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Topic: EAC voodoo magic rolling dice ripping (Read 2098 times) previous topic - next topic
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EAC voodoo magic rolling dice ripping

I can rip a disc that looks like a dirty road map with lightning speed. I can rip a disc that looks pristine for half an hour or longer.

I cannot figure out what makes EAC tick. I cannot predict how well anything will rip with confidence.

Maybe I should be using Burst mode, rather than Secure. Maybe (probably) I should have bought a really nice drive.

To be clear, however, with this post, I curious about the CDs, themselves. I suspect some older CDs may suffer partial delamination following years of rough handling, that a smooth polycarbonate substrate isn't as essential as expected or suggested. Then again, perhaps some discs are simply engineered poorly?

I admit that, in the end, my struggles may lead back to using secure mode. Or my drive. Clearly, I'm without a clue.

If you have the time and patience to share, I'm all (digital) ears.

Re: EAC voodoo magic rolling dice ripping

Reply #1 –
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To be clear, however, with this post, I curious about the CDs, themselves. I suspect some older CDs may suffer partial delamination following years of rough handling, that a smooth polycarbonate substrate isn't as essential as expected or suggested. Then again, perhaps some discs are simply engineered poorly?
Probably not poorly "engineered" but manufacturing is an imperfect mechanical process and there can be manufacturing defects.    They are not necessarily manufactured to be "bit perfect" but they should play "audibly perfect" on a CD player.    As far as I know, a CD with small "data errors" is not considered defective by the manufacturer as long as it sounds OK when played.

The data-layer is on the top of a CD and it's read through the full-thickness of the polycarbonate.   It can be damaged from either side and I think it's easier to damage a CD from the top, and it's not as easy to see the damage because of the label/printing, and you can't repair top-damage by polishing.    (The data layer on a DVD is in the middle of a polycarbonate sandwich, so you can sandpaper the top without hurting it.    The data layer on a Blu-Ray is on the bottom.)

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Maybe I should be using Burst mode, rather than Secure. Maybe (probably) I should have bought a really nice drive.
If AccurateRip shows no errors, it doesn't matter which mode you used.   If you do get errors, or if CD isn't in the AccurateRip database it might be better to use a more secure mode.    Or if you don't hear any glitches/defects there's not much to worry about.   (But, it's easier to use AccurateRip than to listen-carefully to each rip and/or sometimes you'll hear an audio glitch from somewhere else earlier in the production chain even if the CD itself is digitally perfect.)

Re: EAC voodoo magic rolling dice ripping

Reply #2 –
Yeah, I'm not getting errors so much as very, very slow rips on some discs. I just did a Timbaland disc that took and hour and a half. Then another disc that took maybe two minutes.

Some discs have these "patches" of slightly different color or value, as seem against the data layer, looking through the thick polycarbonate. I've seen this on many, many discs, and wondered if that's an indication of delamination—if delamination is even a thing. So that, in combination with these occasional slow rips, left me wondering if the root cause is delamination.

Maybe this is an inconsequential roll of the dice determining the visual consistency of manufactured discs, and is no cause for alarm. Like you write, it could be that some discs are manufactured to less exacting standards, and cause EAC to slow to a crawl.

Re: EAC voodoo magic rolling dice ripping

Reply #3 –
I'm working my way through a collection of roughly 1,000 discs, and have developed my understanding accordingly over the past months.

I find it ironic that I can rip DVDs that look horrible without error, but CDs won't rip with much of any scratches or smudges whatsoever.

I have been using the JFJ Easy Pro to repair the discs I buy. Still, I've learned to be picky about the quality of purchases, and will avoid discs that look like trouble. The JFJ Easy Pro saves nearly all discs I want to rip, but not every disc. Probably 1 out of 100 have damage nothing will fix and can never be ripped.

Regarding EAC, specifically, some discs that are pristine will take half an hour or longer to rip, but they do rip. The program drops to 0.5× speed and lower fairly often, although the majority of discs rip much, much faster. There have been times when a disc will not rip, no matter how good it looks. Sync errors at the end of a track or at the end of a disc may be inconsequential, so long as tracks were read completely. Read errors are another matter. Quite often, the same disc will play just fine (in the very same drive, mind you). When the disc will not play, I toss it. I'm only paying a dollar or two for them, anyway.

When a disc will play fine, but not rip with EAC, I will create an image with ImgBurn and copy the disc onto a blank CD. Provided ImgBurn can make the copy (and it almost always does), I rip the blank with nary a problem. These copies I can label with a Sharpie and throw in the car for road music. After 500 discs, I have maybe half a dozen of these. There have been a couple instances when ImgBurn copied an error and it is audible on the duplicate, but this is rare, and blank CDs are cheap. It stands to reason that if ImgBurn cannot successfully create an image from a CD, that CD is toast, anyway.

Re: EAC voodoo magic rolling dice ripping

Reply #4 –
Try burst mode with AccurateRip. And make sure you have max speed set in drive settings. To what format/settings are you ripping?

Re: EAC voodoo magic rolling dice ripping

Reply #5 –
So, EAC's voodoo magic, huh? It's like rolling dice and hoping for the best!

Re: EAC voodoo magic rolling dice ripping

Reply #6 –
Whoa, I just realized this thread has been going on for three years! Time sure flies in the digital realm, huh? But hey, that doesn't mean we can't jump in and offer some insights, right? Better late than never, my friend!
I gotta give you credit, dude. Admitting that you're without a clue takes guts. Sometimes we're left scratching our heads, wondering what's going on.

Re: EAC voodoo magic rolling dice ripping

Reply #7 –
It's better to voice when you're clueless (as long as you research to the best of your understanding), and show your working. It's a good thing to be proven wrong as you learn something. A silent dummy will always be a silent dummy.

Re: EAC voodoo magic rolling dice ripping

Reply #8 –
FYI - I have found that EAC will rip the same disc in different drives at very different speeds. Some discs read well on an old and expensive plextor CD drive while others read well on a cheap usb dvd drivr that handles cds as well…