[timind]

What are the advantages of using MAX over the itunes import process. I am nearly finished importing my cds to an external drive via Mac mini. The files are were imported as AIFF with itunes set to error correct. I was under the impression that going this route I would get bit perfect copies. Is this not true.
I would start again if needed but damn I'm on the Neil Young cds and I'm doing it alphabetically.

[funkmonkey]

as far as I know, Max allows rips to flac, iTunes does not.  Beyond that bit perfect, means bit perfect wether flac, AIFF, WAV...

[Bear Heath]

There is no reason to use Max vs iTunes if you are importing directly into iTunes. Max is good if you download a FLAC file and want to use iTunes to play it or in the case of PureMusic to use iTunes to manage your music library.

[timind]

This is good to hear as I have maybe a dozen cds left to import. 

[newzooreview]

There is no reason to use Max vs iTunes if you are importing directly into iTunes. Max is good if you download a FLAC file and want to use iTunes to play it or in the case of PureMusic to use iTunes to manage your music library.

Even with error correction turned on, iTunes will often ignore bad sectors and produce a file with glitches or dropouts. It will also retain small errors that may not be as readily audible. On clean, new discs this is not really an issue. When I first ripped my collection, however, I had a few discs that had picked up some wear marks even though I take good care of them. iTunes produced audible problems in about 5-10% of the discs (and maybe subtle problems in a higher percentage).

I used to use Max, but have now switched to XLD. It's free, and it offers two big advantages: 1) it uses a very precise ripping engine that does not gloss over read errors. It re-reads the disc until it gets bit for bit accuracy; and 2) it compares the results against a database of rips to be verify that your results match others (it's not very likely that two rips produce identical errors, so if they match then it's almost certain that they are bit perfect). I also use an external CD drive from OWC to do my ripping since it's faster and more reliable than the internal drives that come with most computers stock.

XLD    http://tmkk.pv.land.to/xld/index_e.html
OWC  http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MRF82SD22LS/

I wouldn't necessarily rerip everything, but if you encounter CDs that didn't rip well the first time I would use XLD to re-rip them.

Hope that helps! 

[skunark]

Keep in mind that Max is open source software unlike XLD.   Also if one is concerned about accurate rips, then use Rip for checksumming.   Hopefully Max and Rip will merge down he road.   

I probably should point out that iTunes, Max, XLD and other ripping programs on UNIX/BSD/Linux based OSes all use the same basic ripping and codec libraries.  On Mac OS X the will even use the core audio library and supplied gnu libraries.  Other than the key option to rip to the file format you want the only unique option today is the checksums that compare against an online database.  Just like exact audio copy program found on the windows platform. 

[timind]

I'll check out the XLD and was considering an external drive.
Also, I tried EAC on my pc and liked the way it ripped. It always gave an indication of the outcome. The problem I had was it did not import all of the info ie album title, artist and such.

[Wayne1]

Also, I tried EAC on my pc and liked the way it ripped. It always gave an indication of the outcome. The problem I had was it did not import all of the info ie album title, artist and such.

That's why you want to use dbpoweramp on your PC.

[timind]

That's why you want to use dbpoweramp on your PC.

All of the info was picked up by freedb but it did not transfer to itunes when the files were saved. The song title was the only info that made it.
Thanks for the dbpoweramp tip. Another ripper to look into.

[Toka]

I'll check out the XLD and was considering an external drive.

XLD is my ripper of choice. 

I used to use iTunes as you did but there was one in maybe 100 discs that would have some sort of problem that I wouldn't find until I listened...since using XLD I've had no problems at all.

[bernardl]

I have been very happy about DBPowerAmp also, it offers an excellent combination of speed (AccurateRip DB), secured ripping when needed and features (simultaneous ripping to several formats).

It is running in a VM Ware Fusion instance of Win7 on top of OS 10.6.

Cheers,
Bernard

[teros1]

IMO...

The iTunes ripping engine has (quietly) improved over the past couple of years. For example, I no longer encounter any errors due to offsets. However, it remains a "trust me" product, reporting no anomalies in rips other than total failures.

Of the 3rd-party rippers....

For many people, RIP will be more useful than MAX for ripping. Same author, improved code. Faster. Supports AccurateRip. "Manual" iTunes integration though.

XLD is more feature-rich, but a bit more complicated to use (optimally).

If you need FLAC...

MAX is the easiest way to convert formats, but XLD is more powerful (i.e., can correctly translate some problem files that MAX fails on.

Bob