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Topic: Lost with EAC, WMP, Foobar200, etc.! (Read 7671 times) previous topic - next topic
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Lost with EAC, WMP, Foobar200, etc.!

I'm totally confused trying to rip my CD's to MP3 and get them to my 1st MP3 player (Insignia Pilot 8 GB).  I also want to burn some MP3 cd's to play on my stereo, but the stereo manual states it's ISO 9660 Level 1 or 2 (looked that up and it means I should have MP3's in 128 kbps and "plain" stereo.  File names should be no more than 30 characters long and in caps, only using A-Z, 0-9, a period and an underscore). 

I've been reading and have used EAC, but, yowza, I had to click the ? and read each option and after several hours, I still don't know what I'm doing. 

What's with all the various tags vs. file names?  I set them up (I think) and then they are either screwed up or changed when I play the file.  Of course, WMP 11, is baffling it what it does to them showing "unknown" albums, artists, etc.  And my stereo doesn't display the titles of tracks when I think it should.

With EAC I had errors and the "Glitch Removal" tool wasn't highlighted. 

I changed some of the settings (C2, secure vs. accurate, etc.) and got the same results.  One track had like a 26% accuracy.  I tried running a comparison of a .wav file I converted from a .flac file I downloaded (the same track that had the 26% accuracy) and nothing showed up after it ran.  Not to mention I had to download yet another program to convert the flac file (Tried Foobar2000, that was worst than WMP)

Then I thought I'd convert the .wav or flac file using EAC, but it only works from a CD!?!  EAC seems to be working without cracks or pops, but I haven't burned an MP3 CD yet.  I was trying to figure it out first.

  Basically, my question is . . . hasn't anyone come up with an easy-to-use, all-in-one, media player, converter, ripper, burner?  I hate Windows Media Player as I have duplicates and half the time something is wrong and it won't play the file or convert something.  It also screws up my podcasts (iTunes is wonderful for finding and listing podcasts, but of course, I can't use it to get the files to my Insignia Pilot).  I tried using EZ CD DA Extractor and after ripping all my cd's, they sound awful!  I really don't have time to listen to them all after I rip them.

Can someone offer some advice for a software that works without me having to spend weeks learning how to get my music to MP3?  Or a quick tutorial on getting started with this.  Or any advice on how to get started with this project?  What should the average person use?  I'm not an audiophile, but I do hate all the cracks, pops or bad transitions in my music.  I'm also worried about downloading and installing/uninstalling all this software.  I just want to be able to listen to my music, podcasts, and audiobooks.  Jeez, is that too much to ask?

(BTW, I'm 48 yrs. old and don't even own a cell phone.  It would just be another thing that doesn't work well and I'd have to spend hours or more learning how to use it.  I'm soooo frustrated!)

Lost with EAC, WMP, Foobar200, etc.!

Reply #1 –
First decide if you'll be archiving to FLAC. If not rip straight to MP3 to keep it simple.

EAC is not difficult to configure. If you have it installed right now, uninstall then reinstall it again. The first time you run it, a wizard will pop up. Pick the recommended settings and you're done.

If your stereo cannot play VBR MP3s, just use a cable like this to connect your MP3 player to the stereo.

If you need guides, start here.
 

Lost with EAC, WMP, Foobar200, etc.!

Reply #2 –
I you want the security of ripping with EAC, then no, no one has created an all in one, especially not an easy to use one.

My recs
Check out dBpoweramp. Its as secure as EAC and gets better album art. IMHO, its much more user friendly then EAC.
Check out MediaMonkey for managing your music and putting it on your MP3 player.

Lost with EAC, WMP, Foobar200, etc.!

Reply #3 –
Quote from: twostar on
First decide if you'll be archiving to FLAC. If not rip straight to MP3 to keep it simple.

EAC is not difficult to configure. If you have it installed right now, uninstall then reinstall it again. The first time you run it, a wizard will pop up. Pick the recommended settings and you're done.

If your stereo cannot play VBR MP3s, just use a cable like this to connect your MP3 player to the stereo.

If you need guides, start here.


Thanks for the quick reply!!! 

Well, no I guess I won't be archiving to flac, I just downloaded a flac file to compare to my existing file to see if my cd was bad.  Jeez, I'll probably be arrested now for downloading a bootleg song.    So I hope to not convert any file to flac, I was trying to convert from flac, which EAC doesn't do (unless it was on a CD?  Though it seems it should be simple enough to make it convert a file from anywhere, not just a cd drive?).  Your correct that I want to keep it simple and do everything to MP3 to be compatible with both my stereo and MP3 player, not to mention smaller file size.  The songs I buy now are MP3 downloads, so I really don't see a need for flac.  My MP3 nor stereo player cannot read flac files.

I did go through the wizard set-up and read each and every setting (using the pop-ups) and then going to the internet and looking up what everything meant.  That's where I ran into problems.      To look up every acronym or term used led me to looking up another term (for example CDDB is now Gracenote, not that I have an understanding of what it's actually doing when it accesses the database, nor the difference between CDDB and freedb.  And how any of them affect the CRC, tagging, etc. - blah, blah, blah - Too Much Info!)  Then I did the LAME thing and there's a whole big deal with that.

For "EAC Options":

1.  I did download the Adaptec aspi driver and that is now under "EAC Options" - "Interface" it shows Installed external aspi interface checked, but greyed out, my only other choice is "native Win32/NT/200/XP" - I'm running XP.

2.  I did create an offset test CD, but don't have a clue what that did.

3.  I don't know if I should have a CUE generated or write CD-text, or retrieve the UPC/ISRC codes in the CUE sheet generation.  (they explain what checking the option does, but not what they are.)  I converted files to MP3 with them checked and it didn't seem to make a difference in the result or take too long.  Do they help with WMP 11 putting albums and songs together and not listing them as "Unknown"?

Drive Options:

Secure Modes - Drive has Accurate Stream is checked but greyed out.  Apparently my drives do not cache so that's unchecked.  I tried both checking and unchecking the drive is capable of retrieving C2 info.  I did run both "Detect Read Features" and "Examine C2 feature". - ?

Under "Drive" - it says "Read command MMC 1" - I'm sure I ran Autodetect.

"Offset" - "Use read sample offset correction" is set to +120 (I think this is correct) but greyed out.  Everything else is checked and "actual" is the speed - no other option here.

"Gap Detection" method is B.

"Detection Accuracy" is set to "accurate, but I tried "secure" - didn't seem to make a difference/what's the difference?

Drive is able to write "UPC/ISRC" and "CD-text" are checked, again, I'm sure I ran "Detect Write Features".

Compression Options

Waveform is greyed out but says Microsoft IMA ADPCM Codec for "wave format". And Sample Format is 11.025 khz, 4-bit, mono.  "Low Quality" is checked - ???  All greyed out, but don't think I'm doing anything with waveform?

"External Compression" is using LAME (I did change the bit rate to 128 kbps as to be compatible with my ISO 9660 stereo).  Everything else is checked and high quality is checked.

"Offset" has "0" sample offset - I'm sure I ran "Detect".  (Not sure why I have an offset of +120 for the drive, but not here.)

Write "Track <track number> into ID3 comment field is checked, nothing else checked.

"ID3 tags" - "Use ID3V1.1 tags instead of ID3V1.0 tags" is checked - Could this be my problem with why I seem to lose all the info in WMP or that tracks don't show up on my stereo.  Which one is ISO 9660 Level 1 or 2?  The tagging issue could be that ISO 9660 Level 1 or 2 could mean that it will only read ID3 tags version 1, EAC only gives version 2, I believe.

Freedb/Database Options

I did enter my email address and there's a server listed.  "Use local Freedb databse is unchecked.  I'm not sure what saving this info on my hard drive does.  Export says "%A;%N;%T;%L" ???


I don't know if my stereo can play VBR MP3's, wasn't in the manual/specs.  It's a Panasonic SC-PM31/SC-PM313.    So far what I have burned has been playing, though some older CD's I burned years ago are not readable on anything(?) - don't want that to happen again.

I don't really want to get the cable since the stereo does play MP3 cd's and I have my DVD player/TV hooked up.  (No I don't wanna get a splitter.  I'm still learning how to use the MP3 player.  CD's would be easier - maybe.)  I kind of figured I'd burn MP3 cd's for my newer downloaded songs I've purchased and maybe back up my older cda CD's on MP3's (some I did show the whole CD as one song?).  It seems like the cd's I've burned before ended up failing.  Don't know what I used to burn them it was so long ago, but they worked once.  I did put labels on them, which I now am reading are no good.  Just bought some more, too.

Thanks, again, maybe I will try the reinstalling (will I have to reinstall the aspi driver and LAME again, too?) and just use the "Bonehead - novice" set up.  I just haven't had much luck with auto set-ups before and I thought I could figure it out.  I have been looking at hydrogenaudio as well as some other forums linked to by EAC, but the stuff is way over my head.  I need more step-by-step instruction, otherwise it's way too overwhelming, though I'll look at those links again - I just end up clicking back and forth because I have to look up so many of the terms.  I grew up with a B/W TV for god's sake and no one I know does any of this stuff!  I'd love to understand this and write a user friendly manual!

Also, someone could make $millions coming up with an all-in-one software!!!!!!

Lost with EAC, WMP, Foobar200, etc.!

Reply #4 –
I haven't used iTunes on a PC, but on a Mac it comes reasonably close to what OP wants.

It doesn't know about FLAC, but that's apparently not a problem. It doesn't exactly convert file formats, but it will import them into its library in a specified format, which could be all OP wants. It's CD ripping is not secure, but I think that mostly matters if you have CDs in poor condition.

Setting up EAC is easy iff you find setting up a Linux distro easy. I share OP's scepticism about automagic setups, but Apple normally do get this sort of stuff approximately right. Only problem might be that some people report that iTunes runs, or rather waddles, sluggishly on PCs.

Lost with EAC, WMP, Foobar200, etc.!

Reply #5 –
Quote from: JMK85204 on
I hope to not convert any file to flac, I was trying to convert from flac, which EAC doesn't do (unless it was on a CD?  Though it seems it should be simple enough to make it convert a file from anywhere, not just a cd drive?).
While EAC can convert wave files to another format, it cannot convert flac files.  However, I would really only use it to rip CDs and leave the conversion business to a better tool.

Quote from: JMK85204 on
1.  I did download the Adaptec aspi driver
Please explain what motivated you to do this.  From what I understand about the tutorials maintained on this site, installing an external driver is only recommended if the native one does not work.  In most cases the one from Nero is the first that is recommended (for good reason since installation is nothing more than copying a library and is nowhere near as invasive as the one from Adaptec).

Quote from: JMK85204 on
2.  I did create an offset test CD, but don't have a clue what that did.

3.  I don't know if I should have a CUE generated or write CD-text, or retrieve the UPC/ISRC codes in the CUE sheet generation.  (they explain what checking the option does, but not what they are.)  I converted files to MP3 with them checked and it didn't seem to make a difference in the result or take too long.  Do they help with WMP 11 putting albums and songs together and not listing them as "Unknown"?

"Gap Detection" method is B.

"Detection Accuracy" is set to "accurate, but I tried "secure" - didn't seem to make a difference/what's the difference?

Drive is able to write "UPC/ISRC" and "CD-text" are checked, again, I'm sure I ran "Detect Write Features".
None of these things are worth worrying about in your situation.

Quote from: JMK85204 on
Compression Options

Waveform is greyed out but says Microsoft IMA ADPCM Codec for "wave format". And Sample Format is 11.025 khz, 4-bit, mono.  "Low Quality" is checked - ???  All greyed out, but don't think I'm doing anything with waveform?
Don't worry, you're not.

Quote from: JMK85204 on
"External Compression" is using LAME (I did change the bit rate to 128 kbps as to be compatible with my ISO 9660 stereo).  Everything else is checked and high quality is checked.
Please follow the guides that twostar provided.

Quote from: JMK85204 on
"Offset" has "0" sample offset - I'm sure I ran "Detect".  (Not sure why I have an offset of +120 for the drive, but not here.)
Uncheck this option!!!

Ok, that's about all I have energy to answer.  My general recommendation is to pay attention to what is written in this site's wiki and forget everything else.  There are a lot of horrible tutorials out there and it's quite taxing on this community to continually be asked clean up after the messes they have created.

Lost with EAC, WMP, Foobar200, etc.!

Reply #6 –
Quote from: JMK85204 on
I also want to burn some MP3 cd's to play on my stereo, but the stereo manual states it's ISO 9660 Level 1 or 2 (looked that up and it means I should have MP3's in 128 kbps and "plain" stereo.

That actually sounds more like the file system used on CD's and DVD's, and with some hardware players they may or will require Joliet be enabled.

Here's a good reading about file system from the CDBurnerXP Wiki. Especially pay very close attention to the last part of that document titled "Where to use them."

Lost with EAC, WMP, Foobar200, etc.!

Reply #7 –
Quote from: Andavari on
Quote from: JMK85204 on
I also want to burn some MP3 cd's to play on my stereo, but the stereo manual states it's ISO 9660 Level 1 or 2 (looked that up and it means I should have MP3's in 128 kbps and "plain" stereo.

That actually sounds more like the file system used on CD's and DVD's, and with some hardware players they may or will require Joliet be enabled.

Here's a good reading about file system from the CDBurnerXP Wiki. Especially pay very close attention to the last part of that document titled "Where to use them."


Interesting!  I take from this . . .

1.  Use EAC to take/convert music from a purchased CD to an MP3, in my case.

          - EAC does not allow the option to burn cd's in ISO9660, Joliet, or UDF?

2.  Use CDBurnerXP (or some other software) to burn the MP3's to an MP3 CD that will be compatible with my ISO 9660 stereo/CD Player.

          - Quite confused as to whether I am creating a "data" or "audio" disc.  Yet another software program with hundreds of links to read.

          - Conflicting info?  "most secure . . . use ISO9660/Joliet/UDF, Level 2 (earlier in the document, they describe these as 3 separate formats?) . . . disc will have 3 file systems.  Then states, "If you want to use the disc you will burn in such a system, to be certain Read The Manual of the device. The devices shouldn't be confused by the use of other file systems, in addition to the one they can read."  Huh?

3.  Use WMP or another "player" software to play music/videos/podcasts on my pc and to sync to my MP3 player.

          - Still can't comprehend the tagging/filename/album info/WPL/M3U/ID3.1 V1/2 etc. so as to get everything to sort appropriately.
          - Does changing/adding/not using one affect the other? 

So in essence, I will need to use 3 different programs to accomplish what I want to do?  I just have to figure out the 3 "best" programs to use with my systems (pc, MP3 player, and stereo) and learn how to use each one.

Yikes!  I truly don't know if I am capable of learning all this stuff.

Lost with EAC, WMP, Foobar200, etc.!

Reply #8 –
I have split the discussion about dBpoweramp to a separate topic.

Lost with EAC, WMP, Foobar200, etc.!

Reply #9 –
Quote from: JMK85204 on
1.  Use EAC to take/convert music from a purchased CD to an MP3, in my case.

          - EAC does not allow the option to burn cd's in ISO9660, Joliet, or UDF?

These are options for burning data CDs (a disc full of mp3 files is also a data CD).  EAC only burns audio CDs (the kind that play in my 20-year-old CD player).

Quote from: Frank Bicking on
I have split the discussion about dBpoweramp to a separate topic.

Thanks Frank.

Lost with EAC, WMP, Foobar200, etc.!

Reply #10 –
Re: Why I installed the the ASAPI driver:  The following "buggy" reference and "strongly recommended" for XP is why I installed the asapi driver (got this from http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/en/index.php/support/faq/). Maybe I'm misunderstanding it. (3rd party software = LAME?)  It states:

"What is the difference between ASPI, ASAPI and Native drivers?

EAC communicates directly with the CD-ROM drives. For this EAC make use of several interfaces which do the low level work. You can choose the interface by your own in the EAC options (depending which interfaces are installed in your computer).
ASPI is from Adaptec, it comes preinstalled in Win95/98. In all other Windows it needs to be installed, but in these OS the installer tests if any Adaptec hardware is in your computer. Nevertheless you can try to install it, download for Windows 95 only and all other windows versions.
VOB produced a replacement called ASAPI. It is freely available from here.
In WinNT/2000/XP EAC is able to use a native interface in that OS. This is still buggy and only recommended when you don’t want to install 3rd party software. Nevertheless, this will only work if you are logged in with admin rights. If you encounter problems, it is strongly recommended to download ASAPI and to change the interface to that."

Should I get rid of it!?! How!?!

Thanks. (now my posts are being deleted because I can't figure how to reply to quotes within quotes.)