Help - xld does not work for ripping

[bestefar]

I am interested in developing a high-quality computer audio system. I have downloaded xld and tried to rip CDs with my PowerMac G5 2.5 GHz w/ Leopard and 4.5 GB RAM. It DOESN'T WORK! I let it run for about 8 hours and it ripped two tracks from a CD. Clearly I must be doing something wrong, but I have tried to follow the online tutorials and they do not help. Should I not have added the "upgrade"? That is the only thing I can think of. Thanks for any help and suggestions.

 

[rmva]

hi bestefar,

 

I use XLD as my main ripping tool and what you say happens to me sometimes. Usually it means the cd is in bad shape. Try cleaning it or switch off the accurate rip and or the "verify suspicious sectors…", "Test before copy.." see what happens.

 

[bestefar]

Thanks so much for your reply. You are exactly right! I happened to pick a very old CD to try to rip first. It looked fine and ripped in iTunes with no problem. I have since tried a brand-new disc and it ripped fine. Very interesting as I have the iTunes box checked for error correction. Wonder what this says about iTunes "bit perfect" ripping. Since this is one of the first CDs I every purchased, I wonder what it also says about the longevity of CDs. I take scrupulous care of my CDs (and vinyl), have to kids or other ways to damage them. So I guess a visual inspection is not worth much as this CD looks almost perfect to me.

 

Anyway, thanks again, I'm now happily ripping several other CDs.

 

[rmva]

I'm sure someone here can explain this exactly, but "bit perfect" is about play back... not sure about ripping. Anyway, you might want to listen to your iTunes rip 'cause usually those bad discs will have skips after you ripped them in iTunes (I'm talking about those discs which xld wont rip).

About how CDs look, you might want to try and hold them against a bright light, but probably you did that already (?).

In my (not so) humble opinion, CDs are crap (sorry) I still have LPs from the 50's that are way better than my early CDs. No I'm not talking sound quality, just overall quality... the LP seems to last longer, at least in my collection. But I'm sure someone is going to say I'm wrong LOL

 

cheers,

Ruud

 

[bestefar]

Thanks for the clarification. Obviously, I am new to all this. I will check out the iTunes rip and see if it is OK. I have now ripped several other CDs with xld and they all worked fine.

 

I'm with you on CDs being crap. I also have lps from the 50s that my parents purchased when I was in grade school. Running them through a record-cleaning machine makes them sound fantastic for the most part. They were originally played on a cheap portable Magnavox. PVC is impervious to just about everything but heat. So I'm definitely not going to say you're wrong.

 

[flatmap]

LPs are truly amazing. I have a handful of records that have inner groove distortion, a bad scratch here or there-- but really only 30 out of 3000. As you say, after a decent cleaning these old records which have go through 100's of playings on the old family magnavox --- well they still sound great.

 

No doubt the new cartridges and decks make a big difference, but the medium itself is much more robust that most of us expected.

 

[bestefar]

Thanks to all here who responded to the thread. Since my initial failure with an old disc, I have ripped about half a dozen.

 

Last night I did a comparison between iTunes and xld ripped tracks (both AIFF) played back in iTunes. I used my modest desk top system consisting of self-powered M-Audio Studio Pro 4 speakers connected to the analog audio out of my PowerMac G5 dual 2.5 desk top through a Monster connector. Even with this system, I noticed improved separation and focus of the instruments of the orchestra. Overall iTunes sounded a bit crude by comparison. So I'm convinced and immediately started re-ripping several CDs. I'm happy to have discovered this forum and xld before I spent more time ripping in iTunes.

 

[27Globes]

I am talking about CDs that have been used maybe... maybe "once" if that!

Pristine! I am just now repeating the rip... and it ripped successfully all 6 tracks.. This is the third time (out of 6 albums) that it has happened...where the repeating of the rip will work.

 

I am trying to find out what would interrupt or prevent certain tracks from being encoded on a Pristine CD... is it the DVDRW in my iMac?...there is some interruption going on that is causing the skip... When I look at the log, there are no errors... It will just state that start and end sector are zero.