I know most people are content with downloading songs from the internet and dumping it on to their portable players. However, there are few (like me, I insist!!) who like to deal in good quality files only. Well, there are so many ripping software available, you will end up spending half of your time looking for a good one. The three applications listed in this feature are here on basis of quality, speed and easy of use.
Publisher: Exact Audio Copy
File Size: 1561 Kb
Download link: 1
Personally, I think this is the best CD ripper available. And guess what, it's free!! How is it different from other CD rippers? Well, let me explain. As the name suggest, EAC successfully manages to digitally extract songs on the CD with minimal information loss. I know of a lot of people who have tried using EAC without even managing to get half-decent results. It's the same reason why most people steer clear of it. To be able to use EAC, you will need to configure it to the right settings. I do, however, know some of those as well who have been ripping without any problems.
What I like the most about EAC is the secure-mode. And the fact that you can get the most out of a badly scratched CD as well. In secure-mode EAC goes over the damaged portions of the CD more than once if it failed to get the information out. How many times it should try can be user-controlled through the error recovery/correction quality settings. Most ripping softwares simply skim through the CDs and manage to get only the easy-to-get information out of CDs. Obviously, these applications are still used since most users prefer to go through the CDs as fast as possible. In secure mode, if the CD is somewhat battered, EAC will take a long time to create accurate track copies.
The amount of time taken by EAC on scratched CDs may depend on the condition of the CD, and also the Optical drive in use. I've ripped one of my old 'The Guess Who' twin-CD pack without any noticeable/discernible artifacts through EAC on my Samsung DVD re-writable. And it took me nearly an hour per CD. But trust me the CDs were nearly as good as being being picked up from the bin.
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