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utw-Mephisto · Feb 3, 2007, 10:14 AM

I am looking for a good CD ripper. I would love to have one for CD > Flac .. but obviously thats not that easy on Intel Mac .. is there another decent CD ripping tool (except itunes) ?

Chito · Feb 3, 2007, 11:00 AM

I'm not familiar with it but a search at Versiontracker brought this up
Music Man 1.8 – Mac OS X – VersionTracker

shifuimam · Feb 3, 2007, 11:40 AM

This one says it can do FLAC:

Max 0.7.1 - MacUpdate

siMac · Feb 5, 2007, 09:02 AM

I have to agree, for formats other than those supported natively in iTunes, Max is the way to go.

mpbritt · Feb 5, 2007, 10:53 AM

Both Max 0.7.1, which has already been mentioned (it is still in beta but is very, very stable) and xACT can do CD > FLAC rips. I have used both to process the live music I download.

JayMan8081 · Feb 5, 2007, 11:44 AM

I'm interested to follow this thread as I have also been looking for a good standalone CD ripper. I've found Max to be very unstable on my MacBook even when it's the only app running.

almaink · Feb 5, 2007, 12:09 PM

Don't know if you've been there yet but FLAC - Free Lossless Audio Codec

utw-Mephisto · Feb 18, 2007, 08:23 PM

Alright, I have now ripped 19 double CDs with Max .. edited the ID3 tags before starting the rip, add artwork and fired it up.

At 1am I was finally done and fired up itunes just to find out that all the ID3 tags are completely scrambled and sorting them out would take longer than doing it all over with a better ripper ...

Unless someone has a new suggestion (need 320k VRB) I might consider installing XP in Dualboot and use the (working) tools there ...

This is all rubbish

I thought first Max works well, but when it cannot even handle ID3s properly I have to pass on that ...

Apfhex · Feb 18, 2007, 08:48 PM

Thought you wanted FLAC? If you just need 320kbps VBR MP3, iTunes can do that, unless there's a reason you don't want to use iTunes for CD ripping.

utw-Mephisto · Feb 18, 2007, 08:54 PM

I do also ... But I started with MP3 since I want to upload them to a private website to stream them to myself at work ...

But for that I need a decent folder structure as well which should look like

{albumTitle}/{albumArtist}/Disc {discNumber}/{trackNumber} - {trackTitle}

But since Max only shows a few tags, like Artist, Album and Track, some tags are not visible ... and itunes does not create the folders I need ...

For my website I need the folders, for itunes the tags, so I need a ripper which handles both nicely .. there are so many nice tools on Windows :*(

I even start to think about dualbooting just for the time being ...

JayMan8081 · Feb 19, 2007, 01:40 AM

I would have to agree that Max is not that good of a ripping tool. Under windows I used to use CDex which was simple and fully configurable (as far as path to encode to, etc). I found another tool called LameBrain that uses LAME for the MP3 encoding. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet but it didn't look too shabby from their website.

utw-Mephisto · Feb 19, 2007, 05:07 AM

Mmm... Using their screenshots (LameBrain) it looks like also that this program doesn't really give the options to configure the ID3 tags ... It also gives just Artist, Album and Genre ... Once a downloaded (FreeDB for example) Tag set has also Album Artist for example, player might use those as reference ...

Maybe I just rip them again with Max and Use the folder and Tag&Rename in Windows first to check all the Tags ....

glypht · 08:38 AM

Originally Posted by utw-Mephisto

But for that I need a decent folder structure as well which should look like

{albumTitle}/{albumArtist}/Disc {discNumber}/{trackNumber} - {trackTitle}

But since Max only shows a few tags, like Artist, Album and Track, some tags are not visible ... and itunes does not create the folders I need ...

iTunes will create the following folder structure:

{Artist} / {Album} / {Disc n°}-{Track n°} {Title}.{Extension}

ie:
Aim / Means of Production / 1-01 Loop Dreams.m4a

This is not so different from what you want, it just puts album inside artist (which is somewhat more logical from a hierarchy point of view), and prepends the disc number to the filename instead of making a folder per disc.

Is it really worth going to the trouble of finding a standalone encoder just for a slightly different folder structure?

For the FLAC files what you could do is skip the tagging in Max (leave Track 01 etc), import them into iTunes afterwards for tagging and let iTunes create the folder structure as above. FLAC files can be imported and played in iTunes with the codecs from Xiph.org.

Also, I don't know what you're using to stream to work, but check out Musicast, it might be an option for you.

mduell · Feb 19, 2007, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by Apfhex

Thought you wanted FLAC? If you just need 320kbps VBR MP3, iTunes can do that, unless there's a reason you don't want to use iTunes for CD ripping.

You don't want to use iTunes for encoding MP3s.

Results of MP3 at 128kbit/s Listening Test

utw-Mephisto · Feb 19, 2007, 12:19 PM

So what do I use then ?

One thing is for sure : Max seems to work, it just sucks when you need decent ID3 tags which are mandatory when using ipod or mediacenter (either Windowds or Frontrow)

Apfhex · Feb 19, 2007, 07:45 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

You don't want to use iTunes for encoding MP3s.

Results of MP3 at 128kbit/s Listening Test

I'll believe it when I hear it. At 320kbps VBR... is anyone really going to notice? There's always the LAME encoder script, too.

glypht · Feb 20, 2007, 07:46 AM

Originally Posted by mduell

You don't want to use iTunes for encoding MP3s.

Version of iTunes tested: "Apple iTunes 4.2 MP3 112kbps VBR, Highest quality, joint stereo, smart encoding"

So they used a lower bitrate and an old version for their test. Seems a bit unfair. Also, was it a blind test or did people know which sample was which?

Originally Posted by Roberto Amorim

I'm confident iTunes MP3 would perform better if it was featured at CBR 128, and the same might apply to FhG. I take full responsability on those mistakes, and for them, I apologize.

Moot point for me cause I ditched MP3 years ago in favour of AAC, which is a superior codec and works with my iPod/iTunes, Sony Ericsson phones and the XBox Media Center software which are the only ways I access my music.

The only MP3s I have are those I buy from eMusic (I'm more anti-DRM than anti-MP3) or those that come from friends.

utw-Mephisto · Feb 20, 2007, 11:43 AM

Originally Posted by Apfhex

I'll believe it when I hear it. At 320kbps VBR... is anyone really going to notice? There's always the LAME encoder script, too.

Believe it or not .. yes ..

You WILL notice the difference when you use MP3 not just for the portable use but also to play on high volume at a party for example .. I mostly listen to Electronic (ike Trance) or other bass intensive music ... VRB has more dynamic / colors ... I don't know how to explain it in English ....