Ripping a lot of CDs: best program?

[akkkmed]

Hi everyone. I'm a Mac noob, since I got my MBP 15" Core i5 last week.
I need to rip about 300+ CDs using the most efficient way possible. I'm definitely ripping to MP3 (probably 192kbps), so please don't try talking me out of it.

I need suggestions for the best and easiest ripper. I know iTunes is an option, but I don't want to use it because it can't save the ripped files to a separate folder and it takes more interaction, rather than just popping in disc after disc.)

Requirements:
Rip to MP3 in decent quality
Get info and artwork automatically
Start ripping when CD is inserted
Eject CD after completion
Be able to save output files to external hard drive

Thank you!!!

 

[spinnerlys]

iTunes, except the artwork part might be tricky with some albums.

That's how I did it with hundreds of CDs.

 

[akkkmed]

iTunes, except the artwork part might be tricky with some albums.



That's how I did it with hundreds of CDs.

Yeah, I knew about that. The thing is, all these CDs are for my cousin. I didn't want to mess with the location so it didn't screw up my current library.

Even so, iTunes is having trouble with a few CDs that I tested. Like if the album is "Disc 1" (out of two or three), then iTunes can't find the artwork.

Any other program I should try? Or any program that automatically gets artwork for iTunes music (besides using iTunes)?

Thank you!!!

 

[rodman109110]

If you use iTunes make sure you uncheck the "Copy files to iTunes Media Folder when adding to Library" box otherwise you'll end up with duplicates, unless thats what you want.

doubleTwist is an iTunes like program but I haven't imported music through it so I'm not sure of all the options as it pertains to .mp3 vs .aac, etc. or file location.

 

[akkkmed]

If you use iTunes make sure you uncheck the "Copy files to iTunes Media Folder when adding to Library" box otherwise you'll end up with duplicates, unless thats what you want.

Thanks, though I knew that already.
No program suggestion, besides iTunes.....?

 

[miles01110]

No program suggestion, besides iTunes.....?

iTunes will be just fine for you.

 

[akkkmed]

iTunes will be just fine for you.

Okay. I tried out "Max" ripper, but I didn't like it that much. And it took even longer than iTunes with nearly the same settings.

iTunes just seems like it's taking longer than on my Windows PC...

 

[kernkraft]

Since I first used Winamp (mid-90's), I always used the mp3 format (160-192 rate). Would anybody recommend that I switch? I want a format that offers excellent quality and is recognised by all sorts of music players (I have iPods and an iPhone, but from time to time I get a high-end music player with better sound).

 

[nick1516]

Itunes? If you need artwork you can normally right-click and get the artwork you need, otherwise you'll need to find it yourself and add it in.

 

[miles01110]

Since I first used Winamp (mid-90's), I always used the mp3 format (160-192 rate). Would anybody recommend that I switch? I want a format that offers excellent quality and is recognised by all sorts of music players (I have iPods and an iPhone, but from time to time I get a high-end music player with better sound).

For most kinds of music and on most players 192 kbit/s is more than enough "quality"- meaning that encoding at a higher bitrate will not make any audible difference. If you're going for the best trade-off between space, quality, and ubiquity, you should just stick with MP3 192.

 

[ReggaeFire]

Okay. I tried out "Max" ripper, but I didn't like it that much. And it took even longer than iTunes with nearly the same settings.

iTunes just seems like it's taking longer than on my Windows PC...

Max takes longer because it does a lot error checking on the rips, which you may want to do if you're ripping a large number of discs and don't want to have to go back and re-rip some due to problems.

If you want to try out other programs, just go to macupdate.com and search for Lame, this will bring up a number of programs that use the Lame engine to encode mp3s (which is what you want, Lame is the highest quality mp3 encoder).