Simon Turner
2004-03-16, 01:48
> Best thing to do is pick a decent CD Ripping tool - CDEx is a
> free download and works well for me, or to use one of the
> tag insertion tools to convert the id3 tags to Flac tags.
> I normally use MP3tag (http://www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html)
> for fixing up any duff tag information downloaded, but I
> don't know if it will do the ID3 to Flac tag conversion for
> you (Sorry, I've never had to do this, so haven't looked
> for a solution.)
>
For Windows I'd recommend Exact Audio Copy (EAC at exactaudiocopy.org) in
secure mode (not paranoid mode as it can be very slow). This mode will rip
most CDs apart from those that are very heavily damaged (in which case clean
them and then try paranoid mode... overnight!). All rips are logged so it
can be verified if they have ripped absolutely perfectly.
In the compression options point the program at flac.exe then use a string
such as this: --best --replay-gain -V -T "title=%t" -T "artist=%a" -T
"album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s which will get
you highest compression and put all the Flac tags in correctly. It also
(possibly) future-proofs the flac files a little by adding replaygain info
into one of the tags
EAC then does the whole job for you. You can even rip to wav all day and
then leave it to to compress to Flac all night.
Some of the settings may be a bit confusing at first but you could try
looking at www.chrismyden.com. Ignore the advice on MP3 settings and use the
external encoder with string above instead with flac.exe
I've tried a lot of windows based rippers and encoders and this is the one
that gets me the best results, the downside being you have to spend a little
time configuring it... but you only have to do do this once.
The authority in such matters, web-based audiophile (??) web site
hydrogenaudio.org recommends EAC for best results.
BTW. EAC is free.
Simon Turner
Brighton UK
> free download and works well for me, or to use one of the
> tag insertion tools to convert the id3 tags to Flac tags.
> I normally use MP3tag (http://www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html)
> for fixing up any duff tag information downloaded, but I
> don't know if it will do the ID3 to Flac tag conversion for
> you (Sorry, I've never had to do this, so haven't looked
> for a solution.)
>
For Windows I'd recommend Exact Audio Copy (EAC at exactaudiocopy.org) in
secure mode (not paranoid mode as it can be very slow). This mode will rip
most CDs apart from those that are very heavily damaged (in which case clean
them and then try paranoid mode... overnight!). All rips are logged so it
can be verified if they have ripped absolutely perfectly.
In the compression options point the program at flac.exe then use a string
such as this: --best --replay-gain -V -T "title=%t" -T "artist=%a" -T
"album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s which will get
you highest compression and put all the Flac tags in correctly. It also
(possibly) future-proofs the flac files a little by adding replaygain info
into one of the tags
EAC then does the whole job for you. You can even rip to wav all day and
then leave it to to compress to Flac all night.
Some of the settings may be a bit confusing at first but you could try
looking at www.chrismyden.com. Ignore the advice on MP3 settings and use the
external encoder with string above instead with flac.exe
I've tried a lot of windows based rippers and encoders and this is the one
that gets me the best results, the downside being you have to spend a little
time configuring it... but you only have to do do this once.
The authority in such matters, web-based audiophile (??) web site
hydrogenaudio.org recommends EAC for best results.
BTW. EAC is free.
Simon Turner
Brighton UK