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Topic: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions) (Read 10234 times) previous topic - next topic
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Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

I have used EAC / dBpoweramp years ago to rip my CD's to mp3. Now I feel its time to do the job properly and rip them to FLAC.

I have got EAC installed and think I have it all setup correctly following the guide on the wiki. However after reading this forum for a few days I have come across CUETools / CUERipper and decided to download and give it a try. It looks like a great program and more importantly (for me) it is easy to use.

My main aim is to backup all my CD collection to FLAC in the best way possible. I will have it stored on my HDD but in the future maybe want to burn off some CD's.

I just have a few questions:

1. Is the any benefits in using EAC over CUERipper? - Should I use the stable 2.1.5 or is 2.1.6 ok?

2. I was reading in THIS thread about upgrading CUERipper to FLAC 1.3.2. Is this a good choice?

3. I like to rip my CD's into individual tracks, is this where I need a .cue file if I want to burn them to a CD "properly"? I noticed these (.cue files) come with CUERipper but didn't seem to get one with EAC. Maybe I need to enable something?

4. Are there any setting in CUERipper that I need to configure like secure rip and anything for the AccurateRip? In EAC there was a popup to configure AccurateRip. I have not seen anything like this with CUERipper.

Any other help or advice would be really appreciated. Sorry if this should be posted in another forum.

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #1
CD Hardware/Software would have been a better fit.

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #2
Having used everything, I ripped 400 out of the 500 discs in my collection to FLAC using EAC in burst mode, Test+Copy with AccurateRip enabled. Any problems and I changed to secure mode in hope that I got a good rip.

However for the last 100 discs I have been using dBPowerAmp. The tagging functionality is much better and the interface doesn't hang/freeze. Use accurate rip in burst mode until you encounter a problem, then switch to secure.

Use dbPower amp.
Life-long Music Collection: 747GB / 25,646 Tracks & COUNTING! - 99% Lossless FLAC

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #3
CD Hardware/Software would have been a better fit.

Thanks, do you know how I can get the thread moved?

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #4
I assume a mod can move the thread when discovering it.

CUERipper has arrived in the meantime since I ripped my collection some ten years ago (with dBpoweramp), and today I would certainly have considered it. It has pretty good metadata support (and metadata sources are better now than ten years ago as well, when dBpoweramp's upper hand really, really meant a lot IMO).
While dBpoweramp has a batch ripper for CD changes and robots, CUERipper can be invoked by command line ( CUETools.ConsoleRipper.exe ) and thus makes for easy scripting.
Oh, "in the meantime since I ripped my collection", dBpoweramp has also gotten some cuesheet support.

As for the OP's questions:
1) Larger support community for EAC.
Also, CUERipper does not submit to AccurateRip, in case you wish to pay back to the community.

2) Why not? (Except the work.)

3) Yes, the .cue enables you to burn back a CD copy. But also it enables retro-verification with AccurateRip (as one can tell the TOC by the cuesheet). CUETools does have several ways to do so, however: .cue file; tags that it can write; and, EAC log!  Make sure to use one folder for each physical disc though. (See first asterisk items below.)
Also, if you have one of the pesky CDs with pre-emphasis, it would be written into the cuesheet. Note that CUERipper detects pre-emphasis from both TOC and subchannel - neither EAC nor dBpoweramp do the subchannel.  EAC removed subchannel reading by fear of being accused of trying to break copy protection.

4) http://cue.tools/wiki/CUERipper_Settings , see the screenshot and the item "23" - do you get anything like it?

Anything else ... yeah:
* Sort your CDs in "remastered" and "original" etc. If you rip all your "remasters" in one folder, you can tag them as such, and so you keep track of which editions you have - and you don't risk that two rips end up in the same folder, overwrite and make a mess. Then you can have a folder naming scheme which includes the album version.
* I use the CDDB disc id at the end of folder name too. Often - but not always - sufficient to keep rips in separate folders.
* If a rip verifies AccurateRip, then you can count on it. Burst is OK. Troublemaking CDs can be set aside for later.
* Troublesome CDs: a different drive - not necessarily a more expensive one, just a different - can improve.
* Defective by design (that crappy attempted copy protection thing that usually aimed at ruining the correction part of the CD and leaving you with a product that would skip): try burst. Or if not: dBpoweramp has modes for defeating it.
* HDCD? Do not decode. It can be done later if you want to (provided you rip to lossless), as the HDCD flag is part of the signal. Sometimes it could make a mess if you decode upon ripping.
* I would keep track 1 pregaps and just rename to HTOA.flac.dummy those which are silent. But be aware that not all drives can read HTOA. Note: CUERipper - in track mode - makes a separate file even if it is small and silent, as long as it isn't the standard two seconds.


Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #5
@Porcus Thank you for the informative reply I appreciate the help.

4) http://cue.tools/wiki/CUERipper_Settings , see the screenshot and the item "23" - do you get anything like it?

Yes. I get the little icons in the bottom for some CD's to say CUETools DB and AccurateRip with numbers in them.

As for updating the FLAC version it doesn't seem to work for the CUERipper application, only CUETools seems to show my custom selection.

CUERipper:



CUETools:



I'm mainly using the CUERipper part to rip my CD's as it spits them out as single files and seems to be nice and fast. WAY faster then EAC. Is the CUETools mainly for extracting single tracks from one large .flac file? I can't seem to get it to rip my CD at all.

As for all the ID3 tags im not worried about these at this stage as I will sort them all out using Tag&Rename which I am very familiar with. I'm assuming this is fine to edit the tags for .flac files as I would with .mp3?

Another thing that I have found with a certain CD is CUERipper ripped it with no real issues. Unfortunately its not listed in the AccurateRip database to check it was a "good" rip. The log file said:

None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
No errors occurred


Now when I tried to rip the same CD in EAC it was taking ages, so long I just stopped it. I think it was having issues with track #1. My EAC is setup as follows (as per the wiki):

Read mode               : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache      : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

I then enabled "Make use of C2 pointers" and it ripped it with no problems. This got me thinking that there might be some problem with the CD and CUERipper has just not reported them. Is there anything else I should setup?

As for all the .cue files and gaps etc this is totally new to me. I've had a re.ad around and will look into this further. Its all totally new to me. CUERipper seems to produce a .cue file after each rip so Im assuming that I'm ok?

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #6
Good point. I did not realize that CUERipper and CUETools might react different to updating FLAC. (What happens if you choose "cuetools"?) Note that FLAC 1.3.1 "is not dangerous" for ripping CDs. One of the reasons for 1.3.2 was a security issue if an attacker gave you maliciously created ".flac" file to decode, but here you only encode. Some did repor very minor improvements in compression though - you can find it at HA if you search. I have all my rips in 1.3.1 and will not re-encode.

Yes, CUERipper for CDs, CUETools for files - but CUETools can convert between image+cue and one file per track, both ways. It can also fix offset (shift the entire bitstream a bit to the left or right - CD drives differ all over the place on that, and in old days it was a problem for AccurateRip), and it can retro-verify against AccurateRip or its own database.

You shouldn't really ask me about EAC, which I have only used every now and then, but it used to rip first and then convert to FLAC later (while e.g. dBpoweramp could convert while ripping), and that could maybe explain why you think it hangs.
C2 pointers: that is one of the layers of error correction in the CD, and the "pointers" can tell the application when there are failures. I don't remember why EAC could cause issues with C2 off.

Gaps: if you rip one file per track, then you would normally want to append gaps to previous track. Because then, if you start playing track 4 it will behave like a CD player: start at track 4 index 1. (A CD player will give you track 4 index 0 only if you play track 3 to the end, so it makes sense to put that index at the end of the "track 3" file.)

Never used Tag & Rename. I use MP3Tag and foobar2000.

Phew. Hope that was half of your questions or maybe even more.

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #7
Phew. Hope that was half of your questions or maybe even more.

It most certainly was. I appreciate all the help at this stage.

As for all the gap info I will have to read up a bit more on this. I hope the .cue files that CUERipper is making have this covered!

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #8
Adding an external encoder to CUERipper is possible but you need to edit the settings file. Actually you can set it up in CUETools then copy the info from the CUETools settings file to the CUERipper settings file but a few extra edits may still be required.

CUERipper will rip making use of C2 if it detects your drive supports the feature. The EAC-style log will still show "no" though (call it a 'bug' if you wish).
korth

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #9
CUERipper will rip making use of C2 if it detects your drive supports the feature. The EAC-style log will still show "no" though (call it a 'bug' if you wish).

Ah OK that clears that up then. I was looking at the .log file and wondering why EAC was having problems with no C2 enabled and CUERipper was showing it as disabled and ripping the same track fine.

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #10
The CD that wasn't in the AccurateRip database, was it in the CUETools DataBase (CTDB)? Newer titles usually reach the CTDB quicker than AccurateRip.
The *.accurip file stores the CTDB and AccurateRip results and can be viewed with any text reader (like notepad).
korth

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #11
CD Hardware/Software would have been a better fit.
hi can you please explain please?
thanks
Having used everything, I ripped 400 out of the 500 discs in my collection to FLAC using EAC in burst mode, Test+Copy with AccurateRip enabled. Any problems and I changed to secure mode in hope that I got a good rip.

However for the last 100 discs I have been using dBPowerAmp. The tagging functionality is much better and the interface doesn't hang/freeze. Use accurate rip in burst mode until you encounter a problem, then switch to secure.

Use dbPower amp.
hi
i'm in the same situation , i'm going to rip my cd in flac , in past i ripped my music in mp3 with a legendary plextor dvd
may i know why test and copy give you problem in eac and dbpweramp?
just because i don't want to rip many cd and after find out to have issues
thanks
Adding an external encoder to CUERipper is possible but you need to edit the settings file. Actually you can set it up in CUETools then copy the info from the CUETools settings file to the CUERipper settings file but a few extra edits may still be required.

CUERipper will rip making use of C2 if it detects your drive supports the feature. The EAC-style log will still show "no" though (call it a 'bug' if you wish).
hi
in the past i have found hard add a new encoder ,even i have searched a lot in internet
i tried to add qaak and opus for my smartphone without luck
thanks


Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #13
hi
in the past i have found hard add a new encoder ,even i have searched a lot in internet
i tried to add qaak and opus for my smartphone without luck
thanks
CUETools & CUERipper aren't quite ready for opus. The encoder seems to work but the tagger needs to be updated (crashes when the tagging stage is reached).
korth

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #14
@Porcus Thank you for the informative reply I appreciate the help.

Read mode               : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache      : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
hi , whyt use "Utilize accurate stream : Yes" , in the past i found very few drives  that could be used with accurate stream ,some of them plextor , other great dvd/cd reader or burner they could not
i inserted some cd and let eac found out the drive features ,eac reported on  many and many of them Defeat audio cache=yes & c2=yes
thanks


hi can you please explain please?
thanks
This was posted in FLAC, but is really about ripping.
hi but can please somebody elaborate it
just because i'm going to rip many cd
which program have ripping problem eac and dBpoweramp  becaue are not more updated
yesterday i ripped a cd in burst mode eac+flac 1.3.2 , accurate rips told me the cd was ripped perfecly
there are other program like fre:ac , CUETools , cdex , even anyburn
i'm preoccupied before ripping
thanks

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #15
Again, dbPoweramp ripper gets my vote. With EAC coming in second. Burst + AccurateRip. Secure mode if needed. Also helps to have more than 1 drive available just in case a drive has an issue with a certain disc.

Not sure what all the CueTools fuss is about.

Life-long Music Collection: 747GB / 25,646 Tracks & COUNTING! - 99% Lossless FLAC

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #16
Adding an external encoder to CUERipper is possible but you need to edit the settings file. Actually you can set it up in CUETools then copy the info from the CUETools settings file to the CUERipper settings file but a few extra edits may still be required.

Thanks. Are there any guides with how to do this?

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #17
While on the subject can anyone confirm that I am using the correct command line. I am using the one from the Wiki but I found two topics and both have different command line settings. In fact the guides both have slightly minor differences with regards the setup of EAC. Not just the command lines.

The EAC and FLAC guide

Code: [Select]
-T "artist=%artist%" -T "title=%title%" -T "album=%albumtitle%" -T "date=%year%" -T "tracknumber=%tracknr%" -T "genre=%genre%" -5 %source% 

and then I came across this guide:

The EAC Lossless Backup guide

Code: [Select]
-8 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s

I am using the one from the EAC and FLAC guide as it seems to be updated more recently (25 November 2017)

"You may want to add -V in order to verify that there were no encoding errors." Where abouts do I add this? I am using EAC v1.3


Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #18
Not sure what all the CueTools fuss is about.

Can repair rips.
Can be invoked by command-line.
In case of pre-emphasis flagged only in subchannel, CUERipper can detect it (EAC/dBpoweramp only check TOC).
Pretty good metadata support, although dBpoweramp has more sources.

A few CUETools features are available in EAC through the plug-in though.

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #19
Thanks. Are there any guides with how to do this?
No but...

2.1.5 & 2.1.6
You've already added the encoder to CUETools and tested. Neither program is running.
Open the CUETools settings file
%appdata%\CUE Tools\settings.txt (or in {program folder}\CUE Tools\settings.txt if running portable)
Find the external encoder name and copy all lines through =</UserDefinedEncoderSettings>
Quote
=</UserDefinedEncoderSettings>
ExternalEncoder21Name=FLAC v1.3.2
ExternalEncoder21Extension=flac
ExternalEncoder21Lossless=1
ExternalEncoder21Settings=<UserDefinedEncoderSettings>
=  <Path>flac.exe</Path>
=  <Parameters>-%M -V - -o %O</Parameters>
=  <SupportedModes>0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8</SupportedModes>
=</UserDefinedEncoderSettings>

ExternalEncoders=22
ExternalDecoder0Name=takc
Make a backup copy of the CUERipper settings file
Open the CUERipper settings file
%appdata%\CUERipper\settings.txt (or in {program folder}\CUERipper\settings.txt if running portable)
Find the line: ExternalEncoders
Quote
=</UserDefinedEncoderSettings>
ExternalEncoder19Name=qaac tvbr
ExternalEncoder19Extension=m4a
ExternalEncoder19Lossless=0
ExternalEncoder19Settings=<UserDefinedEncoderSettings>
=  <EncoderMode>80</EncoderMode>
=  <Path>qaac.exe</Path>
=  <Parameters>-s -V %M -q 2 - -o %O</Parameters>
=  <SupportedModes>10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 127</SupportedModes>
=</UserDefinedEncoderSettings>
ExternalEncoders=20
ExternalDecoder0Name=takc
Increase the number by 1 (in this example 20+1=21)
Paste text from the CUETools settings file above the ExternalEncoders line
Adjust the encoder number if needed (encoders start at 0, the next encoder in this example would be 20)
Quote
ExternalEncoder19Settings=<UserDefinedEncoderSettings>
=  <EncoderMode>80</EncoderMode>
=  <Path>qaac.exe</Path>
=  <Parameters>-s -V %M -q 2 - -o %O</Parameters>
=  <SupportedModes>10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 127</SupportedModes>
=</UserDefinedEncoderSettings>
ExternalEncoder20Name=FLAC v1.3.2
ExternalEncoder20Extension=flac
ExternalEncoder20Lossless=1
ExternalEncoder20Settings=<UserDefinedEncoderSettings>
=  <Path>flac.exe</Path>
=  <Parameters>-%M -V - -o %O</Parameters>
=  <SupportedModes>0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8</SupportedModes>
=</UserDefinedEncoderSettings>

ExternalEncoders=21
ExternalDecoder0Name=takc
Double check and save file

and then I came across this guide:

The EAC Lossless Backup guide

Code: [Select]
-8 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s
The placeholders have changed. These work for EAC 1.0b1 or earlier but won't work in EAC 1.3
korth

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #20
Can repair rips.
Can be invoked by command-line.
In case of pre-emphasis flagged only in subchannel, CUERipper can detect it (EAC/dBpoweramp only check TOC).
Pretty good metadata support, although dBpoweramp has more sources.

A few CUETools features are available in EAC through the plug-in though.
hi @Porcus
may i ask you a question?
are there audio players like foobar that can read the pre-emphasis flag?
about burners i guess only imgburn can do it or?
thank you

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #21
are there audio players like foobar that can read the pre-emphasis flag?
You can give it a tag and use https://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_dsp_deemph
(or lvqcl's: https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,99394.0.html ) - then fb2k will apply de-emphasis as you play. It does not literally read the "flag", but maybe it does what you indended to ask?

And just in case I should accidentally delete tags: I use Wavpack for those files.


Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #22
You can give it a tag and use https://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_dsp_deemph
(or lvqcl's: https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,99394.0.html ) - then fb2k will apply de-emphasis as you play. It does not literally read the "flag", but maybe it does what you indended to ask?
And just in case I should accidentally delete tags: I use Wavpack for those files.
hi mean
Quote
In case of pre-emphasis flagged only in subchannel, CUERipper can detect it (EAC/dBpoweramp only check TOC).
Pretty good metadata support, although dBpoweramp has more source
where does it store this tag? in the cue sheet,isn't it?
and are there audio player software that can play ?
i know it's off topic but which program could burn pre-emphsis detected by cueripper

thanks

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #23
where does it store this tag? in the cue sheet,isn't it?
and are there audio player software that can play ?
i know it's off topic but which program could burn pre-emphsis detected by cueripper

A cuesheet should include "FLAGS PRE" to indicate pre-emphasis. I don't know if any audio player will apply EQ based on that flag.
The foobar2000 component works with foobar2000 if there is a tag field called PRE_EMPHASIS or PRE-EMPHASIS and its value is "1", "yes" or "on". dBpoweramp will add the tag if it detects pre-emphasis (in the TOC). If you have a cuesheet with FLAGS PRE, you can add the tag to the FLAC files themselves manually.

CD writers that support the pre-emphasis flag? I am not sure if it is standard behaviour, but it is easy to test (just re-rip and see!). EAC should do so.


Here is a partial list of CD titles with at least one reported "pre-emphasis" pressing: http://www.studio-nibble.com/cd/index.php?title=Pre-emphasis_(release_list)

Re: Time to start ripping! (A couple of noob questions)

Reply #24
The placeholders have changed. These work for EAC 1.0b1 or earlier but won't work in EAC 1.3

Thanks for clearing that up. So can you recommend what I should be using and where can I add the "-V" to it?

My current setup is this one:

Code: [Select]
-T "artist=%artist%" -T "title=%title%" -T "album=%albumtitle%" -T "date=%year%" -T "tracknumber=%tracknr%" -T "genre=%genre%" -5 %source%

I'm playing around with EAC, CUETools/Ripper and dBpoweramp to see which one I get on best with. I will also have a go at upgrading the FLAC version in CUETools using the method you posted above. Thanks