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Topic: EAC: Several questions from a long-time user (Read 4382 times) previous topic - next topic
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EAC: Several questions from a long-time user

I've been using Exact Audio Copy with LAME 3.99.5 for some time to rip all of my old CDs.  In the course of using it, I've come up with several basic questions for more experienced users:

1. Is there any way to have EAC recognize a "hidden track" (i.e. a track with an internal gap) and separate it?  So far, I've been doing this manually with WAV Editor.
2. What's the best way to extract pregap tracks?
3. How can I embed album art in MP3s that were compressed from ripped WAVs?  So far I've only determined how to do so in MP3s ripped directly from the CD.
4. Is there any way, within EAC, to embed album art that was found manually online, as opposed to EAC's own album art finder?
5. Every once in a while, EAC will create an MP3 that lacks the embedded album art.  It's rare, inconsistent, and typically occurs in the middle of the album.  Any idea what causes this?  Any way to search in Windows for this, other than checking every MP3's thumbnail one at a time?
6. I've had a few badly scratched CDs that reported no errors, yet the reported track quality was 96% or poorer, presumably because EAC had to read the same sectors several times.  Would you recommend attempting a rerip?
7. Under what circumstances, if any, would you disable EAC's error correction?
8. What exactly does the WAV "glitch removal" in EAC do?

EAC: Several questions from a long-time user

Reply #1
6. Rerip is never needed if you verify with AccurateRip. Otherwise, if no errors are reported then ignore the quality value and keep what you have.
7. If you can verify with AccurateRip then just take one pass in burst mode (i.e. no error checking). If you don't get verification from AR then rerip in one of the secure modes.

Edit: typo

EAC: Several questions from a long-time user

Reply #2
1. [a href='index.php?act=findpost&pid=448865']link[/a]
korth

EAC: Several questions from a long-time user

Reply #3
1 and 2: Are you talking about tracks hidden in pregap of first track? Try detecting pregaps, and then use the Index-based option to extract that hidden tracks as a individual file. Of course, it is up to your drive the ability to extract this track.

3, 4 and 5: MP3tag, very useful app to edit tags, that you could run to embedding arts.

6: In my opinion, it is very unlikely that you obtained a flawlessly rip, because EAC try to get constant results, which could be innacurate (there are constant errors). Verify the problematic album against the AccurateRip data base, CueTools or Foobar2000 for that. If rip contains an insecure track, or more: Try resurfacing that CD by a car polish liquid or alike, rubbing always from center to edge. I bought lots of used CDs heavily scratched (for just 0.5€, 1€ and 2€), which I could repair successfully, no CU errors. If CD is really heavily scratched, I apply a mixture of metal polish cream and silicone oil to remove the deeper scratches. Then, I finish it applying a finer polish, with a finer cotton. You can repair CDs as long as the metallic layer is not damaged, the label side which contains actually the data.

7: Any modern and decent drive MUST rip flawlessly in burst mode any audio CD in good/excellent condition. I wouldn't trust in a drive which requires secure mode for extracting properly an audio CD in good/excellent condition, for example, the HD-DVD player for Xbox 360 I own when attached to a PC. I tested this drive ripping audio CDs, and it is so bad for that.

8: It tries to detect clicks and pops, and interpolate them.

EAC: Several questions from a long-time user

Reply #4
1 and 2: Are you talking about tracks hidden in pregap of first track? Try detecting pregaps, and then use the Index-based option to extract that hidden tracks as a individual file. Of course, it is up to your drive the ability to extract this track.

Unfortunately, no...I'm trying to detect songs hidden at the end of tracks - i.e. "bonus songs" at the end of the album, with silence separating the two songs in the middle of the track.  I've been able to use the index-based method for pre-track 1 songs, but not for this type.  Any suggestions?

EAC: Several questions from a long-time user

Reply #5
Index-based method cannot help you if there are no indexes higher than 1 encoded at subcode level. You could extract that track as usual, and split it using a .wav editor. Or determine the proper range to cut, and write a .cue file to split the wav file into two sub-songs.

For example:

FILE "blabla.wav" WAVE
TRACK 01 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
REM Start point of first sub-song.
TRACK 02 AUDIO
INDEX 01 07:00:00
REM Start point of silence.
TRACK 03 AUDIO
INDEX 01 12:00:00
REM Start point of second sub-song.

And preserve the track 2, so that later you can rejoin the three parts and get the original audio track.

EAC: Several questions from a long-time user

Reply #6
OK, two more questions:
(1) I've read on another website that, to ensure the greatest accuracy possible, one should always use Shift+F6 (Test and Copy).  But it seems like this would be unnecssary if both EAC and AccurateRip report no errors.  Am I missing something?
(2) I've seen AccurateRip "Confidence" scores all the way from 2 to 8.  What's the range?  What's best/worst?  And how is this calculated?

EAC: Several questions from a long-time user

Reply #7
OK, two more questions:
(1) I've read on another website that, to ensure the greatest accuracy possible, one should always use Shift+F6 (Test and Copy).  But it seems like this would be unnecssary if both EAC and AccurateRip report no errors.  Am I missing something?
(2) I've seen AccurateRip "Confidence" scores all the way from 2 to 8.  What's the range?  What's best/worst?  And how is this calculated?

Test and copy is unnecessary if you get confirmation from AccurateRip (use burst mode).

If you do not get confirmation from AccurateRip, then rip a second time in burst mode to compare CRCs.

I believe AccurateRip confidence ranges from 2 to 200, but it makes no difference because even if you only match one other person's rip, you have high confidence in the accuracy.

 

EAC: Several questions from a long-time user

Reply #8
1 (if only one "pressing" has been submitted) to 200.

AR makes no provision to keep you from comparing against your own submission (only applicable with a confidence of 1).  Such a comparison is no different than performing a successful test and copy, however.

Ripping in secure mode without the use of C2 error information is essentially identical to matching CRCs in burst mode so long as the quality level is 100% or the only re-reads performed were at the very end of the process resulting from EAC's own periodic annoying behavior.  If C2 pointers are being used then T&C is once again necessary to ensure a secure rip absent of an AR match.

It should also be noted that matchng your rip against an alternate pressing using a program like CUETools is also every bit as good (perhaps even better than) an AR match within EAC against the same pressing.