|
Review: Exact Audio Copy 0.99 - Perfect CD copies or just hype?
|
|
The following comments relate to this news article:
article published on 11 February, 2009
Over the last few years Exact Audio Copy (EAC) has gotten a reputation as one of the best (if not the very best) audio CD ripping tool around. Despite being officially designated as "prebeta" software it's actually one of the most reliable and full-featured audio tools available. We've recently added three guides that take you from installation to ripping CDs, and even explain how to work ... [ read the full article ]
Please read the original article before posting your comments.
|
Senior Member
2 product reviews
|
11. February 2009 @ 21:03 |
Link to this message
|
This is a great piece of software indeed and it is compatible with almost any type of audio compression out.
I personally use it to FLAC encode my CDs and RockBox (Aftermarket iPod firmware) to play them.
|
|
Advertisement
|
 |
|
|
Newbie
|
11. February 2009 @ 23:23 |
Link to this message
|
Sounds like sweet software. I've used CDex for years because it would tell me if there were jitters (skips) in the CD's I was ripping. But they stopped updating it years ago. I've never been able to find one to replace it, WMP rips really fast, but you never know unless you listen to it what it sound like. So you'll find out later, after your not at your computer anymore if it skips. I'm definitely going to check this out
|
|
plazma247
Member
|
13. February 2009 @ 02:39 |
Link to this message
|
lmao windac http://www.windac.de/ has provided error free CD ripping for over 10 years now. With a syncro buffer that can re-read bad sectors again and again until it gets it right.
I once had a disk so scratched it wouldnt play in anything, it was the only copy i had, so a day and half later after windac had re-read most sectors possibly 80 times or so i got out a perfect audio.
So as the technology has been with us for over 10 years im firmly saying JUST HYPE !!
|
Staff Member
2 product reviews
|
13. February 2009 @ 08:03 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by plazma247:
lmao windac http://www.windac.de/ has provided error free CD ripping for over 10 years now. With a syncro buffer that can re-read bad sectors again and again until it gets it right.
I once had a disk so scratched it wouldnt play in anything, it was the only copy i had, so a day and half later after windac had re-read most sectors possibly 80 times or so i got out a perfect audio.
So as the technology has been with us for over 10 years im firmly saying JUST HYPE !!
I'll have to take a look at Windac, but based on the description it would seem to lack several features EAC includes. For starters the website says it can't write CDs. It also doesn't appear to have any image creation abilities. Plus, while there are plugins listed for MP3, TDS, and OGG formats, but nothing for FLAC, APE, or AAC. Also no AccurateRip support. If you look at my tests you'll see that I've shown simply reading the same data all the time doesn't mean accurate results.
Windac looks like an interesting, and possibly quite good program, but it's lacking several features EAC has and doesn't appear to have been in development for a few years now. The last version is from 2005.
As far as EAC being just hype, it does what it says it does. What other metric would you recommend we use?
It rips as accurately as possible, and also verifies using multiple methods so you have the best possible idea how good your backup is compared to the original. It can be used for CD images which can be mounted using Daemon Tools, and it works with any command line encoder. None of these features are hype. They actually work. The fact that another tool includes some of these features doesn't affect how good EAC is any more than EAC's features affect the quality of other tools.
|
Senior Member
|
17. February 2009 @ 09:35 |
Link to this message
|
|
I've know about this program for a while. Good to know that it is still getting the recognition it deserves.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 17. February 2009 @ 17:31
|
Senior Member
|
17. February 2009 @ 09:37 |
Link to this message
|
|
Hello! The links you provide to the three guides above lead nowhere!
Its a lot easier being righteous than right.
DSE VZ300-
Zilog Z80 CPU, 32KB RAM (16K+16K cartridge), video processor 6847, 2KB video RAM, 16 colours (text mode), 5.25" FDD
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 17. February 2009 @ 09:46
|
Staff Member
2 product reviews
|
17. February 2009 @ 10:01 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by Jemborg:
Hello! The links you provide to the three guides above lead nowhere!
Doh! Fixed now.
Thanks for the heads up!
|
Senior Member
|
17. February 2009 @ 10:09 |
Link to this message
|
Quote:
Originally posted by Jemborg:
Hello! The links you provide to the three guides above lead nowhere!
Doh! Fixed now.
Thanks for the heads up!
No worries verbul, my pleasure. :)
PS: How's about upping me from "Junior" to ordinary "Member", I've been posting on this site for ages now haha.
|
|
A_Klingon
Moderator
|
18. February 2009 @ 01:02 |
Link to this message
|
Hi.
Anyone who has used EAC in the past knows that this classic piece of software is about as far removed from being "hype" as you can get.
I've used it for as long as I can remember and I doubt very much the program will ever let you down except with discs so physically damaged that no software on Earth could ever rescue them.
I get no clicks or pops - just silky-smooth rips with my (LG) dvd burner, and sometimes the rip-speed will approach 40x speed towards the end of the disc.
Case in point: About two weeks ago I stumbled across a discarded, *damaged* (commercial/retail) music cd in a snowbank on my way into work. The disc was so beat-up that I couldn't make out much from the label - it had concentric cracks along the outer edge, had some splits in around the center hub, it was gouged to hell, and even parts of the printed label side had "flaked" off. It was probably the physically-worst-looking cd I had ever seen.
To make matters worse, it was a *gangsta-rap* album, which I think is a form of "music" (and I use the term loosely) invented by Taliban terrorists just to piss people off and makes their eyes bleed.
Anyway..... , I just couldn't resist - with EAC in mind, I tucked the slush-covered disc into my pocket after wiping it off with my mitts.
EAC made it through the *entire cd* with nary a hiccup. Yes, it took about ten minutes to rip (when about *two* is the norm for me), and EAC had to do some fancy error-correcting, BUT, the resultant, ripped wave files were nothing short of _superb_. (If you can stomach listening to gangstarap, I mean). :-)
So yes - I would say that EAC is CLASS ACT.
Thanks for the hands-on report, vurbal - after reading it, I was even spurred on to upgrade my old (like *really* o-l-d) version of LAME - it was an ancient version dating back to 2002 !. (Oh! The shame of it all!), and yes, my newer version 3.98.2 is much tastier. (I automate LAME-handling with batch [ .bat ] files).
It takes a labour-of-love to sit through what you did (having the last 2% of the disc take 8 hours to slog through!!!!) I hope you didn't burn your disc-drive out!!
Thank you again.
-- Klingy --
|
AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
|
18. February 2009 @ 01:15 |
Link to this message
|
|
To A klingon,
My right and most honored Klingon brother (did I mention handsome too?), it has been too long. We toast with your favorite blood wine, Charles Shaw (2 buck chuck)
kaplah !
Your Ferengi brother, iluvendo
"The flimsier the product,the higher the price"
Ferengi 82nd rule of aqusition
 |
|
A_Klingon
Moderator
|
18. February 2009 @ 04:24 |
Link to this message
|
Quote:
To A klingon,
My right and most honored Klingon brother (did I mention handsome too?),.....
Thy not-unsubstancial powers of vision have neither faded nor failed thee, my most-respected warrior of these here Galactical Forums.
My humble acknowledgements to the Large-Eared Ferenginon House Of Iluvendo, and his most-honoured, Generously-Lobed Family. May your children's children never want for a good supply of powdered beetle-snuff.
Quote:
....it has been too long. We toast with your favorite blood wine, Charles Shaw (2 buck chuck) kaplah !
Indeed, how can we fail with such Warriors in our fold? SUCCESS is our guaranteed destiny! - Together we shall feast on the flesh of 1000 slaughtered wildebeasts in your honour!
(Boys-oh-boys, I can lay the cheesy schmaltz on pretty thick, eh?) :-)
Quote:
Your Ferengi brother, iluvendo
(Heh-heh....)
Wow! It's been a while, huh iluvendo? I *think* you're the dentist (??) gentleman? Good to 'see' ya !!
P.S. :
Never get caught in a bulkhead where a bunch of hung-over Klingons are blowing wind after washing down scads of "gahhhh" (live worms) with blood wine. Wheeeeeeewwwwww !!
|
Staff Member
2 product reviews
|
18. February 2009 @ 06:42 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by A_Klingon:
Thanks for the hands-on report, vurbal - after reading it, I was even spurred on to upgrade my old (like *really* o-l-d) version of LAME - it was an ancient version dating back to 2002 !. (Oh! The shame of it all!), and yes, my newer version 3.98.2 is much tastier. (I automate LAME-handling with batch [ .bat ] files).
It takes a labour-of-love to sit through what you did (having the last 2% of the disc take 8 hours to slog through!!!!) I hope you didn't burn your disc-drive out!!
Thank you again.
-- Klingy --
You're quite welcome. I was actually surprised when I realized I couldn't find a single review of EAC with some example rips to show what it could do. Then I was stunned to find a fair number of people responding to the limited reviews I did find by claiming it didn't do anything more than any other ripper. Now at least I have something to refer skeptics to.
|
|
A_Klingon
Moderator
|
18. February 2009 @ 08:27 |
Link to this message
|
Quote:
I was actually surprised when I realized I couldn't find a single review of EAC with some example rips to show what it could do. Then I was stunned to find a fair number of people responding to the limited reviews I did find by claiming it didn't do anything more than any other ripper. Now at least I have something to refer skeptics to.
Well, perhaps it may be that more folks are into video ripping/encoding/downloading than they are into archiving their music cds, or -- in the music world --, busier downloading (and paying for) their iTunes (or other) paid-for music.
It's so funny ..... many years ago I purchased online an audio-cd ripper whose name simply *escapes* me right now. It was about the time when .mp3 files were first becoming known to the general poplace (aka, circa "Mp3s For Dummies"). I was fortunate enough to receive several trouble-shooting responses from the original author himself via his website.
Back then there were no dvd-burners, just cd-roms and writers. I remember getting a TRUCKload of clicks, pops, and other aggravating distortions with my rips, and it was driving me nuts. (Additional program features like those found on EAC hadn't even been invented yet). To be fair to the software, many of these problems originated with the cd-drives of the day, and their inherent problems with being able to read RAW data.
Then along came EAC, the rest is history, and I haven't looked back since. AND -- I'm using an older version with complete success (version 0.95 beta 4 from February/2006).
I listen to music ripped-&-compressed by the EAC/Lame combo every day on my way into work. (No need/desire for iTunes - that's what they invented 'P2P' for!) :-)
-- Mike --
|
|
plazma247
Member
|
18. February 2009 @ 09:11 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by vurbal:
Originally posted by plazma247:
lmao windac http://www.windac.de/ has provided error free CD ripping for over 10 years now. With a syncro buffer that can re-read bad sectors again and again until it gets it right.
I once had a disk so scratched it wouldnt play in anything, it was the only copy i had, so a day and half later after windac had re-read most sectors possibly 80 times or so i got out a perfect audio.
So as the technology has been with us for over 10 years im firmly saying JUST HYPE !!
I'll have to take a look at Windac, but based on the description it would seem to lack several features EAC includes. For starters the website says it can't write CDs. It also doesn't appear to have any image creation abilities. Plus, while there are plugins listed for MP3, TDS, and OGG formats, but nothing for FLAC, APE, or AAC. Also no AccurateRip support. If you look at my tests you'll see that I've shown simply reading the same data all the time doesn't mean accurate results.
Windac looks like an interesting, and possibly quite good program, but it's lacking several features EAC has and doesn't appear to have been in development for a few years now. The last version is from 2005.
As far as EAC being just hype, it does what it says it does. What other metric would you recommend we use?
It rips as accurately as possible, and also verifies using multiple methods so you have the best possible idea how good your backup is compared to the original. It can be used for CD images which can be mounted using Daemon Tools, and it works with any command line encoder. None of these features are hype. They actually work. The fact that another tool includes some of these features doesn't affect how good EAC is any more than EAC's features affect the quality of other tools.
As far as i can see EAC stands for Exact Audio Copy.. basically the syncronisation mode on windac prevents you from getting the pops etc that are caused by other programs not being able to read a sector and just passing onto the next sector. Im assuming that EAC uses a similar re-read method.
Windac's not been re-written since 03, however it will plugin to any standard windows codec, so flacs possible, ok it doesnt burn CD's or create image files as far as i remember.
But my point was pop free CD ripping to lame or loss less has been around since 2000.
|
Staff Member
2 product reviews
|
18. February 2009 @ 10:15 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by plazma247:
As far as i can see EAC stands for Exact Audio Copy.. basically the syncronisation mode on windac prevents you from getting the pops etc that are caused by other programs not being able to read a sector and just passing onto the next sector. Im assuming that EAC uses a similar re-read method.
Windac's not been re-written since 03, however it will plugin to any standard windows codec, so flacs possible, ok it doesnt burn CD's or create image files as far as i remember.
But my point was pop free CD ripping to lame or loss less has been around since 2000.
No one said it was new. In fact EAC has been around since 1998.
|
|
A_Klingon
Moderator
|
18. February 2009 @ 10:23 |
Link to this message
|
Hello, Plazma - pleased to meet ya! :-)
Quote:
But my point was pop free CD ripping to lame or loss less has been around since 2000.
Agreed. And isn't it wonderful?
I can't actually recall when 'pop-free' ripping came into being. I think that was probably more an end result of advancing drive technology than of actual software expertise. The cd ripping softwares already had it *cased* ! (Tell you the truth, plazma, I've never heard any bad press relating to windac - it's probably a fine piece of software.)
What burns my ass more .... is "copy protection" on music cds - which is really a form of "copy-corruption".
The patents for industry-standard (Sony/Philips et al) red-book music cd ran out years ago, paving the way for ALL SORTS of headaches, aggravation and lawsuits. (Witness Sony's insanely short-sighted, bonehead, infamous, notorius, corporate-crippling ROOT KIT "copy protection" SCAM.) NO present-day cd ripper deals with that sort of s--t, I don't think.
On a less threatening level, there are all kinds of other, ongoing copy-protection red-book-violating screw-ups that companies (like Warner Brothers) enjoy toying around with.
I forget which ZZ-Top album it was, but ONE of the tracks was hopelessly trashed. (It played 'ok' in my dvd player), but EAC gave me nothing but noise-noise-noise. <This is not a limitation of the software.>
Anyway...... nice talking to you ! -- Klingy --
|
|
plazma247
Member
|
18. February 2009 @ 13:59 |
Link to this message
|
|
|
|
gentilly
Newbie
|
22. February 2009 @ 04:16 |
Link to this message
|
I'm currently in the process of ripping a CD-R that skips. It was originally burned from FLAC files. I don't know what the problem is (if anybody can suggest possibilities I'm open to them - I use only name-brand blanks and the burner is a Plextor 760A), but EAC seems to be able to copy the tracks. One six-minute-long track, however, took 18 hours.
I'll submit a full report after all the tracks are ripped and I do a listening test. Here's hoping I won't break the 18-hour record.
PS WILL this burn out my drive? (It's a new "Plextor" 820SA)
______________________________________
Okay, here's the update: After I finished ripping all the tracks, I listened to them all the next morning and several had errors - ticking, skips, noise, etc. The log files for these showed quality rates as low as 88%. Some had taken several hours to rip.
So I reinserted the disc and re-ripped the tracks that had errors. To my surprise, most of them ripped with no errors and showed perfect to almost perfect quality. But in ripping the last of the bad tracks - which was also the last track on the disc - errors started to show up.
I wondered what might account for a track taking hours to rip on one attempt and then ripping perfectly on a later attempt and decided it might be heat.
So I pressed the "Skip track" button, ejected the disc, and stuck it in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes. Then I stuck it back in the drive and the track ripped perfectly.
Below are the logs for this same track - the first after ripping the four most difficult tracks (with the disc in the drive for several hours), and the second after chilling the disc for 10 minutes:
____________________
1)
Track 31
Filename I:\IMG\Caldara_Maddalena\CD2\Chi serva la beltà.wav
Suspicious position 0:00:00 - 0:02:46
Suspicious position 0:02:49 - 0:02:50
Peak level 98.5 %
Track quality 88.1 %
Copy CRC 59E78E60
Copy finished
There were errors
_________________________
2)
Track 31
Filename I:\IMG\Caldara_Maddalena\CD2\Chi serva la beltà.wav
Peak level 98.5 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Copy CRC D72A5977
Copy OK
No errors occured
__________________________
Any comments are welcome.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 23. February 2009 @ 05:39
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
6chars
Newbie
|
24. May 2009 @ 15:43 |
Link to this message
|
I've used EAC for a few years. One thing I have found is that a CD that gives errors and starts taking time when ripping from my DVD-CD burner drive, it often rips quickly and easily if I move it to the CD burner (DVD playback only), which I bought specially for this purpose. I've theories about wavelengths, but who cares, it works. BTW, I set the two drives for different DVD regions - no bearing on EAC, but handy when playing DVDs.
|
