Anyone using XLD?

timind · « **on:** 7 Jan 2012, 03:29 am »

I downloaded XLD a few weeks ago and after installing it I ripped one cd to try it out. Now that was a real pain as it was not very self evident how to get it to operate. I remember thinking I should write a note so I could get it working next time.
Well I just gave up trying to rip another cd. Got the cd loaded, it shows up so I hit extract and a "progress" window pops up showing me the tracks along with a progress bar. Unfortunately no progress at all.
The only thing I did differently was to go into XLD preferences and under "extract" I unchecked the detect pregap box. Why? Because a "detecting pregap" window would pop up when I opened the cd. The detecting pregap window never showed progress.
Any suggestions are appreciated.

kc8apf · « **Reply #1 on:** 7 Jan 2012, 03:33 am »

Sounds like XLD is having trouble reading from the drive. Normally, the detecting pre-gap window only shows up for a few seconds. Do you have any other apps open that might be using the CD drive?

timind · « **Reply #2 on:** 7 Jan 2012, 03:38 am »

only itunes is open. With pregap unchecked it looks as if it is going to extract but just sits there.

timind · « **Reply #3 on:** 7 Jan 2012, 03:42 am »

Think I'll try again tomorrow.

kc8apf · « **Reply #4 on:** 7 Jan 2012, 04:10 am »

I've had some odd interactions with XLD and iTunes. iTunes wants to read the track info and switch the CD in the source list. Sometimes that prevents XLD from working. Try closing both iTunes and XLD, remove the CD from the drive, open XLD, insert CD.

timind · « **Reply #5 on:** 8 Jan 2012, 02:59 am »

Got it working. Here's what I did. Went to XLD preferences and rechecked the "detect pregap" box. WHile there I noticed a box for extract/rip cd upon insertion. I checked that box, put the cd in and it began the process immediately. I also closed itunes as suggested but it worked with 3 different cds so I don't think closing itunes had much to do with it.
I will live with it this way as the only time I ever insert a cd is when I want to rip it to my HD. Thanks for the help.

coverto · « **Reply #6 on:** 8 Jan 2012, 04:39 am »

Do you notice any difference in sound quality between the XLD rip and the iTunes rip with error correction? I've heard from some people that it doesn't make much difference with CDs that are pristine, and is mainly useful for converting between file formats, e.g. - FLAC to AIFF, etc... Would be very interesting to hear your impressions.

rpf · « **Reply #7 on:** 8 Jan 2012, 04:46 am »

Quote from: coverto on 8 Jan 2012, 04:39 am

Do you notice any difference in sound quality between the XLD rip and the iTunes rip with error correction? I've heard from some people that it doesn't make much difference with CDs that are pristine, and is mainly useful for converting between file formats, e.g. - FLAC to AIFF, etc... Would be very interesting to hear your impressions.

I haven't heard much difference between the two, although I've only compared a few disks. All were in pristine condition as all my discs are. Sometimes one sounded very slightly better than the other but it went both ways as far as which program. A friend I had over agreed the differences were slight.

kc8apf · « **Reply #8 on:** 8 Jan 2012, 05:01 am »

Quote from: coverto on 8 Jan 2012, 04:39 am

Do you notice any difference in sound quality between the XLD rip and the iTunes rip with error correction? I've heard from some people that it doesn't make much difference with CDs that are pristine, and is mainly useful for converting between file formats, e.g. - FLAC to AIFF, etc... Would be very interesting to hear your impressions.

I haven't noticed any difference in the sound, but it is nice to see XLD verify the rip against http://www.accuraterip.com.

timind · « **Reply #9 on:** 8 Jan 2012, 11:18 am »

I have only ripped a few cds with XLD and haven't yet listened critically. I will say though that one of the cds I ripped had trouble with track 2 in my cdp. It would skip in the cdp but after ripping with XLD it played perfectly through XLD. The XLD data on this track showed it was a perfect copy.
It takes longer to rip but I'll probably use it for any future transfers.

jrebman · « **Reply #10 on:** 27 Jan 2012, 04:22 pm »

I have a few discs that were ripped with iTunes and error correction and although they reported no problems, there are some tracks that have digital "skips" on them -- just as you would get with a scratched CD in a CD spinner. Re-ripped the same discs with dbpoweramp and they played fine.

IMO there are still things that iTunes with error correction will still let through and not flag them. And I can't know in advance if a disc is pristine or not.

XLD will be the next thing I try as I'd rather rip direct to AIFF on a thunderbolt drive that I just got. I still believe the less format conversion and transmission of files from one machine to another and especially one platform to another is just asking for something to get corrupted somehow. All players are Apple, so why not just keep it all in one native format?

-- Jim

SteveRB · « **Reply #11 on:** 27 Jan 2012, 08:43 pm »

I've been using XLD with great success. I have an excellent configuration guide that I can email you to get all the parameters set.

PM if you're interested.

dB Cooper · « **Reply #12 on:** 27 Jan 2012, 11:20 pm »

XLD is a bit... uh... quirky but produces a high quality output. jrebman, I wonder if you had error correction turned on when you had your problem?

One beef I have with the app, though, is that the only way to change any settings is in the prefs. This is tedious. Another recently introduced app, MediaHuman Audio Converter, makes this easier but afaik does not support any variable bit rate options at present. Worth a look though, the UI seems more intuitive than XLD if you don't need the VBR. The main window has a dropdown for output settings and a 'drop files here' box. It lacks XLD's error correction though so XLD is better as a ripper.

jrebman · « **Reply #13 on:** 30 Jan 2012, 11:47 pm »

Yes, I did have error correction on, so not sure what was up.

-- Jim

dB Cooper · « **Reply #14 on:** 8 Feb 2012, 08:46 pm »

astronaut glen's guide is very useful. It is from a slightly earlier version and some of the options have changed (as they say on the phone menu) but I found it very helpful; some of my stuff I will probably re-rip. The only CD I have re-ripped so far (Santan Abraxas remaster) barely changed at all sizewise with the higher-than-default compression setting but the 'confidence' in the rip went from 4 to 5 FWIW.

SteveRB · « **Reply #15 on:** 9 Feb 2012, 06:54 pm »

I have been getting a fair number of requests for the guide. Any way to post it to this circle?

dB Cooper · « **Reply #16 on:** 9 Feb 2012, 07:21 pm »

What does "confidence" refer to in the log? Have seen numbers from 1 to 9. How does one interpret the numbers, if at all, other than 'higher is better'?

Ern Dog · « **Reply #17 on:** 19 Feb 2012, 04:27 am »

I downloaded XLD and ripped my first CD today. Then I realized that XLD does not Burn files to CD. I'm using a Mac and right now I only have iTunes to burn it. Should I use iTunes to do the burn or is there a better burner program avail that's a free download?

dB Cooper · « **Reply #18 on:** 19 Feb 2012, 04:36 am »

If you are burning data disk, that can be done right in Disk Utility. You can also create a Burn Folder in the Finder and drag files to it (this creates aliases to the files that will eventually be burned on the disk). For freeware general purpose burning apps, Burn and Liquid CD are both useful, available from macupdate.com.

Ern Dog · « **Reply #19 on:** 19 Feb 2012, 10:11 pm »

Since it is music, I tried using the "Burn Folder". It burned the disk, but when I put it in my CD player I found that it is reading as if it was a data disk. So I went back to using iTunes to burn it.