Rip / Backup Music CDs ?

[Seeker47]

Just prior to a recent road trip, I made copies of a few music CDs I own, since the originals would now be hard to replace, and I did not want to risk them on the trip. The copying worked, but the copies had problems. Mainly, false starts and early endings of tracks, as if the copy program did not understand where tracks begin or end . . . or, maybe that music is something other than regular data ? On a previous computer, I did have MusicMatch software (some older version) installed, and had used that to rip music CDs to MP3 format. That is the limit of my ripping experience, when it comes to music CDs. But, in this case, I did not want to deal with MP3s -- just a straight 1 to 1 backup copy. I thought I had done this successfully in the past, but maybe not. Evidently I am using the wrong tool. Can someone point me in the direction of the right tool, one that won't be fazed by copy protection BS ? (We're talking about music I already purchased, so, from that point on, I don't give a damn about whatever the DMCA says. As far as I'm concerned, this backing up is Fair Use.) If the tool happens to be free, so much the better.

[steveryan]

Use EAC to rip the CD to a WAV+cue sheet then burn with EAC.

[SingSing]

You can also use Nero's "copy entire disc" to make 1:1 copy.

[Skith]

My personal method of ripping CDs is to use EAC (exact audio copy). It is a small freeware program, but takes a bit of setup to get working properly. I will link you to some guides, and give you some tips for 1:1 backups, since it offers an abundance of options, features and ways to rip CDs. You would want to rip to an uncompressed (WAV) image + cue sheet.

Here is a quickstart manual from www.coasterfactory.org: http://users.pandora.be/satcp/eac-qs-en.htm

Here is a set of tutorals from the same site: http://users.pandora.be/satcp/tutorials.htm

A guide from CDFreaks.com forums: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?p=639747#post639747
Note: you can ignore the steps about ripping to mp3, you want an uncompressed image + cue sheet.

The EAC Forum: http://www.digital-inn.de/forum14/
Note: As always, read and search before asking questions.

You will need quite a bit of hard drive space for each CD. Albums will likely be 450-650MB per CD. When you finish ripping a CD you will have a .wav (audio) file and a .cue (text) file. To burn these files onto a CD-R, I recommend Burrrn, it is a simple, small stand alone burning application specifically for audio CDs. You can either drag the .cue file onto the window, or open/import the .cue through the programs interface. The .cue file will tell the application where the tracks start/end. Burning just the .wav file would result in one long track for the whole CD, which is why the .cue is necessary.

I hope this helps

[MOVIEGEEK]

1.If your Audio CD's are new then it's possible they have copy-protection,if they are more than 6 years old then I would say it's #2.
2.Another possibility is your standalone doesn't like CD-R,try the disc in another player or on your PC.
http://www.dsg.cs.tcd.ie/~haahrm/copying-protected-cds/

[CrayonEater]

One thing to keep in mind for future reference re: copying is you never want to rip to a lossy format like MP3, especially if you want to re-burn to CD. A lot of audio gets thrown out by MP3, even on it's best-quality (320 kbps) settings. I'd recommend ripping to WAV and then re-burning as Skith mentioned. Nero CD copy also works well for non-copy-protected CDs. However, if you do run into copy protection the EAC method (along with the use of AnyDVD, which works on CDs too) is more likely to work.

Oh, yes, and using quality media is as important for CD-R burning as it is for DVDs. Try using CDs designed for audio and looking for media that says made in Japan. A lot of the other stuff is rather variable in quality.

[olyteddy]

Audio CDRs are the same as regular CDRs, except they have coding on them to allow you to burn them on stand alone CD recorders. The extra cost is a 'license fee' to make copies. There's no difference in quality so don't waste your dime, if you're using a computer to burn.

[steptoe]

I also suggest trying EAC as its totally free and after the initial setup which is needed to get the best rip possible with your hardware it will produce 100% exact rips, it may be a bit slower but if you want accuracy rather that speed, give it a try

Also as mentioned, if you intend to burn to another CD, avoid MP3, use a lossless codec. FLAC seems popular, as MP3 is a lossy system, thats how it gets such small filesizes through removing information that it deems not needed

But, run a CD through any good spectrum analyzer software, and then play the same track converted to MP3, even at its highest squality setting and you should see exactly what has been removed

Or just use MediaPlayer with one of the bars visual displays, that should also show you what gets stripped by MP3 conversion

Mainly the high frequencies, but it does make a difference

[Seeker47]

Thanks to all for your suggestions, and esp. to Skith for the detailed response + guide links.

You will need quite a bit of hard drive space for each CD. Albums will likely be 450-650MB per CD.

Small change, once you've gotten accustomed to ripping DVDs.

I hope this helps

Yes, I'm sure it will.

Seeker47

[Skith]

If you have newer CDs, it might be worth mentioning to turn off AutoRun on your optical drivies. You can avoid some nasties that way, rember the sony rootkit fiasco?

The easiest way is probably microsoft's TweakUI powertoy link

There really is no need to use a lossless compression codec like FLAC unless you intend to keep a copy on the computer or an archive, if you just want a 1:1 copy it would be an added and unecessary step.

Glad I could be of some help, Good luck!