Best practice for ripping defective/ problematic CDs?

[Gustave]

What do you do if you encounter a defective or otherwise unrippable CD? Here's my approach:

 

Over the past few years, I've (re)ripped my entire CD collection of several hundred CDs and found that about 2 out of every 100 (mostly older) CDs had problems. Some of them had obvious scratches, some were copy-protected, others seemed fine but were still not rippable.

 

Sometimes it helped to switch to a different ripping software or simply set the ripping software to a slower speed (I mainly use EZ Audio Converter, but also EAC and XLD).

 

But there were also cases where none of this worked. For the most difficult CDs, I tend to rip them via iTunes. For reasons unclear to me, iTunes seems to rip even the most problematic CDs where other software has long since given up. However, iTunes is only used for such special cases because of its poor ergonomics and because FLAC is not directly supported.

 

[Northern_Canuck]

I use IsoBuster on problem discs that the mainstream rippers fail on. If IsoBuster can't rip the disc then nothing probably will work either. It has a good surface scanner that will detect corrupted sectors so you know what your facing. Edit: IsoBuster is a Windows only program.

[botrytis]

I have used EAC (Exact Audio Copy) for discs like that with no problems.

[audiobomber]

16 hours ago, botrytis said:

I have used EAC (Exact Audio Copy) for discs like that with no problems.

Same here. I had a couple of CD's that were severely compromised when played in a CD transport, and took several hours to rip, successfully. Whichever software you use, it's important to tick the box for error checking. 

[botrytis]

1 hour ago, audiobomber said:

Same here. I had a couple of CD's that were severely compromised when played in a CD transport, and took several hours to rip, successfully. Whichever software you use, it's important to tick the box for error checking. 

 

Agree - hence why EAC is so useful. JRiver has a paired down version of EAC built into the software.

[audiobomber]

The first thing I do with a damaged disc is to polish it with CD Doctor: 

"Repairs scratched CDs and DVDs" 

[davide256]

Agree with @audiobomber. You can get chemical contaminants and scratch edges that will never rip unless you polish them out. Its the same approach as that used to clean up fogged external auto headlight plastic

[firedog]

I've found that most CDs that won't rip only need a simple cleaning: 

A little distilled water on the disk,  microfiber cloth (like for cleaning glasses) and wipe out perpendicularly from the center till dry. 

95% of my problem CD's ripped after this. Sometimes 2 cleanings were needed. 

Of course if there are deep scratches it won't work. 

[audiobomber]

20 hours ago, firedog said:

I've found that most CDs that won't rip only need a simple cleaning: 

A little distilled water on the disk,  microfiber cloth (like for cleaning glasses) and wipe out perpendicularly from the center till dry. 

95% of my problem CD's ripped after this. Sometimes 2 cleanings were needed. 

Of course if there are deep scratches it won't work. 

The CD Doctor kit does more than clean, it is a buffing compound that will remove a scratch. There are instructions for repairing light scuffs and scrapes, and a more in-depth procedure for deep scratches. I've only used this on a few discs where simple cleaning didn't solve the problem. I would have liked to provide a link to the product but it looks like it's no longer available. Too bad, it was a useful tool.

[Gustave]

Share most of the experiences mentioned. Still, I'm surprised that I'm alone in my appreciation of iTunes as a last resort.

 

Recently had another case where all attempts including EAC and disk polishing failed and in the end iTunes did the job even if it took forever.

[bobfa]

On 3/21/2024 at 5:59 PM, Gustave said:

Share most of the experiences mentioned. Still, I'm surprised that I'm alone in my appreciation of iTunes as a last resort.

 

Recently had another case where all attempts including EAC and disk polishing failed and in the end iTunes did the job even if it took forever.

I use DBpoweramp and fall back to itunes.  

[jhwalker]

12 minutes ago, bobfa said:

I use DBpoweramp and fall back to itunes.  

Same - DBpoweramp uses the AccurateRip database which confirms whether or not you've gotten an accurate rip, and it will re-rip a sector at a time if needed to get it right.

 

And iTunes can sometimes read a damaged CD when even DBpoweramp cannot - irritating ;) but it's a good fallback to have.