Recent PC switcher looking for best app to rip CDs/encode MP3s

Hello. I'm a recent Mac convert and I'm looking for the best software to accurately rip CDs and encode them into MP3s (I generally encode music at 192 VBR).

On the PC I was using a shareware program called Exact Audio Copy, which would test each rip to ensure the image was ripped without errors before encoding. There doesn't appear to be a Mac version, so I'm kind of at a loss as to what to use. What do you guys use?

Killyp said:

You must have heard of iTunes?

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Of course I use iTunes. But the last time I used it to rip CDs, it didn't have error detection/correction capabilities. But maybe this has changed.

Killyp said:

It's had it since version 5 I think...

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Ah....That would explain it. I started using EAC before iTunes 5 debuted. Guess it's time to simplify things a bit.

Sir Cecil said:

Is there any reason the error correction should not always be on?

I'm assuming there is a reason why we're given the option to check the box or not. Why would someone choose not to use the error correction? Is there any kind of quality compromise issue either way?

Thanks.

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Yeah, I think it's a speed issue. Error correction prevents quality issues rather than introducing them. Basically, when it gets to a part of the CD that has a scratch, dirt, or is otherwise hard to read, it goes back and scans that place multiple times and is able to piece together the data from that area. Slows things down, sometimes quite a bit, (this was before I had a 8x Superdrive), but ensures a digitally accurate copy of the disc.

Most errors wouldn't be a huge deal if you were just listening to the uncompressed track, but once you introduce an error and then compress it, it's often possible to hear garbling or other evidence of it. That's why it's important to start with an exact copy of the track from the CD (and hence why I was partial to EAC, because it showed you that testing process and allowed you to verify which tracks had errors and which were clean).