Good ripping program - no compression

Thanks for the info. I was wondering how Flac compares to Media player lossless compression. EAC looks like a good idea, but being in the computer industry for many years I don't do betas.

Thanks,

I just installed winamp and the flac plugin. Under cd ripping encoders it list AAC V1.00 - is that the flac encoder?

thnaks,

Yeah, I figured out that AAC is not Flac.

Well, I just did a blind test comparing EAC to Windows media Player Lossless compression (900+ bit rate). All files were played through media player. Twenty three out of twenty four times I was able to tell the difference between the two which is significant. The bad news is that I actually prefered the Windows Media version. It was a little softer, a little darker in the attack of the notes. I've always know that my computer rig is just a tad bright and I guess the Media player files take the edge off of it. There's a lot of bare drywall, laminate floors and a big desk in my office which isn't helping any. So, I ordered a 200MB external USB 2.0 hard drive. I plan on ripping about 400-500 CD's to it.

Thanks for all the info,

Retest using winamp. Was able to tell the difference between the two 22 out of 24 times. I still prefer the media player lossless compression. I'm not saying that it's better then the EAC copy; I just prefer the media player version. I think the media player lossless compression version has a more "tube-like" presentation. I did not want to use that term because people are going to take offense. There is some softening of the attack of notes that I prefer on my computer rig which is slightly forward, or bright, in its presentation. Now, if I slid a tube pre-amp into the system I'm sure I would prefer the EAC version. In addition, the media player version takes a third less space on the hard drive. Granted, hard drive space is cheap.

I've been against MP3 from the beginning. I think it's an inferior format. But, I've seen the writing on the wall. In the near future, all our media is going to be stored on hard drives or solid state memory. Songs will be transfered from the "whole house" media server to portable players and car stereos using wifi. It's exciting times that we live in.

I'll keep listening to CD's on the main rig, but in the office I'll be listening off of a hard drive.

Thanks,