After years of using CDEX and Lame for ripping my CDs, I've decided to give AAC a try as it's apparently a better quality format.
I've installed EAC and NeroAAC but can't get it to work. For some reason EAC isn't passing the correct source and destination filenames to Nero.
According to the error, instead of "going backwards.wav" for %source%, it uses "0tmp60-!5.wav" and then "0tmp60-!5.m4a" for %dest%.
This is Win 10, any ideas?
EAC uses a temporary name then should rename the file after the encoder completes normally. Are you saying the encoder is exiting early due to an error? You didn't share your External Compression Tab settings and additional command line options.
See also http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=EAC_and_AAC
I followed the instructions in the Wiki, tried both with and without metadata with the same result. EAC completes the rip to .wav but then throws up the error at compression because I ticked the 'Check for external programs return code'.
Oher options are as per the wiki, command line options without metadata: '-if %source% -of %dest%'.
Some general troubleshooting:
Check
- encoder path is valid.
- encoder or output location doesn't require elevated privileges.
- antivirus/security software hasn't isolated the encoder.
While configured for 'without metadata'
click the 'Test encoder' button on the 'External Compression' tab and look at the 'used commandline:', 'compressor output:' and 'return code:'.
If there was an error, this should show more detail.
Also, Nero is outdated; there are better AAC encoders now (qaac, fhgaacenc).
Gave me an excuse to configure EAC on my Win 10 partition, so I tested your settings. Here are my "Compression options":
(https://image.ibb.co/c1rOOQ/Clipboard01.jpg)
Additional command-line options:
/c h:\progra~2\codecs\NeroAAC\neroaa~2.exe -q 0.5 -if %source% -of %dest% && h:\progra~2\codecs\NeroAAC\neroaa~3.exe %dest% -meta:artist="%artist%" -meta:album="%albumtitle%" -meta:track="%tracknr%" -meta:title="%title%" -meta:genre="%genre%" -meta:year="%year%"
Your file locations will of course be different and I only got it to work by using 8.3-style filenames. The files will also include a "CDEC" tag. And, as said above, there are preferred encoders:
http://listening-tests.hydrogenaud.io/igorc/aac-96-a/results.html
Finally, if encoding at sufficient bitrate it's not true that AAC offers a quality advantage over MP3:
http://listening-test.coresv.net/results.htm
Apesbrain
I added quotes to the Additional command-line options. Worked fine (Windows 10).
/c ""D:\Program Files (x86)\Tools\NeroAAC\neroAacEnc.exe" -q 0.5 -if %source% -of %dest% && "D:\Program Files (x86)\Tools\NeroAAC\neroAacTag.exe" %dest% -meta:artist="%artist%" -meta:album="%albumtitle%" -meta:track="%tracknr%" -meta:title="%title%" -meta:genre="%genre%" -meta:year="%year%" %hascover%-add-cover:front:"%coverfile%"%hascover%"
edit: had one too many