Dropout when ripping CDs to wav or applelossless

Cardiackid

I use free MAX (MacMini with built in CD) with option "do not allow to skip". Sometimes it goes for a long time, reading the same sector over and over but ripped files never had dropouts (on 500+ CDs). I'm not sure how many times Itunes tries but I have some unreadable CDs that Itunes ripped with drop-outs. Scratches (along the track) might be not the only problem. I had few CDs with defective reflective layer (visible wave or poor reflection). Few unreadable disks I was able to rip with errors lowering MAX iteration from infinity to 200 then 100 etc. Missing sectors are error corrected in playback for scratches less than 4mm, interpolated for 4-8mm (provision of Reed Solomon Cross Interleaved error correction code) or dropped-out for scratches longer than 8mm. Once, when it took too long, polishing with toothpaste helped. Cleaning laser lens also helped when it got very picky.

Dropouts in playback are also possible especially in my wireless setup (but very rare). You should be OK with Firewire, since it is not using main processor for transfers (like USB does) but computer (including output USB) might have slowdowns. Easy to check playing same location few times (I'm sure you did).

Use a computer to rip, a minimac is the last thing I would use.

Either it's a few bad CDs or the Mac Mini is defective. Perhaps the optical drive is bad? If you have a local Apple Store and the problem is repeatable with a brand new CD, take it in and show them.

Slikric3000, can you elaborate on why a Mac Mini would be the last thing you would use?

The Mac Mini is a great little machine that a lot of people use as a media server. I'm curious to know your rationale on why you wouldn't recommend it.

Michael

It probably is a great little media server and it does not take much power to serve up the tunes, but you said you are having problems with ripping. The smaller the pc the more performance suffers. You may be getting drop out because this little thing is not up to the task. Have you set the max rip speed a little lower. I bet that cd rom doesn't even do 52x, if so I would be suprised. Something that small would be 24x like a laptop rom is. Have you tried ripping a few in a good, not prehistoric, computer ??

Thank you all for the advice.

The rip speed with error correction is usually only 5 or 6X, although the drive is capable of more speed. I could try a new external drive.

Brand new CDs are having problems, but not always, and I am pretty sure the problem is in the error correction for flaws on the CD, since the transfer of other non-audio materials via CD seems flawless.

I will try MAX, perhaps it is better than XLD and iTunes.

I have considered adding a linear power supply to reduce noise and other power related issues that may be related to a switching power supply.

Once the music is on the hard drive properly, playback is flawless. Because the problem always occur on the same tracks, I do not think it is an output problem through the 2.0.

I have two more iMACs and a MacPower book. I will test the same CD on each of them with itunes and XLD and see what gives.

If I continue to have problems, I will take it to the Apple store and have them compare the CD ripping on two machines as suggested. I can see there is hope, but I may be re-ripping many CDs.

Nothing is wrong with using a Mini as your platform.

I use iTunes to rip and out of 14,000 songs only 6 have dropouts. That's such a low failure rate that I haven't even tried going to more robust ripping programs. If you're getting a high rate of failed rips, then I suspect it's your ROM drive. You also might try using a CD cleaner. I use Shinola, but I assume others are also effective.

Thank you. I do use a CD cleaner fairly regularly. I found that there may have been two problems.

One was itunes. It did not rip as well as Max, which itself solved my problem. Also, I normally kept my mac mini on continuously. While it is well ventilated, the heat build-up may also affect the optical reading accuracy or something else through thermal expansion. I found the CD ROM would not take in CDs properly. I tried recycling the power and did everything I could to make it work. Frankly I thought it was broken and planned to take it to the Apple Store or send it to Apple. However, I did not have time to do this before my last trip. I shut it down for a couple days, and it was working fine when I returned. I checked the iTunes and it still made the same error on this new CD in the same place. XLD noted it too. I used Max, which is slower and it ripped it fine today. I have been playing around to get the best ripping in the minimum time and to get the info into iTunes, which I play back through Pure Music.

Thanks for all of the advice. I think I am getting very close to a solution. I will need to re-rip some of my CDs as they come up, but I will not re-rip the 1500+ Cds I have done, but the new ones will be ripped with Max.

After ripping 250+ cd's I discovered that my iMac in combination with iTunes is useless for ripping CD's

If you set error checking on and an error is encountered it stops copying!!!

If you don't set error checking is leaves you with a real crappy recording

So I got hold of a copy of MAX from http://sbooth.org/Max/

It worked like a charm and I am now in the process of re-copying all my CD's

I have noticed that cd's copied with MAX actually sound better, so I guess some bits were dropped somewhere along the line after I had turned off error checking.

Having been in computers for over 30 years - the iMac is the first machine that has ever failed to copy data from CD's and DVD's.

I guess it's sorta good for kids stuff and browsing the web, but I wouldn't trust my General Ledger on one - no telling how fast it could bankrupt me!

Also bought an apple TV and had all sorts of streaming problems with it - apple will not admit to problems and tell me to power the unit down - WALOC

Turns out Apple support is about as good as their computers.