(1): If the audio CD has various artists
some programs can input both artist & title into the title filed (using a
separator like '/') and then they manage to separate them in ID3 .
- Conclusion:
As you see I bold the parameters I think important for a Cd
ripper . I distinguish "On the fly Gogo" because it's the fastest
encoder , so a P/IV machine can create mp3 at the same speed of .wav ripping .
EAC & Cd'nGo seems to be the winners .
- EAC looks like the best solution
among all , specially If your CD-Rom has jitter problems . Makes
on-the-fly ripping (using LameACM) .
- CD-Copy (*) has the most power & intelligent
tools you can ask for such program . Can rip whole CD first (before start
encoding) . Can make all CDDB process after mp3 encoding (CDDB batch , ID3
edit , filename rename according to CDDB) . Options like 'Generic names' or 'CBBD
batch' exists for many years in this product and cannot be found
anywhere else . However looks like it's abandoned & lacks of on-the-fly
routines .
- Cons: Buggy when changing hardware devices or other kind of hardware . Buggy
with some RAID ATAPI controllers .
- AudioGogo is my recommended ripper for novice users : Very
small & simple , includes gogo.dll , nothing to setup , on-the-fly FAST
mp3 encoding . Reminds me the simplicity of the all-time-classic Audio Catalyst .
- Cd'n Go 2.09.xxx looks full featured but it crashes
sometimes (when using gogo on-the-fly) . Let's wait for something better
.
- More FREE Software (out of contest):
NeoAudio 9.9.9 .
It's obvious that NeoAudio took the sources of CDex . The whole GUI is
identical . The changes are too few to make it special . Moreover the program
is spyware . The only good point is that it does support on the fly Gogo
encoder .
FreeRip 2.12
GNU (too simple ,
not ad free) .
BoEnc
0.9 GNU
(too simple , buggy GUI) .
Zlurp 1.2.9
This ripper is cool with many features . It's the only ripper with dynamic audio
normalization (limiter) . However the GUI is buggy and weird .
- Open Source (GNU)
The freeware , open source (GNU) library akrip32.dll helped
many people develop Cd ripping applications . AudioGogo , FreeRip , Cd-da
X-Tractor , CDDA Ripper XP use that module . As you can see from the
review , there are about 6 open source cd rippers . Most binaries &
sources can be found at SourceForge
.
- CD Ripping Tips:
- Under WinXP most Cd rippers do NOT work . They need the ASPI
drivers not included with WinXP (Why ?) . You can download the latest ASPI
version from Adaptec .
- Make regular backups of cdplayer.ini . Some applications may
corrupt this file .
- Test the exacted mp3 without using special EQ settings or
filters . A nice fast mp3 player with instant seek times is CoolPlayer
.
- If you want to further process the mp3 file there are tools
like mp3Trim , that can make some processes without re-encoding the
file . mp3Trim was the first , there are many programs like this today .
- Applications like CdCopy can set the path of CDDB files (not
the same with "Local CDDB") . If you use a LAN you can define a
common path , so everybody retrieve the already downloaded data or the data
that someone else put .
- Don't hesitate to save templates if the software supports it
. It saves you a lot of time if you reinstall the application .
- A small exception: ACXtractor
2.93 .
Although this is a freeware CD Ripper review I want to mention a cool
shareware competitor : ACXtractor
. It deserves to be mentioned because :
- Pros: 1) Completes 3 out of 3 critical parameters (cut
silence , audio CD control bar , on-the-fly with Gogo). 2) It's compact ,
small & robust . 3) Does not need Aspi drivers under Win2K / WinXP . 4) Made
the fastest on-the-fly mp3 encoding .
- Cons: 1) No VBR at all . 2) It may fail to read some CD-Rom
devices when having SCSI or Raid controllers . 3) CDDB server cannot be edited and
must be hacked with regedit . See my AcX.reg
file ...
first: 30/03/2000
last: 13/04/2003
