Ripping with iTunes to ALAC

Discussion in 'General Audio Discussion' started by incrediblehong, Apr 1, 2020.

  1. incrediblehong

    incrediblehong New

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    Hi everyone. I am beginning my audio journey and have gathered a number of CDs to start. I am intending to rip them using iTunes to ALAC and I would like to know if there are any major pitfalls regarding iTunes/ALAC compared to FLAC or other lossless formats that I should know of before I start ripping them CDs.

    I am choosing iTunes/ALAC over EAC/FLAC because I would like to have the flexibility of being able to load the songs into both my DAP and iPhone. iTunes seems to be more user friendly with the tagging of album information and album art than EAC to me.

    I also understand that ALAC and FLAC are two very similar formats, both compressed lossless and have little to no audible differences between them (correct me if I am wrong).

    I have tried searching the forum with 'ripping' and 'ripping with itunes' but not much opinion/information/reinforcements was gathered hence this.

    Thank you all in advance for your input!
     
  2. Collusion

    Collusion Friend

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    Last edited: Apr 1, 2020
  3. StageOne

    StageOne Friend

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    If you are wanting to use iTunes and ALAC, I'll assume you have a Mac. In that case I'd use XLD to rip/convert CDs to ALAC. IT has a much better decoder than iTunes

    XLD: https://tmkk.undo.jp/xld/index_e.html
     
    Last edited: Apr 1, 2020
  4. dubharmonic

    dubharmonic Friend

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    @StageOne can you expand on how XDL is better? (or is this an April fools joke?)
     
  5. Josh83

    Josh83 Friend

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    XLD can test and rip, verify against Accurip, etc.
     
  6. StageOne

    StageOne Friend

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    Nope not an April fools.

    In XLD you can change the "Ripper Mode" to XLD Secure Ripper. This has better error detection and correction. If your CDs are clean and don't have scratches, it may not matter as much. If the CD has scratches you can get audible digital artifacts with iTunes. I've re-ripped the same CDs with XLD and the artifacts are gone.
     
  7. incrediblehong

    incrediblehong New

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    @StageOne Actually no, I'm using windows. I wanted to use iTunes and ALAC simply because I wanted the option to load songs into my phone and I don't foresee myself not using an iPhone..
     
  8. scblock

    scblock Friend

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    Specifically, XLD has a more reliable secure ripper, including integration with AccurateRip. Though I've never had notable issues with iTunes, I prefer to use XLD to rip because of the AccurateRip checks and log files.

    ALAC itself of course is lossless and so that piece is not of significant concern. XLD also makes it pretty easy to convert from FLAC to ALAC and back if needed. I prefer FLAC for metadata and more reliability with my FiiO portable players, but if you're an iTunes user it makes more sense to stick with ALAC.

    As to tagging, I prefer to run every new rip through MusicBrainz Picard before importing, whether that's to iTunes or to Roon.
     
  9. famish99

    famish99 Friend

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    Ultimately you'll have to balance quality or convenience. Like I won't deny that tagging in EAC is a nightmare, but it's the best ripping software you'll find on PC in terms of quality and you can always convert formats after it's been ripped cleanly. But if that sounds like too much work, then iTunes it up. Personally I take the EAC route and convert into other formats as needed.
     
  10. winders

    winders boomer

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    I prefer dBpoweramp, especially on a Windows machine. It's not free but is it well worth the $39 US it costs. It uses AccurateRip which is a very good thing and it is fast and flexible.

    In regards, to FLAC vs ALAC: they are just different containers that hold the same exact music data. One can be easily converted to the other (dBpoweramp will do this). There should be no difference in sound quality between the two. FLAC is certainly more popular outside the Apple ecosystem but there is no reason to not use ALAC if you need it for Apple device compatibility.
     
  11. scblock

    scblock Friend

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    I know this whole thing belongs in the all purpose thread, but have one more thought. When I’m on Windows I also use EAC, with conversion to FLAC configured. But I don’t tag the files at all, or even try to download track info from a database in EAC. Instead I load up Picard and have it grab the CD info from the MusicBrainz database and use it to tag and rename the files after ripping is complete. Bypasses the fairly poor tagging in EAC entirely.

    And after using iTunes to rip all my Dad's CDs for him over Christmas (since his new pickup didn’t have a CD player) I wouldn’t trust it to grab track data in the “best” way either without intervention, though it’s tagging interface is pretty good. I’d assume some time needed to get the tags right no matter what. It’s worth the time though, in the end.
     
  12. incrediblehong

    incrediblehong New

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    Does it help with tagging/naming the files? Just nice I was researching ways to rip concert DVDs and convert to audio! I have also been reading up on forums, learning about different formats and their properties. Gosh so much to learn about audio!
     
  13. fastfwd

    fastfwd Friend

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    Yeah, dbPoweramp is great for that: Multiple metadata sources for automatically tagging tracks and finding cover art, very complete set of rules and expressions for naming files, support for all the tag formats you could possibly want.

    I still pass my files through MusicBrainz Picard afterward, to get the additional user-contributed tags, but dbPoweramp handles the basics close to perfectly.
     
  14. aphexacid

    aphexacid New

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    I rip to ALAC as well. I don’t use mac’s anymore so if I have a questionable cd, I run it through EAC first, and then put it through iTunes if it’s clean.
     
  15. luckybaer

    luckybaer Friend

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    FWIW, I use dbPoweramp. I rip lossless to both FLAC and Apple Lossless. When I'm converting a needledrop from FLAC to Apple Lossless, I use it, too. It is a solid all-in-one solution.
     

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