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[Michael S.]

What do you think is the best CD ripping program?  The ones I know of are DP PowerAmp, Exact Audio Copy, and JRiver.

I think I used to use DP Poweramp and EAC the most before.  I tried to download EAC just now but it seems to come with a lot of extra free trial programs I don't want so will have to think about it.

Does one have advantages over the other?  DP PowerAmp seems to be pretty good but it does not appear to have changed much in the last 15 years.

[Matt]

I'm a big fan of the secure ripping in JRiver.

[Inquisition]

i use dbpoweramp since years

[MGD_King]

I've used JRiver for as long as I can remember. I don't think I've used anything else other than to combine two or more tracks into one, and for that I use Sony's Soundforge.

[jack wallstreet]

I have switched in the last year or so to JRiver and find it not only works well, but is also convenient as it integrates well with the JRiver database.  Have to watch how it handles songs already on the system (it warns you, but you need to be careful to understand what it does.)

[The Big Labinski]

Using JRiver with secure ripping since version 11 - I had never problems and the quality is very good.

[dtc]

I use JRiver for routine rips. Having the album immediately incorporated into the library is a huge plus instead of using an outside program and having to import the tracks. For some problematic disks, I find the dBpoweramp sometimes rips disks that JRiver struggles with, but that is a rare rip.  I do use dBpoweramp to rip HDCDs because it expands the HDCD code into a 44.1/24 file that can be played anywhere.

So, JRiver for most, with dBpoweramp for special cases.

[haggis999]

I'm a big fan of the secure ripping in JRiver.

I've been using the dBpoweramp CD Ripper since Adam was a boy. It does everything I want except import the results into MC (something that the JRiver ripper does automatically). I might therefore consider switching to JRiver's CD ripping tool if it offers detailed control over file and path naming.

In dBpoweramp, I have created two profiles - MyClassicalProfile and MyPopularProfile. The classical profile uses the following naming code:

[IFCOMP]Classical compilations\[album]\
[composer]\[tag]comment[]\[IFMULTI][disc]-[][track] [title][]
[IF!COMP][composer]\[album]\[tag]comment[]\[IFMULTI][disc]-[][track] [title][]

The popular profile uses this naming code:

[IFCOMP]Non-classical compilations\[album]\
[IFVALUE]album artist,[album artist],[artist][]\[IFMULTI][disc]-[][track] [title][]
[IF!COMP][IFVALUE]album artist,[album artist],[artist][]\[album]\[IFMULTI][disc]-[][track] [title][]

Does the JRiver ripper offer similar functionality?

[antenna]

I've been using CDex for years (probably approaching 20 yeas now).  I initially used it to rip my CDs to MP3, then about 10 years ago, re-ripped them all to FLAC once I had the appropriate disk space on my data server.

https://cdex.mu/

[MGD_King]

Does the JRiver ripper offer similar functionality?

Yes, you can set the folder options when ripping, and you can set Folder rules as well as filename rules independently. Give it a try. What do you have to lose? 

As previously mentioned, the quality (not that there's much difference in FLAC files) is great, and it imports directly in to the JRiver DB. I like the efficiency of the process!

[haggis999]

Yes, you can set the folder options when ripping, and you can set Folder rules as well as filename rules independently. Give it a try. What do you have to lose? 

I'm guessing that to create something like the dBpoweramp naming examples I quoted earlier, I will have to use JRiver's Expression Language (https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Expression_Language. Is that correct?

[JimH]

I'm guessing that to create something like the dBpoweramp naming examples I quoted earlier, I will have to use JRiver's Expression Language (https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Expression_Language. Is that correct?

I think you could use Rename, Move & Copy, under Library Tools, to move them according to Genre.  But why bother?  MC will separate them, no matter where they are physically located.

[haggis999]

I think you could use Rename, Move & Copy, under Library Tools, to move them according to Genre.  But why bother?  MC will separate them, no matter where they are physically located.

Before making a start on ripping CDs back in 2013, I made a detailed study of my options for file and folder naming. I was well aware that metadata was the key that enabled easy browsing of my (95% classical) collection using software such as JRiver Media Center on my PC and MinimServer on my NAS, but I still wanted wanted the physical folder structure to make sense - especially as I was planning to store MP3 copies of my music files on my Android phone (using the same folder structure), for use when I was away from home and without a reliable connection to my NAS.

At that time, I couldn't find any Android music player app that understood the special needs of classical music (focused on Composer and Work, rather than Artist and Album). Even today, I don't think there are any Android music players that meet my needs for classical metadata-based browsing. I therefore wanted the physical location of the music files on my phone to be easily browseable.

To achieve this, I decided to store most of my classical rips in a folder hierarchy of Composer, Album, and Work, with most of my non-classical rips being stored in a simpler hierarchy of Artist and Album. Compilation albums are handled in a slightly different manner. It didn't take too much effort to configure dBpoweramp CD Ripper to do all this automatically (helped by the fact that it has a Compilation checkbox).

Sadly, it doesn't look like MC can do the same thing. Manually moving the files after an MC rip using Rename, Move & Copy would be a tedious process that would more than negate the benefits of avoiding the manual import of a dBpoweramp rip.

[JimH]

You should be able to use Handheld Sync to accomplish that.

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Handheld_Sync_Options

Read the section called "Files, Paths, ..."

[haggis999]

You should be able to use Handheld Sync to accomplish that.

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Handheld_Sync_Options

Read the section called "Files, Paths, ..."

That's an interesting idea, but it doesn't quite match my needs.

While I emphasised the usefulness of an easily browsed folder structure on my phone, there are also occasions when I find this useful for my primary media storage, so my preference is to get that right at the time of ripping to my NAS. It doesn't look like 'Handheld Sync' is going to help with that.   

[Frobozz]

First of all, JRiver Media Center does have a good ripping program. It does secure mode rips as well as other secure mode ripping programs. I've tested a variety of CDs ripped in secure mode using JRiver and EAC, and the rips had the same CRC values. Even for CDs that had some scratches. Plus the MC ripper can import the ripped files directly into your library. Which is convenient.

The advantages for using other ripping programs would be for speed and for better metadata.

Ripping programs that support AccurateRip can be configured to rip in burst mode and use AccurateRip to catch any ripping errors. Burst mode is more than twice as fast as secure mode. Which saves time and is a big benefit if you're sitting in front of hundreds of CDs that need to be ripped. CDs that have errors in burst mode can be set aside and ripped in secure mode later. dBpoweramp, EAC, and CueRipper all support AccurateRip verification.

Better metadata sources is also a big benefit. Being able to grab metadata from different sources like MusicBrainz, Discogs, and GD3 makes tagging much easier and much faster. Especially for classical music. dBpoweramp has the best tagging editing with the ability to pull metadata from multiple sources and let you mix and match fields from the different sources. dBpoweramp's PerfectMeta tagging dialog is really nice. And a big time saver. Especially for classical. EAC and CueRipper can also be configured to get metadata and do lookups from MusicBrainz and Discogs. 

CUERipper is part of CUETools. It is free. Does AccurateRip verification (as well as CTDB verification). Can get metadata from freedb (gnudb), Discogs, and MusicBrainz. And I find it easier to use and easier to configure than EAC. CUETools doesn't have an installer. It is distributed as a zip file. You install it as you would a portable app. You run it by making your own shortcuts or by double-clicking on the exe file.

[comox]

Trust is a big issue for me with ripping.

You can fix a tagging problem. You can't fix a ripping problem.

I have ripped with JRiver for 20 years and never had even a hint of a problem, whereas I have seen many screwed up rips made by people with other apps that probably didn't even know they had a problem.

I trust Matt and JRiver.

[JimH]

Trust is a big issue for me with ripping.

You can fix a tagging problem. You can't fix a ripping problem.

I have ripped with JRiver for 20 years and never had even a hint of a problem, whereas I have seen many screwed up rips made by people with other apps that probably didn't even know they had a problem.

I trust Matt and JRiver.

Thanks.  And thanks to JohnT, who wrote our ripping a couple decades ago.  He's retired now, but his work isn't.

[slerch666]

MC.

Used to use EAC back in the days before I found MC. With MC and Secure Rip, when the results I got were 1:1 with EAC, I ditched EAC and never looked back. Think I've been on MC since the lower 10s releases. 12 maybe?