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Topic: Problem using EAC to rip ALAC... not gapless. Anyone else? (Read 3417 times) previous topic - next topic
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Problem using EAC to rip ALAC... not gapless. Anyone else?

Hi All,

A few weeks ago, I embarked upon a project to rip all my CD's to my computer. I originally ripped to FLAC using EAC (using accurate rip, and all the settings laid out in someones sticky thread at these forums).

The process seemed to work well, and I was impressed with what  great job EAC did with my scratched CD's.

I then made a second copy of my library as Apple Lossless files, as I really like the Itunes interface, and bought an Ipod, which I plan to get a CD deck in my car to plug it in (hence why I want the lossless files). I used DBPower Amp, and the Apple Lossless codec downloadeed from their website, to convert the FLAC files to Apple Lossless.

Anyways, I was dissapointed to find the Applee Lossless files do not work properly on the Ipod (they work perfectly on Itunes). At first I figured it must be a defective Ipod, since they worked perfectly in Itunes. The problem on the Ipod is twofold... sometimes it would randomly skip tracks (going from 4 to 6, 6 to 8 etc). Furthermore, it was not performing its "gapless" function as advertised (particularly noticeable on "electronica" discs where one track merges into the next. Again, it worked perfectly in Itunes.

So I traded in my Ipod, figuring it must be defective (since itunes worked gapless perfectly, as well as not skipping tracks).

But to my dismay, the second Ipod did exactly the same thing. I even tried re-encoding a CD with FLAC, and converting to Apple Lossless again... the results were repeatable. Note that I also tried checking the "part of a gapless album" option in Itunes. This made no difference.

Perplexed, I decided to rip one of the discs in question using Itunes. Sure enough, the rip went perfectly, and on the ipod it worked as gapless, and didnt skip tracks. This made me suspect of the Apple Converter I used with dbpoweramp.

As a workaroung (since I dont want to re-rip 150 discs using Itunes.. in fact I dont want to rip anything with itunes as I am sure EAC is much better), I decided to rip my flac files for the disc in question to WMA lossless. I then imported the WMA lossless using itunes, which performed its own conversion to Apple Lossless. This worked as well, and the tracks were perfectly gapless with no track skipping.

Whats my point?

* Has anyone else experienced this? Do you think the dbpoweramp converter was the culprit as I do?
* Will my files keep their "lossless" integrity if I go through such a laborious conversion (FLAC>WMA lossless>Apple Lossless)? OR am I bound to introduce errors in this process?
* What did I do wrong, that made the apple lossless ripped by dbpower amp not work properly?

Thanks for your insights!

Problem using EAC to rip ALAC... not gapless. Anyone else?

Reply #1 –
I believe that there are few bugs with the dbPowerAmp ALAC encoder.  Check to see if iTunes can display the bitrate of the files, I recall using dbPowerAmp and several files displayed "unknown" for the bitrate which lead me to believe that something was wrong with the encoder. 

As far as converting from FLAC to WMA Lossless to Apple Lossless, you shouldn't run into any problems since all three codecs are lossless, other than this process is time-consuming.

You could simply rip your files to WAV with EAC and then import them to ALAC with iTunes, but you will lose tagging information this way. 

I would recommend using an old copy of iTunesencode (if you can find it), which was a script that allowed you to rip and tag using EAC and use iTunes as an external encoder.  I used for a long time on my PC and it worked great, and I can confirm that it produced 100% gapless files.

Problem using EAC to rip ALAC... not gapless. Anyone else?

Reply #2 –
Thanks underground_sound

Itunes does in fact display the bitrates. And like I said, they play flawlessly in Itunes (and as a further point, when I plugged the Ipod into the computers, and listened to tracks *from the ipod* VIA Itunes on the computer, they also worked flawlessly... which makes me wonder if the processor in the ipod is just too slow to keep up)

I will look for itunesencode for ripping future CD's. In the mean time I think my FLAC>WMA>ALAC should do the trick. Its a lot of work, but I will just set these things up to work away while I am sleeping soundly

Problem using EAC to rip ALAC... not gapless. Anyone else?

Reply #3 –
Quote from: VanIsle on
Thanks underground_sound

Itunes does in fact display the bitrates. And like I said, they play flawlessly in Itunes (and as a further point, when I plugged the Ipod into the computers, and listened to tracks *from the ipod* VIA Itunes on the computer, they also worked flawlessly... which makes me wonder if the processor in the ipod is just too slow to keep up)


What iPod generation do you have? 

According to Apple's support site , only 2nd Gen iPod Nanos and 5th Gen iPods support gapless playback.
 

Problem using EAC to rip ALAC... not gapless. Anyone else?

Reply #4 –
5.5G
80GB

I found it very interesting that the gapless was flawless, and no tracks would skip when I played the Ipod *through* itunes (as opposed to listening through the headphones).

(in other words, when I select my Ipod on the "devices" list when Im in itunes, and then click the "music" folder and play tracks that way, they worked perfect. But if I unplugged the pod and listen on headphones, major gaps, and sometimes track skipping.

Also, I realize my topic is misleading.

I ripped the FLAC files with EAC, but I converted the FLAC files with dbpower amp music converter. So I suppose the problem is with the dbpoweramp codec, not with EAC.

I tried to edit the post, but could not find a way to edit the title.