I would like to put some of my CDs on the computer for downloading. Can anyone tell me how to do this?

Thanks

If you wan't a high quality mp3 files (very near to original CD quality) with a smallest bitrate, the best choice is Lame with --r3mix preset.

If you wan't best possible copy of your CD (without any pops or skips), the best ripper is EAC.

The best thing is that you can configure EAC to use Lame as a mp3 codec. It can rip CDs with a full speed and after finishing a track, the wav is put in a queue. MP3 compression is done simultaneously while you rip the CD, without any need to wait the codec to finish the compression.

EAC + Lame combination is very easy to use (after first configuring the EAC), and the most important, it will give the best quality for you. EAC and Lame are both 100% free for you.

More info and downloads from www.r3mix.net


I didn't post this because I wanted to advertisment my favourite ripper and codec. I posted this because too many users don't know that they could easily improve the quality of their mp3 files, but they just don't know that. They thought that "anyripper" with "anycodec" at 192kbps is enough to give CD quality mp3, but it is far from it.

If I want to rip songs from a CD, i use Audiograbber, and grab it as WAVE files 44,1KHZ,16Bit,Stereo (PCM). I cut away silence from the songs (leaving 0.1 seconds)

I don't use the encoder included in Audiograbber because i don't like the quality

Then, for encoding .mp3 files, i use SCMPX (a bit unknown player/encoder/decoder tool), that has the advantage that i can also batch encode....

I use following Settings to encode:

layer 3, 256 kbit/s, Stereo

the result is a file which sounds 99,9% like the original.. This may be a bit complicated, but works best for me

Have a look at this thread for some more info on ripping music from CD to mp3 for sharing:

http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...threadid=10564

(As for lame, I find --alt-preset standard to be better than --r3mix in the latest versions, and I think this is the current consensus of those who have compared them for speed and quality. I have compared them using good equipment and good ears, and this is my conclusion.

I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to research the arguments themselves, or better yet perform some listening tests and speed tests.

As for lame vs other encoders, lame is easily the best you will get without pirating some high-end encoder - it's the best I have heard anyway.)

Nos

Thanks everyone! I will give it a try.

Hello! I'm new to all this stuff, and have found myself spending HOURS looking for and downloading all kinds of cool stuff...including some obscure things from my youth which I thought lost forever...lol.

On the subject at hand, how well does iTunes stack up against the others mentioned for converting cds to mp3's? There seems to be a fair amount of customization available for those who want it. I've converted a few cds using the default settings, and I notice no really discernable differences in quality over anything I have downloaded using Limewire.

It was really a simple matter to then transfer the file to my sharing folder. Pretty slick, if ya ask me

Thanks in advance for your answers.

LB

I very much dislike when people recommend --r3mix as the _best_. In reality, a lot of the r3mix.net website (along with the lame switch) is outdated. The author doesn't update the site anymore.

More on this discussion here -
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/...+and+altpreset
http://www.digital-inn.de/showthread.php?threadid=12996

Recommended switches -
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/...p?threadid=260

Tools -
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de
http://irgendwas.mybinaryblocks.com/~mitiok/

These are the command line options, for the lame binary, I use in EAC... (user defined):

--alt-preset standard --id3v2-only --pad-id3v2 --tt "%t" --ta "%a" --tl "%g" --tn "%n" %s %d

You couls also try to encode your music in to the ogg vorbis format. The files will then have the extension *.ogg.

Ogg Vorbis is better than the mp3-format. There are three reasons for this:

Convinient file size.
Better sound quality.
Ogg Vorbis is free. The source code is free, therefore it is difficult to stop Ogg Vorbis or implement licens fees.

See more at www.vorbis.com. Where you also can download software.