MAXIMUM PC SPECIAL ISSUE SUMMER 2006 Rip Perfect MP3s

097.2%20Maximum%20PC%200-2-2006.pdf
SPECIAL ISSUE SUMMER 2006

Rip Perfect MP3s

WHAT YOU’LL NEED
An audio CD
Exact Audio Copy (free, www.exactaudiocopy.de)
https://web.archive.org/web/20090710072542/http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/eac-0.99pb5.exe Version from around the time the article was published.
LAME encoder (free, http://mitiok.cjb.net, http://www.rarewares.org)
https://web.archive.org/web/20060612201440/http://mitiok.maresweb.org/lame-3.97b.zip Version from around the time the article was published.

Do you listen to audio CDs in your CD-ROM drive, or carry a portable CD player while you jog? Of course not. You rip your audio CDs to MP3, and then transfer the files to your hard drive, your MP3 player, and your laptop. Because ripping audio files is quite pedestrian these days, you probably know how to do it. But do you know how to do it the Maximum PC way? Here’s how to rip audio files so they’ll sound as good as uncompressed WAV files.

STEP1 | DOWNLOAD EAC AND LAME
Exact Audio Copy is our favorite tool for ripping audio CDs because it’s dead accurate, produces flawless rips, and warns you of the presence of potential problems—think skips, clicks, or pops. It’s not the fastest solution, but we’ll trade accuracy for speed every time. Download EAC. Next, download the open-source LAME MP3 encoder, so you can encode your ripped files. Unzip both programs into the same folder on your hard drive.

STEP2 | INSTALL EAC
EAC’s setup wizard will automatically start when you install the program. Choose the option “I prefer to have accurate results.” Skip the step to install and configure LAME by removing the checkmark— we’ll install it later. You have to enter an email address in the next screen to gain access to the Freedb CD database, which will automatically populate your MP3s with artist, album, and track-name info. Choose the option labeled “I’m an expert…” and click Finish.

STEP3 | Configure EAC
Choose “EAC options” from the EAC menu. Deselect the option labeled “Lock drive tray….” so you can open the drive tray should EAC hang on a scratched CD. Leave the other options at their defaults. Click the Tools tab and place a checkmark next to “On extraction, start the external compressors…” (EAC will read the next track while the compressor is working on the previous track, speeding up the ripping process). Click OK.

STEP4 | COMPRESS AND ENCODE
Choose “Compression options” from the EAC menu and click the External Compression tab. Place a checkmark next to “Use external program for compression,” choose “Use Defined Encoder” from the drop-down menu, browse to the folder where you downloaded LAME, and click lame.exe. We’re going to encode our MP3s using variable bit rate (VBR), and we want LAME to write metadata (artist, track title, etc.) to the ID3 tags, so type this exact text into the “Additional command line options” field:

Ignore the rest of the options here, but click the ID3 Tag tab and remove any checkmarks. Click OK.

STEP5 | RIP AWAY!
Now you’re ready to start ripping. Drop a CD into your optical drive and give EAC a moment to download information about it from Freedb. In the main EAC window, choose the tracks you wish to rip and then click the MP3 icon in the vertical toolbar. Browse to the folder where you want the files stored and click Save.

MAXIMUM PC | 17


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