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
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.
edesilva OP
768 posts
 
Having now tried everything under the planet, EAC is definitely the way to go for ripping wav files. I've now re-ripped about 50 CDs flawlessly, despite huge skipping and other problems with MM, Realplayer, and Audiograbber. After some research, I've also been using LAME 3.92 with the "--alt preset extreme" commandline arguments for generating mp3s from wav files. EAC, as far as I can tell, is the only ripping software that lets you call LAME as an external program, thereby enabling you to use the commandline arguments. I gather the commandline "presets" are the coding community's efforts to provide some tags that give optimal sound quality for a given compression factor. The preset extreme is a variable bit rate coding scheme that generates mp3s that are roughly the same size as 128K CBR files, but sound a *lot* better (actually, they sound better than the 192K CBR files I had made). Seems a good compromise between compression/quality.

Now, only 800 or so more CDs to go.
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