[nomadicbry]

Hi

apologies for the NOOB question however I've searched the forums and can't find a satisfactory answer or one that I understand.

I've recently started ripping my CD collection into FLAC using EAC...(thanks to all the posters on the site for invaluable advice on such things)

Can some one asnwer a few basic questions:

Should I be creating a cue file when ripping to flac? is it necessary and if so what for? or is it merely useful when ripping to WAV?

When i try to create a flac and cue file in EAC i get one flac file rather than a directory with indivudal flac tracks when i use the copy tracks command. Should I be using another command or is my setup wrong?

Any advice would be gratefully received before i rip anymore CDs.
I'm currently up to 30 with 1300 to go so I'd rather find out of I'm doing it right or if I need to rip cue files as well as I only want to do this once

Thanks
Bryan

[ted_b]

You need to rip into one of two scenarios:

1) copy tracks (compressed or uncompressed).  This copies each track as a separate file.  In formats that support meta data (album, artists, genre, etc) the metadata is included in each track.  WAV does not support metadata per se (without plug-ins), but you are using FLAC and all is good.

OR

2) copy image and create cue sheet.  This copies the album as ONE WHOLE file (AbbeyRoad.flac), and since there is nothing to tell the player (iTunes, Foobar, etc.) when one song ends and another begins, it needs a table of contents....the cue file.  Without the cue file the album would play as one song and no metadata would be included. 

The upside of ripping to option 2 (copy image and cue) is that you have 10x less files to deal with.  The downsides, however, are numerous.  Cue sheet support is spotty in many players; non-existent in most.  With large album files it becomes more difficult to create compilation discs than with separate song files.  Cue sheets can sometimes be incorrect and/or be read differently by different players.  It's more work if you want to rip only a few songs of an album.....

I went with cue sheet/large files for years; then about 8 months ago I converted everything to single files and have never looked back.

[nomadicbry]

Much appreciated. I now understand the point of cue files and i take it they're not really required when you are ripping to individual tracks.

As i prefer entire album folders with individual tracks this seems the best route (for me) I've taken.

Many thanks for setting my mind to rest on this. Ic an now continue with this epic project

cheers,
B

[doctorcilantro]

Honestly, .cue files are complicated are cumbersome in my experience.

I have used .ape/cue and .flac/cue, both have been a pain for even advanced apps like J. River.

From a purely intuitive perspective, we're dealing with an album of tracks, thus I' like to have multiple files which represent those tracks, not one large one which makes things more complicated.


Good luck!
DC

You need to rip into one of two scenarios:

1) copy tracks (compressed or uncompressed).  This copies each track as a separate file.  In formats that support meta data (album, artists, genre, etc) the metadata is included in each track.  WAV does not support metadata per se (without plug-ins), but you are using FLAC and all is good.

OR

2) copy image and create cue sheet.  This copies the album as ONE WHOLE file (AbbeyRoad.flac), and since there is nothing to tell the player (iTunes, Foobar, etc.) when one song ends and another begins, it needs a table of contents....the cue file.  Without the cue file the album would play as one song and no metadata would be included. 

The upside of ripping to option 2 (copy image and cue) is that you have 10x less files to deal with.  The downsides, however, are numerous.  Cue sheet support is spotty in many players; non-existent in most.  With large album files it becomes more difficult to create compilation discs than with separate song files.  Cue sheets can sometimes be incorrect and/or be read differently by different players.  It's more work if you want to rip only a few songs of an album.....

I went with cue sheet/large files for years; then about 8 months ago I converted everything to single files and have never looked back.

[JEaton]

Much appreciated. I now understand the point of cue files and i take it they're not really required when you are ripping to individual tracks.

CUE sheets have a couple of uses:

1. For breaking up CD image files into tracks.  If you rip a CD to a single file then you must have a CUE sheet to find the tracks.

2. Duplicating CDs.  CUE sheets can contain the exact CD layout, including all indexes.

I rip to individual tracks, but I still create a CUE sheet for every CD that I rip, so that I can duplicate the CD exactly should I choose.  You can burn a CD containing all of the tracks without a CUE sheet, but it won't be an exact copy of the original.

The sequence that I use in EAC when ripping a CD is:

1. Press F4 to detect inter-track gaps.

2. Use Action > Create CUE Sheet > Current Gab Settings...

3. Rip the CD.

[doctorcilantro]

25ms cut out of track 1 silence isn't really is problem though is it? I can't stand EAC anymore (wouldn't even run on the last rig I had without tweaks) and have settled for secure rip in J. River with rip logging, and burning with DSP (crossfading mixes) or without for standard CD copies.

Even EAC can't provide 100 secure all the time (neither can J. River) as has been discussed on HyrdrogenAudio and elsewhere. Good app, but just too much work imo.

Ever used Accurate Rip? I have heard mixed things.

DC

 

Much appreciated. I now understand the point of cue files and i take it they're not really required when you are ripping to individual tracks.

CUE sheets have a couple of uses:

1. For breaking up CD image files into tracks.  If you rip a CD to a single file then you must have a CUE sheet to find the tracks.

2. Duplicating CDs.  CUE sheets can contain the exact CD layout, including all indexes.

I rip to individual tracks, but I still create a CUE sheet for every CD that I rip, so that I can duplicate the CD exactly should I choose.  You can burn a CD containing all of the tracks without a CUE sheet, but it won't be an exact copy of the original.

The sequence that I use in EAC when ripping a CD is:

1. Press F4 to detect inter-track gaps.

2. Use Action > Create CUE Sheet > Current Gab Settings...

3. Rip the CD.