Hi There
Up until now I have used EAC to rip my CD collection into FLAC format. EAC finds the details of the CD off of Freedb and I use the option string:
-V -8 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s
This results in excellent FLAC files with all FLAC tag information intact. Winamp 5 sees all of this information perfectly. The only hassle is that each CD takes a very long time to complete. What I would like to do is rip a large batch (say 50 or so) of CDs to WAV files during the day, and then use the FLAC Frontend to encode them into FLAC overnight. This plan has worked well with one small problem, the tags that are created by the FLAC Frontend are missing some information. Each File has the correct song title, artist name and album title, however crucial information such as track number, genre and publication year are dropped for some reason. In other words, if I rip to FLAC using EAC, then all tag information is preserved, but if I rip toa WAV file and then subsequently encode to FLAC using the FLAC Frontend I lose tag information. This leaves me with the painful job of using MP3tag 2.16 to manually update the missing tag information.
I have tried clicking on the Tag option in the FLAC Frontend and inserting the above option string I use in EAC into the "custom" setting, however the codec just ignores it and carried on doing what it always has done.
Could someone either give me the information, or point me in a direction where I can learn to preserve all Freedb tag info between both the WAV and FLAC files?
Any info greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Dechah
I speed up my ripping to FLAC by using the "--fast" switch. Later I'll run a script that re-encodes my files using "--best" to increase compression.
you can set up EAC to encode later.
the down and dirty way:
Don't select the option to start compression threads during rip
Rip
Close EAC after rip
Open EAC before you go to bed. It will continue with the encoding.
Or just run the compression program (in this case, flac.exe) in the background. That's what I do.
This may not be that helpful, sorry, since I haven't used flac frontend, but I'm wondering how the tag info is saved while ripping too wavs? Does flac frontend use freedb and some external info regarding identification of the cd?
Not knowing how this frontend works, I would simply rip the wavs using a path and filename containing the info needed, something like "artist/album (year)/tracknumber - title (disc genre comment)" and then use foobar to encode, tag and rename them. (To something that contains the artist, album and tracknumber as well as title; "artist (album #tracknumber) - title" is what I prefer.)
/Johan
Dreamliner77 has the best idea, but it might not be very clear.
EAC has the ability to store the album metadata in its database during ripping, and then at any time in the future (even after rebooting) complete the encoding process.
The only problem I've had was if extracting in secure mode generated a sync error and the track was aborted, and I changed to burst mode to try and salvage the disc, EAC got confused because the 2 file names were the same and deleted the .wav from the first failed extraction and skipped the second.
Here is how to set it up:
EAC Main Menu -> Database -> Compression Queue Control Center
Check the "Make all compression tasks sleep" box
EAC Main Menu -> EAC -> EAC Options -> Tools Tab
Check the "On Extraction, start external compressors...."
Use "1" simultaneous extern compression thread (my preference only)
Restart EAC
Rip CDs until tired
To start the compression process, Go to the Compression Queue Control Center and uncheck the "sleep" check box. Compression tasks will begin immediately.
If you have any other questions, please let me know.
Later,
Cal
What the command line to use Flac directly with the "external compression". How is this setup. I like how LAME can be setup to do this automatically. Can this be done with FLAC, how?
- Never mind. Solved this.
Edited for clarity of instruction:
In EAC, before you rip, for to the "Database" menu and choose "Compression Queue Control Center." In the window that opens, check the box that reads "Make all compression tasks sleep" and hit OK. Rip away! Then, when you are ready to begin compressing, open the Compression Queue Control Center again, uncheck the box, and hit OK. Leave EAC open and all those ripped wavs will make their magical journey into flac'dom!
Edit part 2: OOPS! Looks like Calufraxis beat me too it!
What the command line to use Flac directly with the "external compression". How is this setup. I like how LAME can be setup to do this automatically. Can this be done with FLAC, how?
- Never mind. Solved this.
Check out this page:
EAC configuration for Musepack (http://www.saunalahti.fi/~cse/EAC/index.html)
It includes instructions for flac. You can customize the string with commands from this page:
FLAC - documentation (http://flac.sourceforge.net/documentation.html#general_options)
For example, I add "--best --verify" at the beginning to use the highest compression and to verify the output.
EDIT: I must not be reading well today! I missed the fact that you already fixed your issue. Maybe this will help others!
Thankyou everyone, especially Dewey 1973 and Calufraxis, EAC is now doing exactly what I am wanting it to do in respect of rip now, encode later
Thanks from me, too...you learn something new every day!
One more thanks!! Exactly what I was looking for.