****** NOTE this post is in a VERY incomplete state, at some point I will fix it *******************

 

Overview
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This describes the steps I follow when ripping a CD using EAC running on a Windows XP virtual machine.

Quick Steps
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Assuming EAC is configured and you have a configured drive the short steps are as below.

1. Create custom directory, such as

C:\FLAC\The Beatles – Abbey Road

2. Edit EAC options so it uses the above directory
3. Run:

Database | Get CD Information From |Remote Metadata Provider

4. Check details like song names, album and artists.
5. Run:

Action | Detect Gaps

6. Run:

Action | Test & Copy Selected Tracks | Compressed…

7. Review the log created in your directory:

C:\FLAC\The Beatles – Abbey Road\The Beatles – Abbey Road.log

– IMPORTANT. Check the “Test” and “Copy” CRC are both the same

Test CRC 2A3108AD
Copy CRC 2A3108AD

– Also ensure it says “Accurately ripped” with a “confidence” rating. This
will not appear if the CD is not currently in the database

– Watch out for:

Cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 7)

This indicates a high degree of confidence the track is not correct based on rip
details in the database. If you get the same result for all tracks this indicates
you have a different pressing of the CD to those in the DB.

8. Run:

Action | Create CUE Sheet | Multiple WAV Files With Gaps…(NonCompliant)

9. Run:

Database | Submit CD Information To Metadata Provider

Multiple artists
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Remember if you have multiple artists on one track then set “Artist” to something like:

Frank Sinatra;Barbara Streisand

The key points use the “Artist” field and separate artists using a semicolon “;”.

Ripping
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1. If the CDROM drive has changed you will need to reconfigure the
“EAC | Drive options..” If this is the case read the Panther
article “Setting up Exact Audio Copy (EAC)” to see the setting to make
2. Clean the CD
3. Run:

Database | Get CD Information From |Remote Metadata Provider

Review the details before continuing checking:
– CD Title
– Artist
– Track titles are correct, you should probably compare with details on
the actual CD
– Track artists are correct
– Year
– Genre

Note: Probably best to leave setting up multiple artists and multiple genre
to be done by MediaMonkey
4. Action | Detect Gaps
5. Ensure the following is selected: “Action | Append Gaps To Previous Track
(Default)”
– If this option is greyed out it is probably because you didn’t do
“Detect Gaps”
6. Create a folder for the CD, say “Meat Loaf – Bat Out Of Hell”
7. Select “EAC | EAC Options | Directories” and click on “Browse” to select
the folder you just created so:

Z:\FLAC\Meat Loaf – Bat Out Of Hell\

8. Ensure the filename is of the form “%tracknr3% %title%
– This is set via “EAC | EAC Options… | Filename”
9. Select “Action | Test & Copy Selected Tracks | Compressed…”
10. Once finished briefly review the long in the “Status and Error
Messages” Window and close the dialog.
10. Review the logs shown in the “Status and Error Messages” Window and
particular check the “Accurately ripped” comment next to each track.
11. Close the “Status and Error Messages” dialog
12. You should automatically have a copy of the log in the directory with the
tracks, open this log and review it.

In particular look at the each track and check:
– “Read CRC” and “Test CRC” are both the same for all tracks
– Check there is an “AccurateRip” comment for each track. If there
is not AccurateRip comments then you need to review the AccurateRip
setup for this CDROM drive.

If you see:

No tracks could be verified as accurate

This could be because you may have a different pressing from the one(s) in
the database

This means that there are results in the database, but none of them match
yours. It is indeed very likely that such a result is due to different
pressings. Just as in the case with no previously submitted results, matching
test and copy CRC values make it very likely that your rip is perfect all the same.

13. Select

Action | Create CUE Sheet | Multiple WAV Files With Gaps…(NonCompliant)

14. Potentially commit your changes:

Database | Submit CD Information To Metadata Provider

Artwork
========
– Scan at 800dpi and JPG options 90% and bulk convert to 400dpi

Output is:

Cover.jpg The cover art for the jewel case
Cover_Small.jpg A 25% version of Cover.jpg
Back_01.jpg The back art from the jewel case
Label_01.jpg The artwork on CD 01
Leaflet_01.jpg Page 01 of the leaflet/booklet
<album>_01.cue Cue sheet for CD 01
<artist> – <album>_01.log Log for the RIP of CD 01
<artist> – <album>_01.m3u8 Play list for CD 01

Ensure you have a copy of “Cover.jpg” in with the music so you can add it to tags for the tracks

use Xrecode to convert to ALAC. The unregistered version will do what you want

Keywords
RIP, Ripping guide, CD, CDROM, AccurateRip