iTunes ripping quality?

[Astromarine]

I'm quite new at this Mac thing. On windows, I used Exact Audio Copy, mostly, and was quite happy with the results. On the Mac, however, what I've tried to import so far in iTunes has given quite a few problems. As of now, here's what happened:

6 CDs so far completed without incident, though at least one (GnR - Appetite for Destruction) has a few jumps, though the cd itself seems clean.
Green Day - American Hero and Massive Attack - Mezzanine have been detected by iTunes, but suddenly in the middle of a track it slows down to 0.1x speed and the track is unlistenable once it completes over 15 minutes later
System of a Down - Hypnotize and a portuguese CD you don't know don't even stay in the drive, they get spit out without being recognized as an audio CD.

*sigh* I thought the Mac was supposed to "just work"? Am I just unlucky, or do people have the same experience? If so, how do you then rip those cds, any other software around?

thanks for the help

 

[Chundles]

I've never had a problem with any CDs I've ripped with iTunes on my Mac. Not a single one has experienced any problems and I've ripped hundreds.

I would suggest the CDs are getting a bit worse for wear. They may look fine but that doesn't preclude problems with the underlying layer.

Have you selected the "Use Error Correction When Reading Audio CDs" option in the iTunes preferences?

 

[Astromarine]

Yes, I have. I'd go with the wear and tear explanation, but some of the CDs I mentioned were never played beyond the time when I tried to rip them. All of the CDs were ripped on Windows as well a couple months ago, I'm reripping mostly because I got the Mac as my primary machine, and it doesn't play that well with oggs. I haven't used the cds at all between the two rips

 

[Chundles]

Yes, I have. I'd go with the wear and tear explanation, but some of the CDs I mentioned were never played beyond the time when I tried to rip them. All of the CDs were ripped on Windows as well a couple months ago, I'm reripping mostly because I got the Mac as my primary machine, and it doesn't play that well with oggs. I haven't used the cds at all between the two rips

Hmm, well, if the problem starts to become more regular you may have been unlucky and got a faulty optical drive. If it really starts to annoy you have it looked at by Apple.

 

[apachie2k]

how do u store the cd's??

 

[Astromarine]

in their original box, in a CD tower at home. This particular batch, though, simply sat at my desk in their boxes from one rip to the other.

I have win2k installed under Parallels, so I think I'll try installing EAC in there and try. If it fails as well, it's probably the optics. damn.

thanks for the help, everyone.

Last question: how does iTunes do with those pesky "enhanced" CDs with all their malware DRM?

 

[quigleybc]

I know it's not the best solution.

But, what if you double click the CD icon on your desktop, and drag the AIFF's to a folder, and then drag them into iTunes, or set iTunes to your import preferance (mp3, aac ect..) and double click the aiff's to automatically import?

that was a long sentance.

 

[LethalWolfe]

That is a strange problem. I've ripped over 300 CDs (including some of the same titles you are having problems with) over the 4.5 years I've had my Mac and I've never had a problem. Even discs like NIN's "With Teeth" that aren't red book CDs and may not play back in all devices I had no problems ripping.


Lethal