====== Ripping CDs ======

  * **FLAC** is lossless and consumes much more space than MP3s
  * **MP3** ranges from 128Kbps to 320Kbps

===== MP3s via Windows Media Player =====

:-( Windows Media Player's "Retrieve additional information from the Internet" is terrible.

  - Open Windows Media Player
  - Right Click -> More Options
    - Rip Music
      - Select the folder
      - Select the format: MP3
      - (Do not "Rip CD Automatically" because you want additional information from the Internet.)
    - Library
      - Retrieve additional information from the Internet

:-( I abandoned this effort.

===== FLAC and MP3 via EAC Exact Audio Copy =====

(Andre Wiethoff, the author of EAC also makes [[https://www.easyaudiocopy.com/faq.htm|Easy Audio Copy]], and games like [[https://puzzlesoftheday.com/en/slitherlink|Slitherlink]].)

[[https://groups.io/g/ExactAudioCopy/message/29251|EAC can be used to rip to lossless WAV, convert to lossless FLAC, and also convert to MP3 in "one pass"]] (screenshots of preferences tabs). 

[[https://www.reddit.com/r/software/comments/ylxg33/perfect_cdripping_to_flac_with_exact_audio_copy/|Perfect CD-ripping to FLAC with Exact Audio Copy (Guide, How-to)]].

  - EAC -> Metadata Options (maybe choose provider, not GD3)
  - EAC Options -> General:
    - Check "Use alternate CD Play routines" (Default)
    - Check "Disable 'CD Autostart' for audio and data CDs while EAC running"
    - Check "On unknown CDs," and select "automatically access online metadata database".
  - EAC Options -> Naming Scheme
    - ''FLAC\%artist%\%albumtitle%\%tracknr2% - %artist% - %title%''
    - ''FLAC\Various Artists\%albumtitle%\%tracknr2% - %artist% - %title%''
    - (Similar for the "Additional naming scheme", but change/remove FLAC)
  - External Compression Options (FLAC here)
    - User Defined Encoder
    - .flac
    - \Flac\flac.exe
    - Additional command-line options: ''<nowiki>-8 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "TRACKTOTAL=%numtracks%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "PERFORMER=%albuminterpret%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albumartist%" -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "DISCTOTAL=%totalcds%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" %source% -o %dest%</nowiki>''
      - Seems like we should prefer [[https://hydrogenaudio.org/index.php/topic,91496.msg773857.html|TRACKTOTAL to TOTALTRACKS and DISCTOTAL to TOTALDISCS]].
  - Additional External Compression Options (MP3 here)
    - User Defined Encoder
    - [[https://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=EAC_and_Lame|tick "Add ID3 tag"]]
    - Consider adding "Additional command line options" ''-p -h -V2 %source% %dest%''
      - "-V2" means Variable Bitrate of about 190Kbps ([[https://svn.code.sf.net/p/lame/svn/trunk/lame/USAGE|usage docs]]), seems like a good compromise.
      - [[https://hydrogenaudio.org/index.php/topic,51255.msg459515.html#msg459515|Here's a nice graph of size vs. quality]].
      - Test the decoder to see what parameters are sent. [[https://groups.io/g/ExactAudioCopy/topic/eac_w_lame_exe_additional/78518468|The EAC author says how additional parameters get accounted.]]

Here's [[https://groups.io/g/ExactAudioCopy/message/29260|a recommendation to write a huge FLAC file for the whole album with embedded cue sheet, metadata and album art, from which cuetools or Foobar2k could be used to bulk-convert to MP3s later]] (click "show quoted text" too).

  * [[https://www.foobar2000.org/|foobar2000]]
  * [[https://cue.tools/wiki/CUETools|CUETools]]

===== Reference =====

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgxPyTBgu74