CD Ripping Trouble

404NotFound · Post by **404NotFound** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:10 pm

Ok, I just BOUGHT, 100% legitimately bought the new Kasabian album, Empire.

So, like i do with all my music, i'm ripping it to my computer for personal use.

The problem is that, no matter how hard i try, i can't get the fricking POPS AND CLICKS out of the copy. I've done numerous EAC settings tweaks, CDEX with full paranoia, burst mode, fast sync, secure, etc. Nothing works.

Here's the kicker, the clicks aren't consistent. They seem to be in different spots each time i rip. I've also tried THREE different cd drives. One LiteOn combo drive, a generic DVD-Rom drive and my new NEC dvd-RW drive. ALL of them yeild clicks.

To make it even weirder, these pops don't appear when i play it in winamp.

mariobro · Post by **mariobro** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:32 pm

Hmmm... what about buffer adjustments in your ripping software?

Are you using a sound card, or integrated audio?

I've had this happen. I believe there's a program that let's you make authentic bit-for-bit digital copies of sound files. That could help. I don't recall the name, but it should be easy to find.

Also, you can try making an image out of your 100% legitimate CD

and ripping from it. that could rule out optical problems in the CD drives.

mankrip · Post by **mankrip** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:57 pm

If it plays in Winamp, try using the Disk Writer plug-in.

BlackAura · Post by **BlackAura** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 9:31 pm

The Winamp CD plugin doesn't digitally rip the disc. It plays it through the analog audio output.

Basically, the disc is copy protected. By the sound of it, they've corrupted the error correction data. It's probably either SafeAudio or something similar. The easiest way to copy such a disc is basically to play it, and record the input from the CD drive. It results in a loss in quality, but the data on the disc itself is already damaged beyond repair.

404NotFound · Post by **404NotFound** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 9:34 pm

Strangely, the Winamp method is working so far.

How winamp beats out a program with all the bells and whistles like EAC is beyond me, however.

The CD seems to be pressed quite strangely. Think it's some sort of copy protection?

mankrip · Post by **mankrip** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 9:45 pm

BlackAura wrote:The Winamp CD plugin doesn't digitally rip the disc. It plays it through the analog audio output.

(...) It results in a loss in quality

Windows XP plays CDDA tracks digitally, so there's no problem. You can use the drive properties in the device manager to switch between digital/analog, but it is set to digital by default.

404NotFound · Post by **404NotFound** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 9:54 pm

So does anyone know of a site that has a fairly exaustive list of CDs that are protected? I have a couple that do this and i'd be curious to know if it's just me.

Post by **|darc|** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 9:59 pm

Does the CD have the Compact Disc: Digital Audio logo on it? If not, it is definately copy protected. If it does, it may still be copy protected; I'm not sure what sort of copy protections exist that can still be considered a standard audio CD.

404NotFound · Post by **404NotFound** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 10:06 pm

I just looked.

Black Holes and Revelations... satin finish on the top of the disc, no logo anywhere.
Empires... same satin finish. Also no disc logo.

Both discs have a very weird data pattern on the bottom. Fairly normal looking inner part, until the music seems to stop. Then it's just random looking rings.

Man i'm cheesed off. I buy my music and this is what I get?

After turning off all data correction on EAC and just using straight Burst mode it seems to have gotten rid of all the pops as well. What an odd fix.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 10:16 pm

It dosen't seem to be protected, as there are plenty of rips of it (scene and non-scene) in multiple formats floating around.

BlackAura · Post by **BlackAura** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 11:50 pm

Thomas wrote:It dosen't seem to be protected, as there are plenty of rips of it (scene and non-scene) in multiple formats floating around.

That doesn't mean anything. Most protected discs are actually fairly easy to rip with the right hardware and software, so there's almost certainly at least one person out there able to rip and upload any given CD.

404NotFound wrote:After turning off all data correction on EAC and just using straight Burst mode it seems to have gotten rid of all the pops as well. What an odd fix.

Sounds about right, actually. They probably damaged the error correction codes on the CD specifically to trip up programs like EAC.

That seems rather stupid, because most normal CD rippers rip in a mode equivalent to EAC's burst mode. Unless they did something else to the disc in addition to the corrupted ECC, it should be rippable with iTunes or Windows Media Player.

Luriden · Post by **Luriden** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 12:12 am

I know Kasabian's first album was copy protected because I have it. If you've already put it in, the only way you can rip it is by removing the copy protection, which you'll have to Google. When you put a copy protected CD in your computer, regardless of if you accept the terms or not, they install a little file that makes it so rips come out distorted.

jaredfogle · Post by **jaredfogle** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 1:34 pm

Just download someone else's rip, and maybe you'll stop and think before you pay for music again.

404NotFound · Post by **404NotFound** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 7:20 pm

Argh, upon further listening the pops are still there, just not nearly as bad anymore. Seem to be there when i play directly from the CD, too.

Gonna have to scrounge up a CD player to see how it sounds from there. Too bad nobody has CDplayers anymore.

404NotFound · Post by **404NotFound** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 1:12 pm

Just a small update, CDEX with the "standard" setting and jitter correction enabled seem to do the job.

My first attempt was CDEX with full paranoia, that's when i went back to EAC and encountered problems, etc.

But this seems to work fine.