Tech question on audio CD ripping for Windows

iTunes works quite well for this purpose and has the advantage of ripping to the AAC file format, which produces the same sound quality as MP3 at a lower bit rate, thus allowing for smaller file sizes. A 128 kbps AAC file sounds about the same as a 168 kbps MP3. In addition, like some other music apps, iTunes will automatically query an online CD database and download the album, artist, and song names for you. And, besides, to get the tunes on your iPod you're probably using iTunes anyway; so why not use it to rip the CDs as well?

Oops. I meant the same as 160 kbps MP3 files...

I second the iTunes recommendation. It's just simpler to use the same program for ripping that you use for loading your iPod.

Um, iTunes? It manages everything... Ripping, organizing, syncing. After all, you need to use it to get music on the iPod, so use it to rip as well.

Does iTunes add any DRM restrictions when it rips? I know that windows media player rips but then will only play back the songs on the computer that originally did the ripping. I honestly don't know if iTunes does the same thing or not.

I've always been very happy with Poikosoft's, http://www.poikosoft.com/, Easy CD-DA Extractor. It let's me get very precise about the file structure and naming convention I use. I don't think the iPod can play ogg files, so you probably don't care about that feature. For $40 you get lifetime upgrades and it's a nice little program. But then, I rip to put the music on my computer and just copy the songs over to my player on an ad hoc basis.

Does iTunes add any DRM restrictions when it rips?

No. The resulting files can be used by any application or device that supports AAC.

Depending on the conditions of your CDs, the best ripper around is EAC(Exact Audio Copy) with LAME to create the .mp3 using the --alt standard preset. EAC can run in "secure" mode which will verify that each sector can be read twice with the same result. The software will turn off hardware buffering to ensure physical reads. http://www.bestMP3guide.com is a URL for more information. EAC is very strict in secure mode, so dirty or scratched CDs that work with iTunes or other rippers might fail without cleaning or buffing. A sure cause for a failure is a scratch on the label side of the CD that removes some of the reflective film. Can't fix that kind of scratch. EAC website is http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
If you choose to go this route, the next thing you will probably ask about will be headphones. You get what you pay for, so if you are going to spend time to rip your CDs properly and use a good MP3 encoder, you will want to have the best headphones you can afford. I like the Shure EC3 earbuds but there are others as good. You can easily exceed the price of your MP3 player with a pair of good earbuds but it is worth it in the long run. You don't have to run them loud to get good sound reproduction and less distortion to reduce ear fatigue.
One other thing, I really like the MusicIP Mixer playlist generator. A free restricted verison is available from their website http://musicip.com/listener/products/application-downloads. It will "listen" to all your MP3 on your computer or device and then you can pick songs or an artist and it will generate a playlist of like-sounding songs. It also works with Tivo so you can listen to or generate an instant playlist from your Tivo menu.
There are lots of possibilities once you get your music to MP3 format, happy ripping.

Why would iTunes add any DRM restrictions to music you own? Windows Media Player doesn't do that either.

Note that iTunes doesn't only rip to AAC, but also to MP3, WAV, AIFF or Apple Lossless.

Thanks for all of the info folks - Okay, so my ignorance is showing in that I have not yet purchased said iPod yet but plan to in the near future - I currently use a Creative MP3 player (upgraded to 128 MB - please stop laughing) that my wife so kindly gave me for Christmas three yrs ago. I mean, hey, 70-75 songs get me through all East Coast flights and even west to Denver!

I understand Orac's point about AAC giving better audio quality than a larger MP3 file - WMA claims the same thing as well. SO, one last question: are there any drawbacks to the AAC format vs. MP3, say, in burning party mix CDs and such?

> Windows Media Player doesn't do that either.

I've seen it. We had some staff that used WMP to rip cd's to their hard drive to listen to while at work. We very nicely copied them over to a new computer but they wouldn't play on the new computer. I forget the exact error because this was a year ago or so, but the error it put up was something about not allowed to play this file on this computer. It played files ripped by other software just fine though.

Maybe the default settings have changed since then so it doesn't do it by default, but I know that WMP restricted the files it ripped to the original computer.

I like dbPowerAmp. It will do mp3 and .ogg, which is a better format but probably not supported on iPods. It's free, and works pretty well for me, and I also use the auxinput app for converting analog music, from either vinyl or tape, to digital.

One thing to realize about WMA files is that they do not play on iPods.

Winamp Pro will rip just fine.

i have an iPOD, but dont use iTunes - I use Anapod Explorer instead. Much better. imho.

If you have a Windows platform, Exact Audio Copy (exactaudiocopy.de) is hands down THE BEST cd ripper ever. It is the only CD ripper I know that does NOT assume that your CD drive reads your CDs perfectly, and has very sophisticated algorithms for making sure that your rip is as perfect as possible. It might get technical to use but you can find reasonable guides on the Internet.

I sent a comment about EAC as well but it didn't seem to make it for some reason. EAC in combination with LAME --alt-preset standard will give much better quality sound than 128K MP3 or AAC. If you have the space, rip them and use FLAC(lossless) to encode. You can use FUBAR 2000 to convert the FLAC files to MP3 with LAME. FLAC will let you create mix CDs will no loss of quality at all, but the file size is usually half to a third of the WAV file size.
I can tell you from experience that you want to rip at the highest quality you can or else you will be ripping your collection again. I started out with 128K but after finding EAC and LAME, that will never happen again, no matter the file size.
AAC and WMA have a lot of support but LAME MP3 encoder is the best balance between quality sound and file size. Check out www.bestMP3guide.com for EAC installation and setup.
If you're getting an iPod with 20G or better, don't worry about file size. File size only matter for your current player. Get a pair of good headphone or earbuds as well. Your ears and head will thank you in the long run.

Howdy. Go with iTunes and use the one button "import" feature. Set preferences to 320mps and start filling up that hard drive. With the price of drives being as low as it is, the file size argument is no longer valid. Your discerning ears would certainly hear the loss of signal at anything less than 320 on a decent stereo/headphones.

Rock on!

Definitely : CDex : open source software, available for free at sourceforge.net
Copies CD tracks to mp3, wma, etc.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/cdexos

If you're getting an iPod with 20G or better, don't worry about file size. File size only matter for your current player.

You must not have a very big music collection. Using 128 kps AAC, I have around 45 GB of music on my iPod and growing. For the vast majority of rock music, 128 kbps is fine for listening through even good earbuds. I can hear the difference when I play it through my car stereo, but it still sounds as good or better than FM radio, and, given the size of my music collection, the tradeoff of the tolerable decrease in sound quality is worth it to be able to fill up my iPod with as much music as possible. For more complex music, I encode at a higher rate, like 192 kbps, which is OK for almost everything else. On rare occasion, I'll use Apple's Lossless compression.

Go with the mp3 format. Your dvd player plays it. Your car's CD player plays them (if it's any good). Your iPod plays them. Your computer plays them. There's no DRM. You'll be able to play them deep into the future.

Do you have two drives? I'd boot Knoppix on one, and rip/cut with the other. My experience with Windows is uniformly terrible.

Brien, 320? Really? Out of all the commentors, even my med compatriot Orac, you know how bad my hearing is from years of playing that crazy jungle beat - will I really hear the difference between 128 and 320?

I guess a real scientist would rip a few things twice under each condition and give 'em a listen, eh?