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[nickharambee]

i have not been getting a lot of joy from MAC or EAC's forums, so thought someone here might be able to help me with this:

can someone please tell me if EAC has a monkey's audio encoder within the program (i.e. do i not need to install monkey's audio program at all). in compression option in EAC i have deselected external compression, and instead selected monkeys audio lossless encoder as a wave format under 'waveform' tab. it seems to automatically encode to ape files fine.

however, when i try to set up eac to compress using an external program, with MAC being that external program, nothing happens after the track has been copied. the message comes up: 'compress track by external program' but MAC doesn't actually compress. When i open MAC it gives me an error message 'run time error '52', bad file name or number.

i believe that the latter method is the most commonly used one, so this leaves me rather confused. firstly, i wonder why the latter method isn't working.  secondly,
i wonder if the ape file i end up with using the first process is a proper ape file, and if it is whether i actually need to install the MAC program at all (i.e. is there a MA encoder within EAC program?)

can someone please clarify this for me?

thanks a lot, nick.

[rocketsauce]

i wonder why the latter method isn't working.

Well, it's hard to say without knowing what settings you're using on the External Compression tab. I have MA 3.97 installed and I just tried using it as an External Encoder and it worked just fine.

i wonder if the ape file i end up with using the first process is a proper ape file, and if it is whether i actually need to install the MAC program at all (i.e. is there a MA encoder within EAC program?)

Yes, it's a proper APE file, but it probably ends up with APE Tags instead of APE2 Tags. And yes, EAC comes MA ready so you don't need to use an external MA encoder.

Rob

[nickharambee]

what's the difference between ape and ape 2 tags?

[kiwi]

I use eac with MAC 3.98a, using the internal encoder setting. I haven't had any problems.

I did have to install MAC to get it to work.

kiwi

[MachineHead]

EAC does not come with an encoder, at least not the versions I've had. You do have to point it at one. You shouldn't have to adjust anything when using a MAC compression scheme. That's what Monkey's Audio ready  version of EAC means. In other words, it will not screw your files up by trying to write id3 tags to your files. Latest version writes apev2 tags.

You do not need MAC installed, but do need the encoder. You can, and should, install the encoder in a sub folder of EAC to find it easily with the Browse option.

If you'd need just the encoder, you can get it here:MAC

Hurry, because I will not keep it there for long. Once installed in your folder you can pick the external compression settings of your choice.

[rocketsauce]

EAC does not come with an encoder, at least not the versions I've had.

My mistake. I never realized the Monkey's Audio dll that showed up in the Wave Format drop down list (on the Waveform tab in Compression Options) was only there if MA was installed.

You do have to point it at one.

Only if you use MA as an External Encoder.

Rob

[Matt]

Why are you using EAC instead of MC?

[kiwi]

I use it because unfortunately nobody has been able to show that MC's secure ripping is as good as EACs.  I end up hearing lots of "it should be as good" or "for 90% of your CDs, it won't make a difference."  

I will personally run tests, if someone can point me at software that will compare two wave files.

Also, I find that EAC is faster, as MC always seems to do the compression after reading the track.

*I'm ripping to APEs.

And, editing the track information is simpler on EAC.

kiwi

[rocketsauce]

Why are you using EAC instead of MC?

I don't use EAC very often. Very few of my CDs are damaged or scratched since I'm pretty anal about taking care of them. On my machine in secure mode, both EAC and MC rip to wav at about the same speeds (I always rip to wav and then batch encode them later). For me, ripping and encoding in MC saves a few steps in the "work flow" and I don't find editing album info in MC any harder than doing it in EAC.

I will personally run tests, if someone can point me at software that will compare two wave files.

EAC has an option to Compare Waves on the Tools Menu.

Rob

[kiwi]

I don't use EAC very often. Very few of my CDs are damaged or scratched since I'm pretty anal about taking care of them. On my machine in secure mode, both EAC and MC rip to wav at about the same speeds (I always rip to wav and then batch encode them later). For me, ripping and encoding in MC saves a few steps in the "work flow" and I don't find editing album info in MC any harder than doing it in EAC.

I take back that comment.  I hadn't used it in a while.  Originally I'd found it a bit frustrating for some reason.

EAC has an option to Compare Waves on the Tools Menu.

Cool.   I'm just trying it out now, so to see what the output from that function is.  Then I'll track down some clean CDs and scratched CDs to see what I can find.

It appears to look at both files and generate a list of the differences.  The one file I looked at so far doesn't have any differences, I'll rip 10 or so CDs and see whether I can see any differences.  I'd love to be able to just use MC with confidence.

Will MC display information about how the rip was performed?  i.e. the same way EAC produces a log saying which tracks had and/or may have had errors?

kiwi

[Charlemagne 8]

In Media Center you can rip directly from your CD to APE if you check the "rip and encode simultaneously" box and set your rip default to APE. I use "Fast" encoding and get an ape file as fast as I would get a straight WAV file.
CVIII

[kiwi]

I've found and turned on the "Show Failure Messages" option, but I don't get any information.   What I'd like to have is either a log created, and/or comments about the ripping added to the comments field of the tracks.

kiwi

[JohnT]

I've found and turned on the "Show Failure Messages" option, but I don't get any information.   What I'd like to have is either a log created, and/or comments about the ripping added to the comments field of the tracks.

kiwi

With secure ripping in MC, at the end of the rip you will be presented with a results dialog which shows any errors that occurred and allows you to listen to the error section to see if it's really audible. You can also save the info to a log file.

[kiwi]

With secure ripping in MC, at the end of the rip you will be presented with a results dialog which shows any errors that occurred and allows you to listen to the error section to see if it's really audible. You can also save the info to a log file.

If there are no errors, does it just say "OK" and leave it at that?  

I'd really love to simplify my recording process.  I just need to prove to myself that the quality is equivalent.  I'm trying to locate some scratched up CDs to test.  (I'm contemplating ripping a CD from the APEs I have and then scratching it if I can't find one.)

kiwi

[nickharambee]

thanks everyone for the info.  to summarise then, i do need to have monkey's audio program installed on my computer in order to encode to ape files using EAC, or at least the MAC encoder, stored in an EAC subfolder.  The option to encode directly to ape will be in the wave format drop down menu on the waveform tab only if MAC program is installed.  The only outstanding issue is the ape 2 tags, which apparently i won't get if i encode to ape directly in EAC.  What advantage do i get using ape 2 tags?

thanks, nick.

[kiwi]

A get APE v2 Tags with the internal encoder.  I believe that you just have to have the latest version(3.98a).  (At least I believe that is the case, and the "tag info" section of MC says they are v2)