need a reasonably fast and high quality ripper/encorder, any suggestion?

I would wait for Andavari on this one.

if you're looking to rip music CDs, then EAC is what you're looking for. not sure what you should use for regular data since i don't have many CDs like that.

as for encoder, Nero 6 is probably the best. although i myself use Ashampoo's Burning Application since it supports FLAC and Vorbis out of the box

EAC using its Secure Mode is king and is the best ripper period for MS Windows!

As for encoders welcome to a rats nest of choices. You should really read Hydrogenaudio.org (the bible for this kind of discussion) before you commit to using any particular quality or codec, and since all the info is already written there there's really no need to post it here.

First off you need to ask yourself if you want a lossy codec like LAME MP3 (compatible with nearly everything), or a different lossy codec like Ogg Vorbis, etc. Then there's also lossless such as FLAC, WavPack, Windows Media Lossless, etc. Then again there's documentation and discussions about this on Hydrogenaudio.org.

For the love of god, not Windows Media.

Wise words though Andavari.

About encoders, it depends what codec/format you choose. The best MP3 encoder is definitely LAME. Ogg Vorbis and FLAC are alternatives you might wish to consider.

Follow Andavari's advice, he knows what hes talking about.

Hi wgan,

I`ve been using a pretty cool free program called AudioGrabber, which you can find at http://www.download.com/Audiograbber/3000-...tml?tag=lst-0-1

You can get quite a few user reviews there as well. Most rate it as, "one of the best, if not the best."

The only difference between the free and paid for version, is the pay for version has a noise reduction plug-in from Algorithmix. And you don`t actually need this unless you are converting things like old vinyl recordings.

It also has extensive help file, instructions, and support, at home page http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/

Only con for this program is that you have to follow links provided in help file welcome page, to download a decent encoder.

You have a choice, and I went for the Lame 3 encoder.

AudioGrabber does just about everything, including recording and converting into virtually any filetype from Line In.

I have found this function really useful, for getting stuff off Mini Disk onto CD for the car.

Definitely worth a look. Hope this is helpful.

Regards

Allot of people like AudioGrabber and such but it doesn't even come close to the king EAC.

Forgot to mention EAC also has the following built into it:
• Wave Editor
• Line-in Recorder
• Audio CD Burner
• Rip CD to: Image file, CUE
• Frontend for .exe encoders like LAME.exe, OggEnc.exe, FLAC.exe, WavPack.exe, etc., so long as you know how to configure them in EAC

There's even more in EAC that I haven't even used before, dabble to find them.


Make sure you're using the newest stable release which is 3.97 as it has some vast speed improvements over some previous versions.

Yes, thanks Andavari, just checked. Got that version.

There is one thing AudioGrabber can`t do, and that is do a direct record of a "Full Album Downstream", such as I get off C-Net.
I`m getting round that by using the digital out on my pc, into my minidisk player, and then back into pc using line in, which AudioGrabber does record from.
Can EAC do that ? If not, is there a decent free program I can get to direct record downstreams ?

Thanks in advance,

Regards

You mean record a streaming album off the Internet? No. You instead need a media player like Winamp to do that.