INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 21 for Mac => Topic started by: Awesome Donkey on February 09, 2016, 03:02:07 pm
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Mod Note: Split from https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=103107.0
Yeah, I'm ripping. I did my whole collection via iTunes to ALAC initially (for that crappy Apple TV G2). I used to use iTunes but now pretty much play with MC or, sometimes, use Bughead Emperor. iTunes does a pretty random job of ripping, in my case. Some song stutter pretty badly so I thought I should re-rip. But given the opportunity, I was thinking changing format to FLAC (or DSF/DFF).
Use a program like Media Center itself or XLD to rip CDs as they support secure ripping, which is highly recommended to use when ripping CDs.
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Use a program like Media Center itself or XLD to rip CDs as they support secure ripping, which is highly recommended to use when ripping CDs.
Just to be clear because that was worded kind of funny (and it took me three reads to grok correctly):
Media Center supports secure ripping. There's little reason to use something else if MC works for your needs. It is pretty good at it, and you'll be in there anyway to do the tagging and organizing.
Also, the answer is already decided above, but I'll throw my vote in: Absolutely, positively FLAC.
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Media Center supports secure ripping. There's little reason to use something else if MC works for your needs. It is pretty good at it, and you'll be in there anyway to do the tagging and organizing.
Everyone here should know how big of a fan of MC that I am. I'm a fan boy. So I don't like to bang on MC; and I actually avoid this particular topic so that I'm not overly negative. But I feel like I should speak up in this case: I've had unusually bad luck with ripping CDs using MC for Mac. This doesn't bother me as XLD does a great job. I just don't recommend MC for CD ripping because it's worked so poorly for me. I really hate to say that; but that's been my experience.
Brian.
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I don't think it is as well debugged or behaved on the Mac platform. It is certainly still pretty new, right? When was it added?
I know I use it rarely on Windows, and never on OSX. Frankly, all of my CDs were ripped long ago, and I don't rip anything very often. When I do, once in a blue moon, MC on Windows performs well and does everything I possibly need. I know I've seen a few different reports about metadata lookup getting "stuck" occasionally when ripping discs serially, but it has never happened to me, and I don't know the current status. But aside from that annoyance, I don't see a lot of complaints over here on the Windows side.
I get that it is inconvenient and if your XLD works, then why mess with success? Still, to improve MC on Mac, I would recommend you continue to test it, when you have a need to rip a CD, and report results. The gently pestering (constantly reminding) wheel gets the oil, to some degree. But more importantly, if the reports are vague or inconsistent, it makes it difficult to track down issues (or prioritize issues you know exist, in those frightening depths). If you're using it, then they'll have some real reports to go on.
I guess what I'm saying is: I don't know for sure that trying it when you need to rip something and explaining results (positive and negative) will help. But I do know that not doing those things won't.
And, I don't use it much anymore, but in the past, and when I do need it here and again, MC on Windows works great for ripping discs for my purposes.
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I've reported my issues in the past and didn't get much of a meaningful response.
I'm happy to try to help make MC better, but in this case, I'm not sure the effort is well spent. The solution I have is outstanding and I'm not sure I'm willing to go through the process to document the variety of failures I've encountered, all the while wondering if I'll trip over the other failures that I see reported from time to time on the Windows side (overwriting file names, blank metadata, "stuck" metadata from previous album, etc).
I feel bad for saying it like this, but it's where my mind is.
I'm still SUCH a huge fan of this software. I just ignore this particular feature.
Bria.
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How about ripping 2 or 3 now and reporting the result?
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Ok, I've ripped 4 CDs just now using MC. Overall, it worked properly, got the right metadata, said it got secure rips of all tracks, and put things in the correct folders.
This contrasts with my earlier experiences where MC was unable to find the drive many times in a row on almost every CD I tried.
My main issue with the experience I just had is simply that MC becomes unresponsive for up to 10 or 15 seconds while ripping. So, while I'm trying to edit and audit metadata on albums that I ripped 5 minutes ago, MC's interface is periodically stuck with a spinning beach ball. This isn't a show stopper, but it certainly slows things down. It also means I can't play, pause, change volume, etc while this is happening.
Overall it seems to do a good job. Things may have improved since the last time I tried, or I got unlucky previously. I also didn't try any CDs in bad condition this time; all were relatively clean.
But using an external program is more efficient for me because MC always stays responsive while the other program is dealing with the CD.
Brian.