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Itunes Error Correction

I have read here and elsewhere that it is advisable to use error correction when ripping into Itunes. For the momemnt, I am a PC user, and I rip to Apple Lossless. When I "checked" the error correction box in itunes preferences, i could not get itunes to rip any tracks. it just quickly skipped over every track. Any thoughts on why this would be?

in any event, how important is error correction? is it merely usefull to clean up pops caused by an imperfect disc, or does it do something beneficial even when ripping a new/clean disc?

thanks for any advice.
jeffreybowman2k
royewest
1 posts
 
I have exactly the same experience as the original poster. I'm using the current version of iTunes in WinXP/SP2 with all current patches applied.

If you rip CDs into lossless format, iTunes just skips the data from all tracks if you check the error correction option. I've experienced this with several drives from different manufacturers.

If anyone finds an answer elsewhere, I'd appreciate it if they'd post the link in this thread. Thanks!
blackstonejd
153 posts
 
I hate to revive a thread that is like over a year old, but you should know that I experienced a similar problem ripping discs with iTunes. At first I thought my CD drive was busted so I had it replaced. No change. I wound up updating all of my system drivers, including video card and motherboard chipset and that solved the problem.

This particular system had an Nvidia chipset and video card.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
My customers are reporting the iTunes even with correction on is not as good as EAC on a PC. Try it and decide for yourself.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
sammie
220 posts
 
I'll also chime that there are ripping programs out there, such as EAC, which will give you better sounding rips than Itunes.
blackstonejd
153 posts
 
Steve N.,

Funny you should mention EAC, because I just started using it a few days ago. I can't say with certainty that EAC sounds better than iTunes with correction, but I do know that in secure mode, discs that are in not so great shape that generate EAC error reports (the red boxes light up) sound dramatically better.

One disc I had was in such bad shape that EAC actually read a substantial part of it at .2x speed to extract the data. (secure mode, c2, no buffering) iTunes on the other hand was reading it at 2x-4x speed. The EAC version sounded cleaner, quieter with greater instrument separation and low level detail.

If you use a program called "iTunesEncode" you can actually configure EAC to perform the actual rip, automatically launch iTunes, use iTunes' encoders to change the file to any format supported by iTunes (.aiff, .alac) and automatically import the disc into your iTunes library, tags and metadata in tact. I also find that files tagged by EAC with ID3 tags display more information on my Squeezebox than files ripped by iTunes. Once configured the entire ripping process takes two clicks.

Happy Holidays all!
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