2. pc-audio
  3. 1034694829

Help w/bad mp3 rips?


Argh. Help.

I just can't seem to get clean mp3s from CDs for use with my Windows iPod. I'm using an Windows XP box to rip from and encoding at 192 kbps, high quality, true stereo. I've tried several types of commercial ripping software (musicmatch, realplayer using the XING encoder) as well as audiograbber with the LAME encoder. I don't run other software while ripping, and have killed all the background tasks I can find. The best so far seems to be audiograbber, but I still get muted background noises and the occasional skip. Before audiograbber, I got lots of skips. What is up? Any computer-type audiophiles have any suggestions (other than buying an iMac)? Could I have a bad CD reader?

I'm really getting sick of ripping stuff over and over again.
edesilva
sailor720
24 posts
 
use exact audio copy and the fgh radium codec i use this and it puts out some pretty good results. EAC allows error correction during extraction and genreally doesnt screw up. Even better if you can find a way to play ogg vorbis files on your ipod these sound better than mp3s.
buckingham
333 posts
 
agree with sailor720. EAC is the best out there.
I haven't had any problems with MusicMatch software.
vegasears
1,173 posts
 
Are you ripping to CDR or to your hard drive? I find ripping from CD to CDR causes me errors/skips. I think it has to do with “on the fly” conversion to WAV format while writing to CDR. I rip directly to my hard drive at 320 kbps. If I am going to transfer to CDR, I convert the file to WAV format and then rip to CDR. The extras step provides me clean rips.
edesilva OP
768 posts
 
Just got back from a business trip and logged on to A'gon.

All the rips I have done were direct to hard drive. I'll see about finding EAC. Although, if Buckingham hasn't had issues with MM, maybe I have a drive problem, so maybe EAC won't help. Gah.

Are your rips done at 1X or higher speed? The software I was using last (Audiograbber) showed rates that varied, but generally were about 6X. I'm wondering if I would get better results if I forced it to 1X and just made painfully slooooow mp3s.
buckingham
333 posts
 
Looks like this is an issue that should be directed to MusicMatch customer service or tech help. They are usually quick with the email. EAC is the best, but it is not half as easy to use as MM jukebox. EAC requires lots of reading to setup everything before using... MM Jukebox is very intuitive and user friendly.
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