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Topic: Digitalizing my CD collection, EAC/dBpa/fb2k? (Read 7126 times) previous topic - next topic
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Digitalizing my CD collection, EAC/dBpa/fb2k?

Hey there,
I want to digitalize my CD collection, and thus, I am looking for software to convert CDs into FLAC and ALAC file formats. As I've read though a couple of threads, it appears that Exact Audio Copy, dBpoweramp and foobar2000 are the most populare ones. Most users seem to choose EAC/foobar2000 over dBpoweramp because they are free. However, I don't realy care whether the software is free or not (38$ is not that big of a deal). So I am wondering, if the main differences between EAC and dBpoweramp is just the more simplified and polished user interface, since both use AccurateRip and therefore should have the same ripping quality?

Thanks for your help!

Digitalizing my CD collection, EAC/dBpa/fb2k?

Reply #1
Hi,

Yeah the ripping quality is really determined by the drive. I used EAC for ages but switched to dBpowerAMP a few years ago and think it is great value for money.

I have almost 800 GB of FLAC files ripped from CDs. I find dBpowerAMP much easier to configure. Plus it has some great plug ins like HDCD that automatically detects if your CD is HDCD and thus turns it into a 24 bit file. I'm sure you could set up EAC to do the same, but dBPowerAMP just makes it easier to configure. It also has built in codecs like FLAC and LAME MP3 and works great on multi core systems, i.e. it will keep ripping and encode in the background using other cores. This works great on my i7 laptop.

So if you don't mind paying the money I do recommend dBPowerAMP.

As a bonus you get the file converter including the batch converter which works great. And there are lots of additional codecs at Codec Central
http://www.dbpoweramp.com/codec-central.htm

Digitalizing my CD collection, EAC/dBpa/fb2k?

Reply #2
Any of the rippers you mentioned, as well as CueRipper, will do a great job at ripping CDs accurately. I think dBpoweramp's standout feature is its meta-data. It pulls metadata from 4 providers and cross compares them for accuracy.

Digitalizing my CD collection, EAC/dBpa/fb2k?

Reply #3
I think dBpoweramp's standout feature is its meta-data. It pulls metadata from 4 providers and cross compares them for accuracy.


It can also read CD-text, handy if that is on the disk and it is new (or obscure) enough not to be in the on-line databases.

Digitalizing my CD collection, EAC/dBpa/fb2k?

Reply #4
You mean copying the digital music from CD to your harddrive, CDs are already digital so there is no "digitalizing" involved.

Digitalizing my CD collection, EAC/dBpa/fb2k?

Reply #5
Another positive for dbpa. Easy to use and excellent metadata. I've ripped thousands of CDs to FLAC with dbpa. Nice tools for doing other things too (easily creating lossy versions of FLAC files for use on portable players, etc.)

Digitalizing my CD collection, EAC/dBpa/fb2k?

Reply #6
Thanks so far!

Yeah the ripping quality is really determined by the drive.

I am getting a new PC soon. Is there any special property to look for when choosing the drive (it's going to be a bluray drive)?

You mean copying the digital music from CD to your harddrive, CDs are already digital so there is no "digitalizing" involved.

Ya, you're right

 

Digitalizing my CD collection, EAC/dBpa/fb2k?

Reply #7
I'm no expert, but I'm guessing the fact it's a BluRay drive might help - perhaps not because of the blue diode (as many BluRay drives also have a red diode for when they're reading CDs or traditional DVDs), but simply because it's a newer drive.

I'll also mention this: I got a slight performance improvement on my laptop drive when I upgraded its firmware.  Turns out the stock firmware was four generations old.  So be sure to do that when you get the drive.


Finally, here's a question for those who responded earlier: excluding metadata and ripping speed as criteria (i.e. taking ripping accuracy primarily into account), would EAC be considered as good a tool as dbPowerAmp?

Digitalizing my CD collection, EAC/dBpa/fb2k?

Reply #8
Ripping accuracy is dependent on the drive more so than software. Hence yes eac is equally as good as dbp since they both use secure ripping modes and compare checksums with online databases. Newer drives dont necessarily guarantee better performance, I have a newish lg cd writer that is quick, but starts to stutter on the last tracks of 70+ minute cds at which point I turn to an ancient matshita which handles long as well as non compliant cds with ease.

Digitalizing my CD collection, EAC/dBpa/fb2k?

Reply #9
One of the things that drives me nuts is when so called "high end forums" try and convince people that $300 plextor drives are "more accurate" or give "better sounding rips". Total bollocks they read the same 1s and 0s as any $20 cdrom. As long as you use a cd that is in eacs database to determine your drives offset (I use gnrs appetite for destruction) and set eac accordingly you will get accurate rips every time. And you can spend the 280 bux you saved on some new music. There has been discussion that plextor drives can handle dirty/damaged discs better, but why would you want to keep such discs as archives? Its quicker to replace them or find an accurate rip flac download of the damaged tracks and burn yourself a new backup. A cdr or new copy is still way cheaper than an overpriced cd drive.

Digitalizing my CD collection, EAC/dBpa/fb2k?

Reply #10
dBpoweramp has some features you might want to pay for, like metadata. There is a comparison here, not totally updated: http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?ti...n_of_CD_rippers

I paid for the dBpoweramp reference five years ago, hacked together an autoIt script to automatize a CD changer (then came Batch Ripper which does that, but then metadata is more costly – BTW, user bhoar is selling off his CD changers these days). I think would still have chosen dBp over EAC for my purposes, but today I would have had a second and third look at CUERipper too (it has Discogs, which Eli and myself have not yet succeeded in nagging Spoon into supporting).