Alternative to iTunes for ripping music?

[DeeBye]

a bunch of useful stuff about EAC and LAME
[right][snapback]99173[/snapback][/right]

Thanks. This works fabulously. EAC + LAME is a nice combination. I'm definitely going to keep this on my machine.

I'm an idiot though. When I tried testing the audio quality of some rips I did with EAC, CDex, and iTunes, they all sounded very similar. The quality difference was not great enough for me to notice any difference whatsoever with my iPod.

The problem? I was initially comparing rips done from different CDs. I hastily assumed it was iTunes that sucked, but it turns out it was just a not-so-great recording of one particular CD I have. It was on the top of the pile and was the easiest to reach for :blush:

I've since done a few more rips of a few more (different this time!) CDs, and it turns out that iTunes does not suck as much as I initially thought it did. Rips I did using EAC+LAME sound the same as rips I did using iTunes when heard on my iPod (EAC+LAME rips sound better on my home audio system though, but I seldom use it to play mp3s instead of audio CDs).

In conclusion, EAC+LAME has a ton of great features and makes fantastic rips from CD. I'd use it all the time except that it takes about 10 times longer than iTunes to rip an audio CD. Since I can't notice the quality difference on my iPod, I think I'm going to stick with iTunes.

Thanks for all the great advice everyone :)