Easy way to rip CDs to FLAC?

[Zrooney]

I have been wanting to rip all of my music in a lose-less format recently, and decided FLAC was the best file type compared to WAV and AALC, mainly because FLAC is non-propriety, has compression, and stores the song title and information within the FLAC file itself, unlike a WAV file.

So i downloaded and installed Exact Audio Copy (EAC) to rip to FLAC. Last night I ripped "Hurley" as a test CD and everything went smoothly. I was just wondering if it can be automated more like ripping in Windows Media Player.  Right now I have to manually create each albums's file where EAC will rip the music, as well as putting the correct album file under the correct correct band file (Weezer -> Hurley -> .FLAC songs) Is there any way for EAC to automatically generate the file Weezer, and than Hurley when I rip the disc, just like how Windows Media Player generates the artist and album file when it rips CD'. Or do i need to use another program besides EAC to make the process more automated?

As always, any help is greatly appreciated!

[ark_ader]

Sometimes when you need the software to do a proper job, you have to put the amount of work into it yourself.

That said you might want to look at tmpgenc.  I think it will do the job, but you will have to do some work.

[Howard_Casto]

I apologize for changing topics, but why flac?

I mean yeah it's great to digitize your collection in a loss-less format, but it's nice to actually be able to use said collection once you convert it.  Some mp3 players will support flac, but it isn't exactly widely supported.  Many software players on the pc have issue with it as well. 

I'm just asking what exactly your are going to do with your collection once you've digitized it and if you've thought it through.

[ark_ader]

I apologize for changing topics, but why flac?

I mean yeah it's great to digitize your collection in a loss-less format, but it's nice to actually be able to use said collection once you convert it.  Some mp3 players will support flac, but it isn't exactly widely supported.  Many software players on the pc have issue with it as well. 

I'm just asking what exactly your are going to do with your collection once you've digitized it and if you've thought it through.

FLAC is an awesome choice for archiving, but I hope you have the gear available to get the full benefit.  Also the source, as I'm hopoing that your originals are not vanilla cdrs

Hard drive storage is pretty cheap again and dual layer Bluray is nearly $2 a disc.  FLAC is the way to go.  What about CHD?

[Vigo]

I ripped my entire CD collection a couple times now, and won't bother again. It is too much work to spend days ripping CDs of stuff that I can download most of with only a few hours hunting.

Not gonna debate legality issues here, but from the angle of pure convenience, I recommend just download first, and rip what you can't find. Flac is actually often pretty easy to get.

 

[Ginsu Victim]

I ripped my entire CD collection a couple times now, and won't bother again. It is too much work to spend days ripping CDs of stuff that I can download most of with only a few hours hunting.

Not gonna debate legality issues here, but from the angle of pure convenience, I recommend just download first, and rip what you can't find. Flac is actually often pretty easy to get.

I've downloaded plenty of stuff I own on disc just because it was faster.

[yotsuya]

192 kbps MP3 ftw! 

[melvinbates]

For the few CDs I rip to FLAC i use winamp.  It's old and such, but it will get the cd information and tag the files proper.

[Generic Eric]

192 kbps MP3 ftw! 

Why would you need anything better than CD quality?  Can you really tell the difference?

The last thing I remember was V0.  Everyone wanted V0.  They'd post pictures of their audio spectrograms, it was great.  Then it was over just like that. I haven't been to a site at that level since then.

I think they key to FLAC was that you could "rebuild" a CD from your flac files and it would be just as good as if you bought it from the store.  If you wanted to burn it to a disc then encode it to to a new format then you could do whatever you wanted in 10 years.  Luckily there hasn't been that much of a change in 15 let alone 10.

I used to have a 25 minute commute, now I don't put I used that time for listening to podcasts.  Besides listening to music in the shower, the only place I listened was when I was shoveling snow.  Can't do that now.  Listen to me complain about spring...

[yotsuya]

192 kbps MP3 ftw! 

Why would you need anything better than CD quality?  Can you really tell the difference?

I can. High frequencies, like symbals, sound slushy at 128.

When I first ripped my CDs, I did them at 320. Big mistake spacewise. 

[Generic Eric]

192 kbps MP3 ftw! 

Why would you need anything better than CD quality?  Can you really tell the difference?

I can. High frequencies, like symbals, sound slushy at 128.

When I first ripped my CDs, I did them at 320. Big mistake spacewise. 

My apologizes  I did it again.  I totally concur a person can tell the difference between 128k mp3 and otherwise.  The difference stands out. 

As far as file size, I think hard drives were cheap enough back then to record at that rate did you ever rerip your cds?

[yotsuya]

192 kbps MP3 ftw! 

Why would you need anything better than CD quality?  Can you really tell the difference?

I can. High frequencies, like symbals, sound slushy at 128.

When I first ripped my CDs, I did them at 320. Big mistake spacewise. 

My apologizes  I did it again.  I totally concur a person can tell the difference between 128k mp3 and otherwise.  The difference stands out. 

As far as file size, I think hard drives were cheap enough back then to record at that rate did you ever rerip your cds?

I did because the files were filling up my iPod. I only buy the 160GB classic models, but the songs were like 50 MB EACH and so a full album would get into the 1GB range. I like to carry all my music around with me.

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah it's annoying that mp3 players are becoming a thing of the past (people use their phone/tablet) and the ones we do have left are getting smaller and smaller in terms of storage.  20 gigs used to be the standard amount of space, now you are lucky if you can find one with 8. 

That's kind of what I was getting at with my original question.  FLAC isn't particularly practical imho for anything other than archiving stuff and sticking it on a shelf somewhere. 

[wp34]

I did because the files were filling up my iPod. I only buy the 160GB classic models, but the songs were like 50 MB EACH and so a full album would get into the 1GB range. I like to carry all my music around with me.

Me too.  Apple assumes that everyone wants to use their phone and the cloud for music.  I'm ruing the day that Apple discontinues the classic iPod.

[Zrooney]

Howard, The main reason I am ripping in FLAC is because Sonos supports it and all the track information is stored within the song itself, unlike WAV which does not have all of the track information stored within the song files. 

And Ark, I am have a pretty decent set up to take advantage of FLAC, and all the CDs I own are pressed, not some shady CDR's.

And as for space constraints, all of the music will be stored on a media server a have with (2TB?) of storage, and HDD are so cheap now that storage for me at least is not really a problem.

Thanks for all the help so far, I will look into WinAmp tonight!

[Generic Eric]

You might consider Foobar2000.  Although it didn't serve my needs and I moved to mediamonkey. I was doing something different then.

I typed list of flac into google and found several "top ten" lists. I How do you feel about the google play support on sonos?  Do you have an android device?

[Zrooney]

"I do you feel..."? Do you mean "How do i feel.."? I actually use Sonos on my iPod, but I am looking into an android phone for verizon that won't break the bank (less than $200). I was thinking about a Samsung Galaxy SIII, but they are still pretty pricey. Other than that I use my PC a lot to listen to music.

[ark_ader]

And Ark, I am have a pretty decent set up to take advantage of FLAC, and all the CDs I own are pressed, not some shady CDR's.

Sorry not shady cdrs,  I'm talking about hidef Sony CDs or Minidisc.