Problems setting up EAC and FLAC

[flacattack]

Hi, after installing a squeezebox duet and Netgear readyNAS duo I want to rip all my CDs (only a couple of hundred) with no loss of sound quality. After a little research I've decided to go with FLAC.

I have installed EAC 0.99pb5 and configured it faithfully to a guide. Unfortunately, as this is my 1st post I am not allowed to use URL links but if you search "properly ripping to flac with eac 0.99" you should find the guide on filesharefreak. I originally set the destination as the music folder on my NAS using a UNC path (\\NAS-9A-93-40\media\music) and referring to the newest .exe from the flac website in the external compression tab. AS I say all settings are as per the tutorial I mention and all the drive offset setup etc worked fine.

The first time I tried to rip a CD I got a file creation error. A blog by Jim Delahunt which you will find by searching "eac file creation error", suggested that pb5 doesn't like UNC paths and that the NAS would need to be mapped to a letter. No idea how to do this, but in the mean time I changed the destination to my desktop. This time a wav file was successfully created but when EAC reaches the 'compress track by external programme' stage a DOS box appears with the file path to the flac.exe on the header and a disclaimer asking me to type 'flac' for more info. Nothing else happens. If I type flac nothing happens. When I close the DOS box I get the external compressor error message detailing my options and file path to the .wav file. A notepad file is created in the same folder as the .wav listing the files as being accurately ripped (I've had a few goes). Interestingly the notepad file was created on my NAS in the first place but stating 'copy aborted'.

I've tried linking to the flac.exe that came with EAC but no difference. I've tried adding %d to the end of the Additional command line options in Compression options as I've seen that in some tutorials but no difference.

Does anybody have any ideas A) how I can persuade the flac converter to work and
B) create the flac files directly onto the NAS in the first place rather than move them there from my laptop after creation?

Sorry for the long post but from reading other forums (this is my 1st ever thread) the more info the better. As I said all settings are as per the filesharefreak link.

Any/all help gratefully received.

[dasmueller]

Does anybody have any ideas A) how I can persuade the flac converter to work

Cannot remember where I found it, but once your CD is ready to rip if you click on the MP3 icon on the left it should auto convert to the level of FLAC conversion you have selected. Works for me.

[garym]

Hi, after installing a squeezebox duet and Netgear readyNAS duo I want to rip all my CDs (only a couple of hundred) with no loss of sound quality. After a little research I've decided to go with FLAC.

I have installed EAC 0.99pb5 and configured it faithfully to a guide. Unfortunately, as this is my 1st post I am not allowed to use URL links but if you search "properly ripping to flac with eac 0.99" you should find the guide on filesharefreak. I originally set the destination as the music folder on my NAS using a UNC path (\\NAS-9A-93-40\media\music) and referring to the newest .exe from the flac website in the external compression tab. AS I say all settings are as per the tutorial I mention and all the drive offset setup etc worked fine.

The first time I tried to rip a CD I got a file creation error. A blog by Jim Delahunt which you will find by searching "eac file creation error", suggested that pb5 doesn't like UNC paths and that the NAS would need to be mapped to a letter. No idea how to do this, but in the mean time I changed the destination to my desktop. This time a wav file was successfully created but when EAC reaches the 'compress track by external programme' stage a DOS box appears with the file path to the flac.exe on the header and a disclaimer asking me to type 'flac' for more info. Nothing else happens. If I type flac nothing happens. When I close the DOS box I get the external compressor error message detailing my options and file path to the .wav file. A notepad file is created in the same folder as the .wav listing the files as being accurately ripped (I've had a few goes). Interestingly the notepad file was created on my NAS in the first place but stating 'copy aborted'.

I've tried linking to the flac.exe that came with EAC but no difference. I've tried adding %d to the end of the Additional command line options in Compression options as I've seen that in some tutorials but no difference.

Does anybody have any ideas A) how I can persuade the flac converter to work and
B) create the flac files directly onto the NAS in the first place rather than move them there from my laptop after creation?

Sorry for the long post but from reading other forums (this is my 1st ever thread) the more info the better. As I said all settings are as per the filesharefreak link.

Any/all help gratefully received.

Not sure about the setup guides you are using, but there a NUMEROUS EAC setup guides on the web that are simply WRONG. Search hydrogenaudio.org on this topic.

I strongly suggest you think about acquiring the reference version of dbpoweramp. Easier to setup and use, excellent metadata support, and much more. It's not free, but only the cost of a couple of CDs and well worth it.

[flacattack]

Thanks for quick replies guys. I have found a workaround where EAC rips the files as .wav onto desktop. I then drag and drop these into flac frontend with the output directory as the folder location on the NAS (created manually). FLAC files are created directly onto NAS, I move CUE file, notepad file and m3u file to folder on NAS then delete the folder of .wav files from desktop. Seems to work OK. Tags are visible in Squeezebox server on the NAS and the files play and sound fine. Anyone see a problem with this method? Other than being a bit laborious? I imagine clicking the mp3 button in EAC is the same as shift+F6 but I'll give it a go! Settings were from http://filesharefreak.com/tutorials/...-with-eac-099/. Thanks again for replies.

[garym]

Thanks for quick replies guys. I have found a workaround where EAC rips the files as .wav onto desktop. I then drag and drop these into flac frontend with the output directory as the folder location on the NAS (created manually). FLAC files are created directly onto NAS, I move CUE file, notepad file and m3u file to folder on NAS then delete the folder of .wav files from desktop. Seems to work OK. Tags are visible in Squeezebox server on the NAS and the files play and sound fine. Anyone see a problem with this method? Other than being a bit laborious? I imagine clicking the mp3 button in EAC is the same as shift+F6 but I'll give it a go! Settings were from http://filesharefreak.com/tutorials/...-with-eac-099/. Thanks again for replies.

wow that's a lot of work when there are numerous ways to automate much of this. Maybe you don't have 5,000 CDs to rip so it doesn't matter, but If I were you, I'd keep looking for a better work flow.

[MrSinatra]

why rip to wav? rip direct to flac with EAC.

also, mp3 or flac, if EAC doesn't work when you first install and configure it, i found that if you run the wizard it can fix the issue.

[lrossouw]

why rip to wav? rip direct to flac with EAC.

also, mp3 or flac, if EAC doesn't work when you first install and configure it, i found that if you run the wizard it can fix the issue.

EAC rips to WAV and then uses flac.exe to convert to flac (and then deletes the wavs etc). It may seem like it is direct. The original poster is having problems with this.

To the original posters I have to say that the FLAC conversion settings specified by the EAC config wizard should just work (except maybe for the UNC path issue you encountered). It sounds like there is an error in the options passed to the flac converter and it is suggesting you read the help.

[MrSinatra]

EAC rips to WAV and then uses flac.exe to convert to flac (and then deletes the wavs etc). It may seem like it is direct.

right, i understand that, it does the same when doing mp3. i was speaking in the "to the user" sense.

The original poster is having problems with this.

To the original posters I have to say that the FLAC conversion settings specified by the EAC config wizard should just work (except maybe for the UNC path issue you encountered). It sounds like there is an error in the options passed to the flac converter and it is suggesting you read the help.

right, thats why i mentioned the wizard. i find i HAVE to run it, even if i know the correct manual settings. odd, but that seems to be the way it is.

to the other poster, it is EASY to "map a network drive." you are just assigning a drive letter to the path on the local machine. google it, its easy. i'd assume EAC needs this.

[Phil Leigh]

Once you have mapped your network drive, set EAC compression options as below:

The full content of the "additional command-line options" is:

-T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" -5 %s

[JJZolx]

Thanks for quick replies guys. I have found a workaround where EAC rips the files as .wav onto desktop. I then drag and drop these into flac frontend with the output directory as the folder location on the NAS (created manually). FLAC files are created directly onto NAS, I move CUE file, notepad file and m3u file to folder on NAS then delete the folder of .wav files from desktop. Seems to work OK. Tags are visible in Squeezebox server on the NAS and the files play and sound fine. Anyone see a problem with this method? Other than being a bit laborious?

There's no reason to go through all that. Maybe you can't rip directly to the NAS, but you can certainly get Flac encoding from EAC working. I would triple check that you have the correct path to the flac.exe file specified in the compression options. If you've downloaded and installed Flac to C:\Program Files\FLAC, then it should be

C:\Program Files\FLAC\flac.exe

Then triple check the 'Additional command-line options' and make sure that spaces and double quotes are all in the right places. Sending flac.exe a bad command line option will keep it from running.

A couple things I would recommend changing from that setup guide:

Don't use the -8 compression level in your 'Additional command-line options'. It slows down the extraction and you'll gain very little extra compression over using the default -5 level. Remove the -8 and it will give you the -5 level.

Then the following two changes. However, don't change either one until you've first gotten Flac encoding from within EAC to work. If an encoder windows opens and you watch what happens in that window, you might be able to figure out what's going wrong.

In the EAC Options > Tools, check 'On extraction, start external compressors queued in the background'. This launches Flac to encode the just extracted file while EAC rips the next one. This speeds up the extraction process.

Also, check 'Do not open external compressor window'. It's just annoying.

I imagine clicking the mp3 button in EAC is the same as shift+F6 but I'll give it a go! Settings were from http://filesharefreak.com/tutorials/...-with-eac-099/. Thanks again for replies.

Not exactly. The MP3 button is equivalent to Shift+F5 (Copy Selected Tracks Compressed). Shift+F6 is Test & Copy Selected Tracks Compressed. Test & Copy runs a test read pass on each track before the copy pass. It roughly doubles the time to rip a CD, but it gives you two CRC numbers for each track in the log file when you're done that you can compare. They should all match.

[flacattack]

Excellent feedback guys.

I have found that if I type 'flac' instead of just flac in the FLAC DOS box that pops up then the encoding stage does run and produces a flac file but I still get the external extractor error message afterwards. So I must have the correct path to flac.exe. JJZolx, I'll change from 8 to 5 in additional command line options, thanks.

Phil Leigh suggests: -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" -5 %s

Where I have: -V -8 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" - T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s

Excuse my ignorance but what does the -V at the beginning of my string refer to; does the position of the -5 or -8 matter and also I have seen some people use %d after %s, what's that for?

Obviously I'd rather not carry on with the time-consuming method I've found works (I've only done 2 CD's so far) so I'll try all your suggestions. I have found that flac frontend will happily send the flac files directly to my NAS. Do you think once I have EAC and flac communicating properly that will solve my 0.99pb5 UNC issue or do the flac files have to go back to the input directory for EAC to chaeck them? If not I'll look up how to map a drive letter - I saw some referrence to using C++ and I'm afraid that's the deep end of the pool for me, I'm just paddling!

Thanks again for all your timely support

[Phil Leigh]

Excellent feedback guys.

I have found that if I type 'flac' instead of just flac in the FLAC DOS box that pops up then the encoding stage does run and produces a flac file but I still get the external extractor error message afterwards. So I must have the correct path to flac.exe. JJZolx, I'll change from 8 to 5 in additional command line options, thanks.

Phil Leigh suggests: -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" -5 %s

Where I have: -V -8 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" - T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s

Excuse my ignorance but what does the -V at the beginning of my string refer to; does the position of the -5 or -8 matter and also I have seen some people use %d after %s, what's that for?

Obviously I'd rather not carry on with the time-consuming method I've found works (I've only done 2 CD's so far) so I'll try all your suggestions. I have found that flac frontend will happily send the flac files directly to my NAS. Do you think once I have EAC and flac communicating properly that will solve my 0.99pb5 UNC issue or do the flac files have to go back to the input directory for EAC to chaeck them? If not I'll look up how to map a drive letter - I saw some referrence to using C++ and I'm afraid that's the deep end of the pool for me, I'm just paddling!

Thanks again for all your timely support

The flac commands are not position-sensitive.
-V will make flac verify the encoding (I never bother - waste of my valuable time - it never fails)
%d makes no sense at all as it means "decode the flac" whereas you are trying to encode them!

When you have EAC set up properly, all you have to do is insert CD, press the "MP3" button, choose the destination folder on your NAS and...that's it!

(unless you want to fiddle with the tags, in which case you will need Mp3Tag, set Replaygain, in which case you will need Foobar2K...)

Or you could just use DBPoweramp instead of EAC and do it all in one go :-)

(although you will still need Mp3Tag for fine-tuning of the tags...)

[garym]

Or you could just use DBPoweramp instead of EAC and do it all in one go :-)(although you will still need Mp3Tag for fine-tuning of the tags...)

+1 on dbpa and mp3tag. Handles it all very nicely. I feel like the OP is trying to build an automobile out of spare parts rather than just get in one and drive. Ripping files to FLAC, having good metadata and artwork, having verified rips, in some cases accuraterip verification, etc. are all automatic. And creating an mp3 mirror of these FLAC files can also be done with a couple of mouse clicks.

[flacattack]

just tried using EAC wizard and now works perfectly! Just need to work out how to map letter to NAS drive now. Wizard produced this string in additional command options: -6 -V -T "ARTIST=%a" -T "TITLE=%t" -T "ALBUM=%g" -T "DATE=%y" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%n" -T "GENRE=%m" -T "COMMENT=%e" %s -o %d

The only things I changed was to enable ' use CRC check'

[flacattack]

OK, so it turns out mapping a drive letter to my NAS share invlolves going to 'my computer' then 5 button clicks! All working fine now, thanks for your support.