first is ripping the audio off the CD in it's raw and uncompressed format. MAX is far better than itunes at this because if there are any read errors (caused by scratches normally) MAX can read and reread as many times as it needs to get an accurate rip. The last step is compression to an mp3. LAME is renown as the best MP3 encoder available today for the algorithms it uses and the way it's implemented. Apparently, the iTunes one just isn't as good.
Click to expand...

This is all new to me - I mainly rip CDs to listen to on my iPod, and iTunes' AAC sounds fine on that ..... but I'm always open to better things!

How does the file size with LAME mp3 encoding compare to AAC?

TIA

iBorg
 
H

hevaKmaI

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 15, 2006
302
159
iBorg20181 said:
This is all new to me - I mainly rip CDs to listen to on my iPod, and iTunes' AAC sounds fine on that ..... but I'm always open to better things!

How does the file size with LAME mp3 encoding compare to AAC?

TIA

iBorg
Click to expand...

It's good, the difference is that LAME encodes to MP3 (Mpeg Layer 3), AAC is MPEG layer 4. AAC yields a smaller file size for similar quality, however, another reason I don't like to use AAC is because with iTunes, it gets DRMed, and its hard to send your friends a song or two or move them from one computer to another.
 
O

other

macrumors 6502
Aug 18, 2005
312
0
iBorg20181 said:
How does the file size with LAME mp3 encoding compare to AAC?
Click to expand...

It's all about what you find acceptable. I mean, a song encoded at a 192 kbps bitrate is obviously going to be the same size, no matter if you use MP3 or AAC. However, I've seen people claim that some file formats (I believe OGG Vorbis and AAC has been mentioned) have the same audio quality when encoded with a lower bitrate, as MP3 encoded with a higher bitrate, but I don't know. You can read all sorts of stuff over at hydrogenaudio.
 
P

PlaceofDis

macrumors Core
Jan 6, 2004
19,241
6
dllavaneras said:
You learn something new every day :)
If LAME is the best way to rip mp3s, why didn't Apple implement it in iTunes?
Click to expand...

its not.

shadowx said:
To push the "superior" AAC, of course ;)
Click to expand...

they are superior when it comes to bit rate/compression/size

Merlyn3D said:
As well as the fact that AAC can be copy protected, MP3 cannot.
Click to expand...

if they wanted to MP3s could easily be copy-protected. its just another layer in the format that they could add.
 
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