+1 for dBPoweramp. Great software at a great price.
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dbpoweramp has been super slow fetching metadata the past few days. Seemed to get hung up on the freedb data provider. Was taking like five minutes to find the disc info.
Was able to deselect Freedb, and now itās fast again.
Just in case anyone else is having the same issue.
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I never use their data anyway. Thanks for the reminder I can deselect them.
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I wonder why XLD on Mac is still missing here. I used it to rip around 800 CDs to AIFF with great results. And I still use it to rip (mostly 2nd hand) CDs. Only one (!) track could not be ripped accurately. Ok, the disc had a visible scratch there. No one to blame.
Some advantages:
- free sw and easy to setup (look here for example, little outdated but useful.)
- rock solid connection to AccurateRip-db
- reliable metadata gathering (if not, use itunes for metadata. Once itunes has them, XLD takes them)
If neccessary, I rely on kid3 tag editor to edit metadata afterwards. Another free sw on Mac and quite powerful.
All in all I really like an āattendedā, controlled ripping process. Normally this crucial process of ripping is done only once, and yes, I like to know the details and try to do it as good as possible.
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XLD has a clunky UI and it is very slow at rippingā¦.
dBpoweramp is the way to go!
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It is all pretty de gustibus non est disputandum. Each to their own. In my office at my desk I use Foobar for music listening, including DSD to a small external PC DAC. So it is convenient for me to rip the occasional CD that still comes my way these days with Foobar. There are accrurate rip add-ins. But I am not too fussed anymore about what I get in 16-44 format since there is so much 24-bit available nowā¦ either streaming or from Bandcamp or Qobuz downloads. I also can convert DSD to 24-bit FLAC with Foobar for use in the car. Am so happy that FLAC has migrated into cars for playback!
Ripping speed is determined by the drive, not the software. That is my experience. I used several drives and when you set speed to āautomaticā in XLD there are indeed huge differences.
Not my experienceā¦same drive same computer slower with XLD than with dBpowerampā¦
Ahh, I was referring to different drive - same software and you to same drive - different software. That may lead to different experience, for sure.
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interestingly, I have a couple discs that dBpoweramp has been unable to accommodate, but Iāve found alternatives for those.
A David Grisman Acoustic Disc release that must have been released on a CD-R, of all things. No go on dBP but I used āToAudioConverterā on my mac and it read the disc just fine. Those appeared to be AIFF files on the disc, and it converted them to regular 44.1/16 FLAC.
And then I happened upon a used LP copy of Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden at my local record shop, and it had a hi-res DVD audio disc inside. dBPoweramp couldnāt read that, obviously, so I found DVD Audio Extractor, and that worked just fine to convert to a 96/24 FLAC file.
To those about to rip a large CD library: Just to reiterateā¦ consider how you want your library to be organized before you begin. This is critical. Not only consider how the data will be organized in Windows file structure, but how your player of choice will then present the library.
From the research I did a long time ago, everyone had a different opinion on the library issue. So run some ripping experiments before you start down the ripping effort.
Regarding getting album cover and liner notesā¦ The player I use, Foobar, displays one photo so only the cover mattered to me. I have an array of large screens on my desk so quality is important to me. EAC uses a variety of album cover sources as does other rippers as I understand, but none of the sources retrieved a high-resolution album cover. So I still do a Google album cover search and pull down high-rez JPGs. Then I have to rename them āCoverā (a variety of names will work with Foobar) and then I have a really nice Foobar player interface.
If it is just raw speed you like, be careful. These rippers have various settings for accuracy and I ran mine on the highest settings as I want true bit-for-bit. In my experience, the biggest factor for ripping speed was the drive and then the condition of the CD. But that was my experience years ago.
The biggest issue for ease of ripping a large library is less speed and more your own cadence. Developing a pattern for loading searching, moving the files, etc. Getting a set pattern of behaviors is very important for your sanity and being able to rip while you are doing other work makes this whole process tolerable.
I felt no reason to change EAC for another ripper as I have it set up like I want it and it just works for me. My ripping habits/procedure is pretty cemented in my brain and life is good for me so no need to change. I still buy CDs although it is rare as downloading higher rez files are mostly available.
Right now, I am debating what to do with my massive CD inventoryā¦ I just moved and my new home is smaller and SHE wants that stuff āoutta here!ā. We still have CD players in our cars and we still grab a stack for driving. Also, I like to compare files every once in a while and put CDs into my Accuphase CD playerā¦ although doing this just is not important anymore.
I hope this helps.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
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Yep. If you donāt have software installed that pings files and organizes you files in a way that allow you to curate a library of music, then you are just copying files to a folder on a hard drive.
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Bruce, might be time for cars that play FLAC off of USB. Or, if you have a Plex Pass, then a car with Android Auto or Apple Car Play using the Plexamp app on the go. I provide SWMBO with a playlist on a 32GB USB drive. Every few months I am instructed to update it. Only risk is that it is off with my head if I guess wrong which albums should stay and which ones are out of favour.
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My car has a USB slot in the center arm rest, but it only plays MP3s. So I ripped a ton using the highest quality converter out there LAME at the time. I put the max allowed by my carā
system: Max tracks: 10,000, Max folders: 2,000.
That sounds like a ton but it is not at all as what I want to listen to changes with the wind. The sound quality is better than expected, but every time I get some new music, I have to go through a laborious process of removing music, converting the new, and updating, and retrieving/replacing the USB stick.
Overall, I am OK with the processā¦ I have really no choice as my car system can not be swapped out. I triedā¦ long story, installer could not get the whine out so he replaced everything back to stock and gave me my money back. The head unit was a Pioneer and I am glad it didnāt work out because the head unit claimed to play all these formats but the library management was beyond horribleā¦ but that is another storyā¦
Peace
Bruce in Philly
From my point of view I think ethically we should keep the source media so long as we use the ripped versions. So I encourage you to find some storage solution that will be mutually acceptable. IMHO 
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Yes, legally and ethically you cannot sell the CDs if you keep the rips. Storing them can be a bother.
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I have two stacks of Ikea Samla bins in the basement. The bins are of the size 18cm=7-inch high, 57cm=22.5-inch across 79cm=31-inch long. These also take ripped 4K-BR-DVD cases. A bin full of CDs is quite heavy. So they stay put and are unlikely to be chucked out by other family members so as to fit another case of holiday ornaments in the storage area instead. It used to be that all the books we no longer read on paper were obscured in all the bookshelfs upstairs by the CDs, DVDs etc. Now the antique paper products are back on display. And I try only to buy downloads.
My ārippingā regime started 2 years ago, using a trial version of dBpoweramp and Audirvana 3.5. I purchased the full versions of both more or less straight away, and have so far ripped my collection of 700 silver discs. Some of the more obscure titles (pipe organ) have meant I have had to enter the info in, manually, which is a PITA, but as am retired, what else is there to do. Storage in the first instance is on the Intel NUCās internal 1 TB SSD, and backed up on a 2 TB Synology NAS and a portable HHD
Have you seen @aangen database?
http://www.weirdenergy.com/cdlist/index.html
Heās gathering an amazing amount of meta data.
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Bruce-in-Philly
You need to pick up a copy of The Mavericks, ā Live in Austinā.
Tim
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