# Which converter/ripper/tagger software do you use?



## jbb2388 (Nov 20, 2015)

I've always used Cdex to rip my CDs, mp3tag to edit in the past. I'm looking for a good converter software now and have read good things about Audacity, dBpoweramp, foobar2000 and EAC. Can anyone offer their opinions on what they use or think is best. Thanks much.


----------



## gijoe (Mar 25, 2008)

dBPoweramp, all the way. It's excellent, allows for ripping to multiple locations with different file types simultaneously. The accuraterip feature is awesome too! It's the perfect software for archiving lossless files to an external harddrive, while simultaneously creating a lower bitrate version for day to day use.


----------



## gregerst22 (Dec 18, 2012)

For managing tags I've always used Tag&Rename and have been for about 15 years. Yup I was ripping and listening to mp3's before most people knew what it was. It's not free and has a learning curve but it's super powerful.


----------



## axipher (Oct 7, 2015)

I've been using fre:ac to rip CD's to FLAC for a long while then MediaMonkey to manage music, tagging, converting to other formats. Lately I've been storing a lot of music in M4A format because the new Windows Phone supports M4A and iPods are still my main storage method for my library on the go.


----------



## Justin Zazzi (May 28, 2012)

I enjoy EAC with the FLAC encoder plugin for ripping music.

For organizing and batch edits of filenames, directories, and tags, I like using TagScanner (click here)

For finding duplicates in my library before adding new ones, I use Similarity (click here). The free version is powerful enough for me.


----------



## axipher (Oct 7, 2015)

Do any of the Taggers mentioned have tagging based on the sonic signature of the songs?

I have about 40,000 MP3's and M4A's from friends iPods and random hard drives that have horrible tagging schemes or missing tags completely.


----------



## nineball76 (Mar 13, 2010)

+1 dbpoweramp and +1 TagAndRename. Both have great batch work. But I didn't know about the ability to rip into 2 file types in different locations. This would be pretty handy in archiving in AIFF and iTunes storage in ALAC or 320.


----------



## cobb2819 (Jan 13, 2011)

XLD to Lossless or Flac, but i'm a Mac guy.


----------



## gregerst22 (Dec 18, 2012)

I like that dbPoweramp takes advantage of all my CPU cores.


----------



## quality_sound (Dec 25, 2005)

I always use iTunes. I know a bunch of people hate it, but it works for me 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Weigel21 (Sep 8, 2014)

I've been using EAC with LAME for a number of years to rip my collection of CD's to 320kbps MP3s, haven't had any real complaints with it myself. However this dBPoweramp sounds quite interesting.


----------



## Orion525iT (Mar 6, 2011)

gijoe said:


> dBPoweramp, all the way. It's excellent, allows for ripping to multiple locations with different file types simultaneously. The accuraterip feature is awesome too! It's the perfect software for archiving lossless files to an external harddrive, while simultaneously creating a lower bitrate version for day to day use.


dB all is the ****, like it way more than EAC.

Using AIMP3 for playback because it defeats the Windows ****ery and sq is much improved.


----------



## jbb2388 (Nov 20, 2015)

Wow, I'll tell you what...dBpoweramp is pretty damn nice. Way better than cdex. Thanks for the suggestion guys. I appreciate it. Am also gonna look into to using the tagscanner and similarity apps as well.


----------



## Timelessr1 (Feb 12, 2010)

quality_sound said:


> I always use iTunes. I know a bunch of people hate it, but it works for me
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Do you rip using lossless? I'm curious bc Ive been using Spotify for listening usually , but recently ripped a few CDs on iTunes using the lossless choice and I wasn't "wowed" at all compared to Spotify. 

I use an iPad for my main source also

I'm going to try Tidal for a little and see if it's any better also..


----------



## nineball76 (Mar 13, 2010)

Timelessr1 said:


> Do you rip using lossless? I'm curious bc Ive been using Spotify for listening usually , but recently ripped a few CDs on iTunes using the lossless choice and I wasn't "wowed" at all compared to Spotify.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Spotify is 320 which can be more dynamic as it takes out all the extra background noise compared to the original CD recording. Itunes 256 aac that you purchase does the same thing.


----------



## Timelessr1 (Feb 12, 2010)

nineball76 said:


> Spotify is 320 which can be more dynamic as it takes out all the extra background noise compared to the original CD recording. Itunes 256 aac that you purchase does the same thing.


I know iTunes offers a new music service similar to Spotify ... But at only 256...but I'm talking about also iTunes ripping. They offer a lossless format when ripping. I've tried using that format for a few "better produced CDs" and still found Spotify as a better quality...and that's why I wanted to try Tidal which is suppose to be 1.4kbps


----------



## dawaro (Jul 22, 2015)

gregerst22 said:


> For managing tags I've always used Tag&Rename and have been for about 15 years. Yup I was ripping and listening to mp3's before most people knew what it was. It's not free and has a learning curve but it's super powerful.


I second that one. I think I originally paid $10 for it in '99 or 2000. It still works great and they are still sending out updates.


----------



## nineball76 (Mar 13, 2010)

Timelessr1 said:


> I know iTunes offers a new music service similar to Spotify ... But at only 256...but I'm talking about also iTunes ripping. They offer a lossless format when ripping. I've tried using that format for a few "better produced CDs" and still found Spotify as a better quality...and that's why I wanted to try Tidal which is suppose to be 1.4kbps



Yes, Spotify sounds better to some because 320 removes the background extra stuff. That makes it seem more dynamic and sound better to some people. A lot of people think 1411 sounds bland. Dull compared to lossy.


----------



## jbb2388 (Nov 20, 2015)

Pretty sure I used Tag&Rename for a trial period and didn't want to spend money on anything. I've been using Mp3tag since and I'm happy with it.


----------



## gijoe (Mar 25, 2008)

By the way, dbPoweramp came out with a Mac version a couple of years ago. For the longest time it had been only for Windows, but now we can all have it. This is the only program I use for converting, editing, and archiving my music.


----------



## quality_sound (Dec 25, 2005)

Timelessr1 said:


> Do you rip using lossless? I'm curious bc Ive been using Spotify for listening usually , but recently ripped a few CDs on iTunes using the lossless choice and I wasn't "wowed" at all compared to Spotify.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Yup, Apple Lossless (ALAC). Download the Onkyo HF Player as well. It'll let you play high def files in most formats through the Lightning connector except for, oddly, MP3. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## subterFUSE (Sep 21, 2009)

XLD on Mac is what I use.


----------



## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

cobb2819 said:


> XLD to Lossless or Flac, but i'm a Mac guy.


Yep same here.. If it's FLAC, I just let XLD dump it to ALAC, pull into iTunes. Done. While it'd be nice to escape the cult of iTunes, it's just too damn easy and convenient and free, somewhat.


----------



## muzikmanwi (Dec 25, 2014)

I just use Nero rip to flac.


----------

