cd drives...do they make any difference to rips?? [Archive]

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bryan76

04-07-2011, 10:24

Stratmangler

04-07-2011, 10:30

I've recently started the long boring job of ripping my cd collection, and not wanting to do this again, wondered what you folks thought about cd drives.

I'm using dbPoweramp, purchased copy, and most of my music is in the Accurip database. Does this mean the rip is as good as perfect?

I think I've read on here that some prefer a higher quality cd drive than in a laptop for example, but if the rip matches accurip, how can there be any improvement to be had?? :sofa:

If drives do improve the quality whats a good one to go for!!

Cheers!

Come out from behind the sofa :lolsign:

Laptop drives tend to be .......... well, rather shitty and slow.
A better drive will rip faster, and with less read errors.
I've had errors reported back with rips on my laptop, yet when I use the optical drive in my desktop the rip comes back fine.

If the rip matches accuraterip then it's a good as it gets - the higher the number the better, as more folks have returned the same checksum data :)

StanleyB

04-07-2011, 10:37

There is a big difference in the method used to play a CD and rip a CD. In fact, this difference is so important, it is being used as a copy protection method.

Whilst most PC drives are OK for ripping the first disc, many start spitting out ripping errors on subsequent rips. From my own tests I narrowed it down to the heat generated by the disc spinning at very high speed during rips. To test my theory, observe how hot the first ejected CD is compared to 2nd etc. But if you let the drive cool down, or you force it to cool down by blowing some cool air over it for a minute or two, the drive rips perfectly again.

I am not convinced that there is such thing as a bit accurate rip, mind you. The original CD medium is full or errors as it is, which are smoothed over by the Reed-Solomon error correction process during playback. I have not been able to find any definite info as to whether the R-S error correction process is implemented in part or full during the ripping process, if at all. I only know for sure that it takes place during playback.

keiths

04-07-2011, 11:03

when you rip a cd, you are copying the data bit by bit - if there are any read errors the program doing the ripping will keep re-trying until it suceeds or generates a fatal error - just like running a program from a CD-ROM - if there are any read errors, the program won't run!

When playing a cd, you don't have the luxury of many re-tries as it's all in real time - hence correction and interpolation.

If the CD rips accurately according to AccuRip, then it's accurate.

Tim

04-07-2011, 11:11

I'm with Stan here, laptop drives can be fine for the odd rip here and there, but a big project like ripping a library is best carried out by a good quality full size SATA drive IMO.

I can recommend anything made by Plextor for this task, the first one in this list I can vouch for, as I have it Plextor Drives (http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=plextor+px&tag=googhydr-21&index=electronics&hvadid=6612411129&ref=pd_sl_ifsx8b8p8_b).
I recently ripped around 1,500 CD's and started out using a Pioneer drive which wasn't up to the task and was reporting errors in EAC and taking too long. I bought the Plextor and it has yet to miss a beat. It also handles errors a lot better than the Pioneer and with EAC's error checking my rips are excellent, even on dreadful charity shop discs.

Butuz

04-07-2011, 12:50

The majority of laptop drives are piss poor. Stay away. Use an internal 5.25" SATA drive for optimum results.

Butuz

WAD62

04-07-2011, 13:00

If you only have a laptop an external USB drive is also an option...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Extenal-x22-DVD-RW-Lightscribe/dp/B001CZOPHG/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

...unfortunately unavailable, but I'm sure there are other alternatives at a reasonable price, just don't go for a compact sized one...the bigger the better ;)

bryan76

04-07-2011, 14:06

Thanks for the comments and advice all. So far the laptop is doing ok...4 tracks on a Pearl Jam cd weren't 'accurate' according to dBpoweramp, and that's out of about 50 albums.

An external drive looks like a good investment then...love the look of those plextor drives and the samsung. :eek:

StanleyB

04-07-2011, 16:11

I haven't had any luck with external writers. My virus checker reads all incoming streams from the USB connection, which in turn slowed the whole ripping cycle down.

WAD62

04-07-2011, 16:51

An external drive looks like a good investment then...love the look of those plextor drives and the samsung. :eek:

...there's a function in dBpoweramp settings called FBC or something (it's a TLA beginning with F) , Fast Buffer Clear or something to that effect, which is apparently a feature available in some plextor drives. It's part of the secure rip settings.

It means that when one is re-reading errors the USB buffer can be flushed more quickly to ensure the data is re-read from the disk, and not from persistent memory...it makes an accurate rip of a scratched disk a lot quicker ;)

WAD62

04-07-2011, 16:52

I haven't had any luck with external writers. My virus checker reads all incoming streams from the USB connection, which in turn slowed the whole ripping cycle down.

What virus checker are you using Stan...?

StanleyB

04-07-2011, 17:02

avast

WAD62

04-07-2011, 17:44

avast

...I'll stick clear of it then :)

I use AVG free...mind you it's not the most diligent anti virus but at least it's not too intrusive.

Can't you tweak it not to scan the USB drive? I'm sure you've tried...

StanleyB

04-07-2011, 17:56

Circumstances demand that I have to use robust security measures on my computers and network ;).

WAD62

04-07-2011, 18:25

Circumstances demand that I have to use robust security measures on my computers and network ;).

...good point, well made ;)