10. Conclusion - Checking the Rip
When you are done ripping, you need to do a few more things in order to make sure that your rip really is perfect:
10a. Check the Log File
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes or No depending on whether the drive has the feature or not (see EAC Setup Guide, step 5a).
Defeat audio cache : Yes if the drive caches audio data, otherwise possibly No (see EAC Setup Guide, step 5a).
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Note: if a rip was made using burst mode, the first "section" will only have one line saying:
Read mode : Burst
Read offset correction : The right value for your drive (see EAC Setup Guide, step 5c).
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : almost always "No" (see EAC Setup Guide, step 5c for the very few exceptions).
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native or installed external interface
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
(If you ripped to wave (= uncompressed) in order to encode the files later, the log should say:
Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo)
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : Irrelevant
Quality : Irrelevant
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor: Correct path to the external encoder
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s
(Alternate correct command lines for FLAC are acceptable, and of course also other command lines for other encoders if you are checking, for example, a rip that was immediately converted to mp3 or Ogg Vorbis.)
- For the "TOC (Table of Contents) of the extracted CD", check that all the tracks have been ripped, and that the times look right.
- Check that the pre-gap lengths look reasonable (see EAC Ripping Guide, step 3).
- Peak level is irrelevant for rip quality (it just tells how loudly the track is mixed).
- Track quality is irrelevant for rip quality as long as the rip was completed without errors.
(It shows the condition of the CD track. 100% track quality shows that EAC did not have to perform any error correction, lower track quality indicate that EAC corrected some error(s).)
- There should be two CRC values for each track (test and copy), and the two values should match.
- It should ideally say "Accurately ripped (confidence [number of rips in the database that matches your rip])", but may not do so if your CD is not present in the database, or if your CD is a different pressing than those present in the database.
- The track info should end with the words "Copy OK".
- After the individual track information, the log should ideally say [total number of] track(s) accurately ripped.
However, this ideal rests on the assumption that you ripped a CD, and a pressing of that CD, that was already present in the database. There are other possible results for properly ripped CDs, see Comments on AccurateRip Results below. Matching test and copy CRC values makes your rip reliable all the same - utilizing the AccurateRip database is like ripping x number of times extra, with different drives, so it may add some extra "confidence" to the rip.
- The next but last line in the log should say "No errors occurred".
For old EAC 0.95 logs:
- The read mode line should start with "secure with NO C2".
The other settings depend on your drive's features:
- If the drive has accurate stream, the read mode line should say "accurate stream", if it does not, the line should say "NO accurate stream" (see EAC Setup Guide, step 5a).
- The read mode line should usually say "disable cache", but it may say "NO disable cache" for drives that do not to cache data (see EAC Setup Guide, step 5a).
(If you ripped to wave (= uncompressed) in order to encode the files later, the log should say:
Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo)
- The first line should show the correct path to the external encoder (for example flac.exe), and the line should end with "(User Defined Encoder)".
- The second line show an irrelevant bitrate
- The third line should say "Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s"
(Alternate correct command lines for FLAC are acceptable, and of course also other command lines for other encoders if you are checking, for example, a rip that was immediately converted to mp3 or Ogg Vorbis.)
- The "other options" should be:
- "Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes"
- "Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No"
- The last option will show whether a native ASPI interface or an installed external one was used.
- Check that all the tracks have been ripped.
- Check that the pre-gap lengths look reasonable (see EAC Ripping Guide, step 3).
- Peak level is irrelevant for rip quality (it just tells how loudly the track is mixed).
- Track quality is irrelevant for rip quality as long as the rip was completed without errors.
(It shows the condition of the CD track. 100% track quality shows that EAC did not have to perform any error correction, lower track quality indicate that EAC corrected some error(s).)
- There should be two CRC values for each track (test and copy), and the two values should match.
- The track info should end with the words "Copy OK".
- The next but last line in the log should say "No errors occurred".
10b. Edit the Save Path Out of the Cue Sheet
If you chose to let EAC create a directory for your rip, the cue sheet will contain the path to the files. In order to make the cue sheet usable as it is, if placed in the same folder as the files, you need to edit that path out of the text.
- Open the cue sheet with Notepad (or some other text editor). If cue sheets are not associated with any text editor, right-click the .cue sheet and choose "Open With...":
- In the window that pops up if cue sheets have no association, choose to select the program from a list:
- Scroll down and see if you find Notepad among the suggested programs. If you do, select it by left-clicking. Check the "Always use the selected program..." box if you want to associate cue sheets with Notepad. (It will not stop you from using cue sheets in other programs, but will make it possible for you to open cue sheets by simply double-clicking them.):
If Notepad is not in the list, click "Browse..." and browse to the WINDOWS folder on your C: drive. Notepad will be almost at the end of the list, among other files that are not placed in subfolders:
Click "Open", and then click "OK" on your way out. Check the "Always use the selected program..." box before clicking "OK" if you want to associate cue sheets with Notepad.
Now you are ready to edit the cue sheet. You want to remove the path to the files, so that the cue sheet can be used by anybody who has the audio files and the cue sheet in the same folder.
- So, select the path for the first file, and end the selection where the file name starts. In this example, the folder name "Queen - 1975 - A Night At The Opera\" is selected.
- After you have selected the path (including the final backslash but excluding the initial quotation mark!), right-click the selection and choose "Copy", or hit Ctrl + C:
- Next, click the "Edit" menu and choose "Replace...", or hit Ctrl + H:
- In the window that pops up, right-click the "Find what" box and choose "paste":
(You can also left-click in the "Find what" box and hit Ctrl + V)
- Make sure you type nothing in the "Replace with" box, then click the "Replace all" button. All the occurrences of the path will be removed.
- Save the cue sheet - you're done!
10c. For Multi-CD Albums: Create Folder Structure
If you have ripped an album that contains more than one CD, you can, for example, create a folder that is named the same way as the CDs, apart from them being named "CD 1" or "CD 2", etc. If you ripped "Queen - 1986 - Live at Wembley Stadium CD 1" and "Queen - 1986 - Live at Wembley Stadium CD 2", create a folder called "Queen - 1986 - Live at Wembley Stadium". Then move the CD folders into that main folder. In order to keep file paths short, you can rename the CD folders to "CD 1" and "CD 2", respectively:
10d. Add Album Art and Maybe Other Scans
Highly recommended but not absolutely required.
10e. Add an Info File About the CD
Highly recommended but not absolutely required.
Congratulations!
You now have a perfect quality rip!
10f. Appendix: Comments on AccurateRip Results
Quote from AccurateRip's homepage:
The philosophy behind AccurateRip is quite simple - each time an audio track is ripped (recorded by computer) it is compared with rips from other people, this allows a confidence report to be generated. The report might say that 4 other people had exactly the same results, this would guarantee your rip was without error, or the report could say that 3 other people disagree with your rip, the likely hood is that your CD has a scratch and should be cleaned.
This is an over-simplification. (The people behind AccurateRip are of course aware of that fact. They are just providing an introductory explanation of the AccurateRip concept.)
For starters, AccurateRip results can not guarantee that a rip is without error even if the confidence number should be very high. Errors may go undetected by AccurateRip in two ways, either because they happen in the first/last portions of the rip (that AccurateRip doesn't check in order to allow for different drive offsets) or because they happen in the right channel at the wrong time, see this thread at dBpoweramp's support forum.
For this reason, you should always test and copy the tracks when you rip a CD instead of relying on AccurateRip results only. To be sure, "test and copy" is no guarantee, either: a drive may happen to read an error in a consistent way so that the test and copy CRCs values match in spite of that error. If you use both AccurateRip and "test and copy", you have minimized the risk of errors going undetected, and thus increased the chance that you rip truly is perfect. It is the best we can do.
Also, AccurateRip relies on user submissions. This is a strength in that the database constantly increases with results from rips made by people using different drives. It is a weakness in that all kinds of rips are collected, both good ones and bad ones. This can have the adverse effect that a good and proper rip is made to look bad because there are bad rips in the AccurateRip database that of course do not match the good rip because they are bad. This is mainly a problem with relatively rare CDs that have only been ripped a few times before. When a CD has been ripped hundreds of times, the results from different bad rips are drowned out by the consensus of matching results from good rips.
The summary of the AccurateRip results at the end of the log file looks different depending on how the individual tracks did in the comparison with the results in the database. This is how to interpret them, and what to do (if anything):
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
This simply means what it says: nobody has submitted results for the CD to the database before. In this case, matching CRC values for test and copy are all there is. Your rip is very likely to be perfect if those values match. (But do submit your results to the database - it is after all user submissions that make the AccurateRip results more and more reliable.)
If you have another drive and want more confidence in your rip, re-rip the CD using that other drive. The small (very small!) risk that the matching CRC values hide an error that was consistently ripped by your drive is made even smaller if the same CRC values appear when you use another drive.
All tracks accurately ripped
This means that there were matches between your results and the ones stored in the database. It can mean that there was only one previous submission ("confidence 1"), or that your result matches tenths or hundreds of other results. You can tell by looking at the confidence numbers for the tracks. Once they are at or above 2, I would say that it is very very likely that your rip (with matching CRC values for test and copy to boot!) is indeed a perfect one.
Note that it is enough that a rip can be verified against at least a couple of other rips. Numbers become meaningless after a while in the sense that a rip with, say, confidence 81 is not "better" than a rip with confidence 9.
No tracks could be verified as accurate
You may have a different pressing from the one(s) in the database
This means that there are results in the database, but none of them match yours. It is indeed very likely that such a result is due to different pressings. Just as in the case with no previously submitted results, matching test and copy CRC values make it very likely that your rip is perfect all the same.
If you have another drive and want more confidence in your rip, re-rip the CD using that other drive. The small (very small!) risk that the matching CRC values hide an error that was consistently ripped by your drive is made even smaller if the same CRC values appear when you use another drive.
[x number of] track(s) accurately ripped
[x number of] track(s) could not be verified as accurate
Some tracks could not be verified as accurate
A result like this calls for further investigation. If the track(s) that could not be verified also have CRC mismatches between test and copy, it appears obvious that there was a ripping error. You need to rip the CD again, and perhaps clean and/or repair it in order to be able to get a proper rip.
If there are matching test and copy CRC values for a track, but the track can not be verified as accurate, rip the track again using a different drive (if possible). If this results in the same matching test and copy CRC values, you have created a confidence of 2, as it were, that your rip is proper in spite of the AccurateRip results.
One drive may rip an error consistently, so that you get matching test and copy CRC values in spite of the error. It is very very unlikely that an error could be consistently ripped by two (or three or four...) different drives, resulting in the same test and copy CRC values for all the rips.
Append the logs for such extra "verification" rips to the end of the original log, so that you have a record of all the results in one place. Here is an example (text colours added to the log for clarity):
Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008
EAC extraction logfile from 26. November 2008, 22:37
Monteverdi / L'Incoronazione di Poppea
Used drive : PLEXTOR DVDR PX-800A Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T
"tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.32 | 6:17.15 | 32 | 28321
2 | 6:17.47 | 3:13.28 | 28322 | 42824
3 | 9:31.00 | 5:17.32 | 42825 | 66631
4 | 14:48.32 | 5:03.53 | 66632 | 89409
5 | 19:52.10 | 4:10.37 | 89410 | 108196
6 | 24:02.47 | 5:27.60 | 108197 | 132781
7 | 29:30.32 | 2:07.60 | 132782 | 142366
8 | 31:38.17 | 3:49.18 | 142367 | 159559
9 | 35:27.35 | 5:40.72 | 159560 | 185131
10 | 41:08.32 | 3:58.00 | 185132 | 202981
11 | 45:06.32 | 6:01.13 | 202982 | 230069
12 | 51:07.45 | 4:33.62 | 230070 | 250606
13 | 55:41.32 | 5:33.00 | 250607 | 275581
14 | 61:14.32 | 4:19.25 | 275582 | 295031
15 | 65:33.57 | 2:51.10 | 295032 | 307866
16 | 68:24.67 | 2:34.00 | 307867 | 319416
17 | 70:58.67 | 3:15.60 | 319417 | 334101
18 | 74:14.52 | 1:56.55 | 334102 | 342856
Track 1
Filename E:\Music\Monteverdi - L'Incoronazione di Poppea\01 - Ad altri tocca in sorte.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.32
Peak level 98.9 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC D46CB1D0
Copy CRC D46CB1D0
Accurately ripped (confidence 2) [C7186F2D]
Copy OK
Track 2
Filename E:\Music\Monteverdi - L'Incoronazione di Poppea\02 - Infelice garzone!.wav
Peak level 38.2 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 833A5ABD
Copy CRC 833A5ABD
Accurately ripped (confidence 2) [82C7B3E8]
Copy OK
Track 3
Filename E:\Music\Monteverdi - L'Incoronazione di Poppea\03 - Pur sempre di Poppea.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 2D5FBBC4
Copy CRC 2D5FBBC4
Cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 2) [8F05F614], AccurateRip returned [410EC2A5]
Copy OK
Track 4
Filename E:\Music\Monteverdi - L'Incoronazione di Poppea\04 - Solitudine amata.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:10.00
Peak level 46.4 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC CB085E02
Copy CRC CB085E02
Accurately ripped (confidence 2) [7D4F4C3C]
Copy OK
(...)
17 track(s) accurately ripped
1 track(s) could not be verified as accurate
Some tracks could not be verified as accurate
No errors occurred
End of status report
----------------------------------------------------
Re-rip of track 3 with 2 different drives - same matching test and copy CRC values, indicating
that this rip is proper in spite of the AccurateRip results above.
In fact, the confidence for this track being accurately ripped is now 3. ;-)
----------------------------------------------------
Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008
EAC extraction logfile from 26. November 2008, 22:47
Monteverdi / L'Incoronazione di Poppea
Used drive : AOPEN CD-RW CRW4850 Adapter: 1 ID: 1
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 97
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T
"tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.32 | 6:17.15 | 32 | 28321
2 | 6:17.47 | 3:13.28 | 28322 | 42824
3 | 9:31.00 | 5:17.32 | 42825 | 66631
4 | 14:48.32 | 5:03.53 | 66632 | 89409
5 | 19:52.10 | 4:10.37 | 89410 | 108196
6 | 24:02.47 | 5:27.60 | 108197 | 132781
7 | 29:30.32 | 2:07.60 | 132782 | 142366
8 | 31:38.17 | 3:49.18 | 142367 | 159559
9 | 35:27.35 | 5:40.72 | 159560 | 185131
10 | 41:08.32 | 3:58.00 | 185132 | 202981
11 | 45:06.32 | 6:01.13 | 202982 | 230069
12 | 51:07.45 | 4:33.62 | 230070 | 250606
13 | 55:41.32 | 5:33.00 | 250607 | 275581
14 | 61:14.32 | 4:19.25 | 275582 | 295031
15 | 65:33.57 | 2:51.10 | 295032 | 307866
16 | 68:24.67 | 2:34.00 | 307867 | 319416
17 | 70:58.67 | 3:15.60 | 319417 | 334101
18 | 74:14.52 | 1:56.55 | 334102 | 342856
Track 3
Filename E:\EACpics\Monteverdi - L'Incoronazione di Poppea\03 - Pur sempre di Poppea.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 2D5FBBC4
Copy CRC 2D5FBBC4
Cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 2) [8F05F614], AccurateRip returned [410EC2A5]
Copy OK
No tracks could be verified as accurate
You may have a different pressing from the one(s) in the database
No errors occurred
End of status report
---------------------------------------------------------------
Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008
EAC extraction logfile from 26. November 2008, 23:09
Monteverdi / L'Incoronazione di Poppea
Used drive : TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-W162C Adapter: 2 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T
"tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.32 | 6:17.15 | 32 | 28321
2 | 6:17.47 | 3:13.28 | 28322 | 42824
3 | 9:31.00 | 5:17.32 | 42825 | 66631
4 | 14:48.32 | 5:03.53 | 66632 | 89409
5 | 19:52.10 | 4:10.37 | 89410 | 108196
6 | 24:02.47 | 5:27.60 | 108197 | 132781
7 | 29:30.32 | 2:07.60 | 132782 | 142366
8 | 31:38.17 | 3:49.18 | 142367 | 159559
9 | 35:27.35 | 5:40.72 | 159560 | 185131
10 | 41:08.32 | 3:58.00 | 185132 | 202981
11 | 45:06.32 | 6:01.13 | 202982 | 230069
12 | 51:07.45 | 4:33.62 | 230070 | 250606
13 | 55:41.32 | 5:33.00 | 250607 | 275581
14 | 61:14.32 | 4:19.25 | 275582 | 295031
15 | 65:33.57 | 2:51.10 | 295032 | 307866
16 | 68:24.67 | 2:34.00 | 307867 | 319416
17 | 70:58.67 | 3:15.60 | 319417 | 334101
18 | 74:14.52 | 1:56.55 | 334102 | 342856
Track 3
Filename E:\Music\Monteverdi - L'Incoronazione di Poppea\03 - Pur sempre di Poppea.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 2D5FBBC4
Copy CRC 2D5FBBC4
Cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 2) [8F05F614], AccurateRip returned [410EC2A5]
Copy OK
No tracks could be verified as accurate
You may have a different pressing from the one(s) in the database
No errors occurred
End of status report
