CD Audio to MP3 conversion

[Gandalf]

So whats the recommended pc software to convert CD Audio tracks to MP3 files???

And is it free and where can I get it?

[tavenger5]

I use audiocatalyst. Works pretty good. You can choose your byte rate, samples, ect., dump to waz, normalize, ect.

[aneurysm]

The best way (and the way the rippers on the net do) is:

EAC (exact audio copy) for ripping the audio
and then use LAME Mp3 codec for making the mp3s

It rules :)

[Gandalf]

Thx for the advice. I tried AudioCatalyst.

It was easy to install and I ripped my first track as a test, no problem. I just accepted all the deafult settings. BUT... the resultant MP3 sounded real bad. Lots of bass and distortion.

I've never compared an MP3 with the original CD audio track, and I realise that you lose quality... but the MP3 I generated was really bad. Any ideas what the problem maybe?

Also... What is normalise anyway?

Cheers

P.S. Where to I get access to EAC and LAME MP3 codec??

[theARTiSAN]

You can get EAC (an EXCELLENT application) from here http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/eac6.html

Another one that has worked really well for me is AudioGrabber. It is almost identical to AudioCatalyst, except that you can configure it to use a bunch of external encoders (like Lame, Blade, OGG, APE - to name a few)... AudioCatalyst uses the Xing encoder which in my opinion SUCKS *SS.

Yet another is dbPowerAmp - Not only will it allow you to rip from CD to WAV, it will convert between (over) a dozen different audio formats (ape, ogg, mp3, flac, wav, vqf, aiff, etc) - reeally goood!
New v9 just released - - http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm

If you're looking for simple - you could always go with a media player like MediaJukebox - it will rip into mp3 or ogg (etc) too, plus it will play almost any audio or video file you can think of.
(or) MusicMatch, which is a good mp3 player, but supports almost nothing else.

I'll include some various encoders for you in zip:
blade.zip (includes blade.exe and bladeenc.dll)
lame_enc.zip (includes lame_enc.dll)
lame.zip (includes lame.exe)

The .exe are used by EAC and similar programs to encode, and the .dll files are used by AudioGrabber to add-on external encoders. If u need help configuring any of this, PM me.

[theARTiSAN]

lame exe

[theARTiSAN]

lame_enc.dll

[theARTiSAN]

p.s.
I've also got a whole ton of stuff for encoding OGG files, Ape (lossless compression) Files and other too - - -
Plus, I have filters that let you work with OGG files or APE files directly in Cool Edit or Cool Edit Pro! Pretty sweet.

If your interested PM me.

Ciao~

[The Keeper]

I use wavelab, not free, but can be got for less than that if you go to the right places

[lostdave]

I personally use audiograbber and the radium/xingmp3 codex..
down the job


DAve

[RyanM]

audiocatalyst as said be4

[Clansman]

I use CDex

www.cdex.n3.net