Exact Audio Copy Software

See my thread. http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&1230454626&read&keyw&zzeac

I was never able to confirm, audibly or through bit comparing, that EAC does a better job than say, iTunes with error correction. At one point I was convinced that it sounded better, but as soon as I found there was no technical basis for that belief, the placebo effect swung the other way and I heard no difference.

According to at least one expert in USB DACs, EAC's effectiveness is more of a myth than anything. This is because unless the CD is very dirty or damage, you are generally going to end up with bit perfect files regardless of the ripper. Reading the CD is just not that difficult a task for most CD drives.

Some people however, prefer to make sure the following factors are accounted for: 1) cd drive and ripper should use "accurate stream" technology, 2) the CD drive should not buffer audio or if it does, the software should be set to compensate, 3) the CD drive should support C2 error correction.

Great thread!!!

Last week I downloaded the EAC suite and last night I ripped my first CD to FLAC w/ EAC. Previously, I have ripped a few other CD tracks using my JRiver Jukebox in WAV and MP3. All the same track (The Overture from Blood Sweat and Tears' Child Is The Father to Man). On my system, these tracks sound the same in WAV and FLAC, but both are def better tahn MP3.

I need to read that EAC tutorial. Thanks for posting the link.

I also bought a CD repair and cleaning kit. I made the first rip w/ EAC w/o using the kit and, for comparison, a 2nd rip after using the kit. Def improvement using the kit. Note that most of my CDs are old and not in great condition.

I read something somewhere that Exact Audio Copy is no longer the 'gold standard'. I've read that dbpoweramp has over-taken the top spot.?. I've used EAC for years and since I'm used to it I won't change. Has anyone else read this?

I am sorry, but I do not have the answer to your question, but this is what I am using without any problems and it is just so quick and easy.

Tim works at computer science and he loves audio as much as I do. This is his solution for getting flac and I asked him to share it.

Next, install autoflac:

Yada:

Is this recommended for the latest EAC version .99 prebeta 4, even though it already has FLAC formating included?

My good friend, Tim set me up with the following. The best tutorial for installing EAC is here:

http://www.teqnilogik.com/tutorials/eac.shtml

You can stop at the section: "Setting Compression Options"

I would suggest making the following change from the instructions:
EAC -> EAC Options
Filename tab
Change the Naming scheme to "%D\%C\%N. %T"
(no quotes) -- this is close to how they configure it

Under

Next, install autoflac:

http://legroom.net/software/autoflac

(installation is straightforward)

---------------
How to rip:

Insert the CD you want to rip
Double-click on the autoflac icon
select the EAC application, hit Alt-G to lookup the CD title and tracknames
-one time only
change the base directory to wherever you want your files located
Select OK, and then "Save" to the next prompt
CD will begin extracting

I extract with EAC, then use a utility called Autoflac.

I recommend ripping to .wav using "test and copy". Make sure that you run the "setup" where it asks you to insert a clean CD disk. Setup sets the "offsets" and determines the error reporting.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

The last link in my last thread failed. Try This

Go Here and then goHere

There are a few threads here on the EAC software you might want to peruse.

The FLAC codec is supposedly the same quality regardless the 'compression'... That does seem right too, though I still go with a 7.

I found another key for good ripping was to use CDs on the list of preferred CDs which have been used to calibrate better, the EAC software... it's along list so you probably already have these CDs.