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Free MP3 Ripper?
- Thread starter gvdv
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What deficiencies do you find in iTunes? That might help others let you know of a different one that doesn't have the same issues.
Hi SilentPanda,
I was hoping that nobody would ask
Let me just say that despite using computers since way before DOS was invented (for example, I can remember having to load programs from a cassette tape), I have never found either PC or Mac OS's user friendly. This is despite the fact that I am relatively adept at using sound recording and graphics programs, and that I now know my way around PC's very well (operating systems as well as programmes).
When I bought a Mac Pro two years ago (exclusively for songwriting and sound recording, and a little video editing) I was appalled that it took me half an hour to work out how to close an 'application'. Or, rather, I was appalled that the way to do this was not immediately obvious and accessible.
So, the problems I have had with iTunes are just representative of the illogical and unintuitive way that I find the Mac OS is designed. I have absolutely no reason to favour PC's over Macs and am not *at all* interested in getting into turf wars or arguements, but I think that even if I had come to PC's later in life, I would have found the OS somewhat easier to deal with. However, both sets of systems are badly designed, methinks.
If anyone wants an example of how 'different' things can be when something is well designed, one only has to look at a (Mac) programme/'app' such as Simply Burns and its PC equivalent Image Burns, which can copy DVD's and CD's. Without using any help files or documentation, I was up and running with that programme in a few seconds on the Mac, as opposed to going through the learning curve I had in OS X with locating the Applications Folder, going to Disk Utilities and then creating disc images of various sorts.
The difference between ripping an MP3 using iTunes, going back and forth between various menu options, and using something like CDex (a freeware PC program) is like night and day to me. Despite having used iTunes successfully on many occasions, I still forget what to do if I haven't used the application for a while, whereas CDex is just a case of putting a CD in the computer, checking the settings, and clicking on a button.
This kind of thing is also true of PC's - third party programs are often much easier to use. Which begs the question, why don't the people who design OS X and Windows just make things simpler? It's not rocket science.
SilentPanda, I appreciate your question, and that you had the interest of others in mind when you asked it.
Thanks,
There's some very good information about the question I asked in this thread
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=9231415#post9231415
There's some very good information about the question I asked in this thread
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=9231415#post9231415
Reading this makes me wonder if I'm using some other iTunes... But if one click on the import button is too much you can set it to rip CDs automatically when you insert them and then eject it when it's done.
Seriously though, besides iTunes I usually use Max, though that's a pure ripper, not a player&library-combo like iTunes.
In iTunes if you go into preferences then on the general tab there is an "Import Settings" button. Set your settings there and you can even tell it to import the CD as soon as you put it in the drive. Mine is currently set up so I just pop a CD in and a few minutes later it pops back out and the rip is done. I'm not sure how much simpler it could be...
If you don't have it automatically rip, the CD will show up in iTunes and if you click on the CD, in the bottom right of iTunes it will have an import settings button should you need to adjust the settings on a per CD basis.
I can't offer you a better ripper as I only use iTunes to do ripping. But hopefully your post above will let others guide you towards something more useful for yourself.
You can compile or find binaries for lame for OS X. There is even a lame add-on for iTunes out there.
Besides the fact that Quicktime doesn't natively export to MP3 (that's a feature of iTunes), wouldn't that require manually tagging all files?
Thanks to this thread yesterday I went into the Preferences of iTunes and significantly sped-up my importing process. I clicked on the automatic import as well as 'Import and Eject'. I ripped 10 of my CDs as Apple Lossless in around 30 minutes! Thanks everyone!
I also do not see what is the issue with iTunes. Even before this change, I was ripping probably 3-4 CDs in a half-hour's time. The downtime was the result of doing something else and not paying attention to the CD being done or iTunes wanting me to click a dialogue box. With the automatically import and then eject...I see when the disc is done and can immediately insert another.
Being someone who hails from the dark and dreary times of DOS, methink you are making this harder than it needs to be.
I don't know what to say other than try not to make it harder than it is...and it won't be.
Thanks everyone!I also do not see what is the issue with iTunes. Even before this change, I was ripping probably 3-4 CDs in a half-hour's time. The downtime was the result of doing something else and not paying attention to the CD being done or iTunes wanting me to click a dialogue box. With the automatically import and then eject...I see when the disc is done and can immediately insert another.
Being someone who hails from the dark and dreary times of DOS, methink you are making this harder than it needs to be.
I don't know what to say other than try not to make it harder than it is...and it won't be.