CD Ripper comes preconfigured with two advantageous internet services (an internet connection is required):

	AccurateRip online database using results from other peoples rips, if your rip matches theirs then you can be 100% sure it was without error, no other secure ripping method can get this close to certainty of error free rips. Once a month AccurateRip will request to send your results (around 50 KB) to help populate the database.
& GD3	Premium online meta-data in the form of PerfectMeta™ which uses AMG, GD3, SonataDB (Classical), MusicBrainz and freedb simultaneously to retrieve track names, has high resolution Album Art and extended fields such as Composer. PerfectMeta is supplied with the Reference version.

Depending upon your needs, spending a little time and configuring CD Ripper for secure ripping will recover all possible errors, setup details in CD Ripper Advanced.

For users who wish to achieve the best secure ripping setup, follow the CD Ripper Setup Guide
 

Six quick steps to Ripping:

1. Insert Audio CD, CD Ripper connects to AccurateRip reading other peoples ripping accuracy results, then connects to Meta Data Providers get track names and album art,
2. Set compression format with Rip To (choose Multi-Encoder if encoding to 2 formats at the same time), edit compression settings under Encoder tab,
3. Path and Naming sets where Ripped tracks are saved, by default it is My Music, the actual filename depends upon the CD being ripped.
4. Click Rip to begin ripping.

Meta data comprises of track identification fields, such as album, artist, album artwork, etc and is embedded into audio files. PerfectMeta™ uses 5 Internet meta data providers simultaneously, this allows any inevitable errors, such as spelling mistakes to be self corrected. In addition, there are 100's of internal rules to ensure that the metadata returned is consistent across discs & providers. PerfectMeta offers the best metadata solution obtainable today. Many of our competitors simply use freedb for meta data, freedb is good in that it is free, but the scope and quality of meta data contained within can be lacking. PerfectMeta does not just use one premium (pay for use) meta provider, but three!  All Media Guide, SonataDB (classical database) and GD3, in addition to MusicBrainz and freedb. Meta data is retrieved automatically when an audio CD is inserted, pressing the Meta button again retrieves meta data, if PerfectMeta was used it is possible to see its workings by clicking Review Metadata, or make self corrections (on the Review page, click on any red item to set to it, click a metadata provider button, at the top to override with metadata from that provider). Metadata can be typed manually on the main page by, selecting one track and press F2, after typing press enter to move onto the next track. Clicking the Meta tab (next to Encoder), lists all Meta data items for a track or the whole disc. Items shown in gray are excluded from being written to the ID-Tag (click Options >> Meta Data & ID Tag 'Options' to view exclusions). The Compilation checkbox allows each track to have a different Artist, Year and Genre. Ordinarily with no tracks selected typing into the Artist box at the top changes the artist for all tracks, however if compilation is selected selecting one track highlights the artist box in blue to show that only one tracks artist is being edited, pressing enter moves onto the next track.

Album Art is automatically retrieved from the internet, its size depends upon the source (at the time of writing 1000x1000 from GD3 or 250x250 from AMG). If artwork is not of a suitable quality, missing or wrong click Choose Art and the Internet is searched for artwork. It is also possible to add album art manually by clicking + >> load from file, Paste from Clipboard or Acquire from Scanner. The final album art resolution is set under Options >> Meta & ID Tag 'Options' >> Maximum Album Art Size (default to 750x750). Clicking on the album art displays at full resolution. Multiple artworks can be added and given a different description (such as Back Album Cover).

Rip Status

Rip Status is shown for each track, informing of rip progress and after completion secure status of rip (if ripping securely).

Burst Ripping

Burst ripping method has no error correction, ripping is done in one shot.

	Ripping and encoding are done at the same time. The light grey bar on Rip Status shows where the CD drive is reading, whilst the darker grey bar is the encoder (a slow encoder will lag the CD drive, a fast encoder and they will both be the same). dBpoweramp Reference allows multiple CPU systems (such as dual core) to encode two or more tracks at the same time.

 
Secure Ripping [Power Pack required]

Secure ripping uses multiple passes to identify and correct errors, possible display values are:

	First pass, depending upon how secure ripping is configured, multiple passes are used.
	Third pass, the blue highlight indicates that a new error (previously concealed on a previous pass has been detected)
	After passes have completed then frames with possible errors are re-ripped multiple times. The red line shows the error position within the track.
	The red highlight shows that frames could not be recovered whilst ripping, an insecure rip.
	After ripping has completed the audio is passed onto the chosen encoder. dBpoweramp Reference will use multiple CPUs if present.
	The rip had no detectable errors and agrees with 12 other people (they have ripped the same track and had the exact same result), an agreement from AccurateRip ensures an error free rip.
	Again the rip had no detectable errors, but this time the CD is not present in AccurateRip's database.
	Your ripping result disagrees with 12 other peoples rips, the green i indicates that frames had to be re-ripped, possibly an undetected error has slipped through. If all tracks except one have an AccurateRip verification, and the confidence (number shown in brackets) is more than one, it is likely your rip has errors.
	AccurateRip says your rip has errors, also CD Ripper says it is unsecure.

Meta data is saved in the ID Tag of each Ripped audio file, All Media Guide is able to retrieve many different fields of information, from Composer to Record Label. Selecting the Meta tab lists all meta data, if no tracks are selected then Global meta data (ie the same data applying to all tracks, such as Album) is listed under Meta. Selecting a single track lists items pertaining to the one track. Encoder displays the active encoder compression settings. DSP (Digital Signal Processing) allow audio effects to be applied, example effects are ReplayGain, Volume Normalization, Graphic Equalizer, etc (there are more than 20 effects). Effects are performed in a top to bottom order, it is possible to drag the effects to re-order. Specific to CD Ripping are the effects: Audio CD Hidden Track Silence Removal, which searches within the track for long periods of silence and removes it (often the last track has 4 minutes of silence before a 'hidden track'. Audio CD Silence Track Deletion: some discs have 60 silence tracks before one hidden last track, this effect removes those silence tracks HDCD: this effect detects high definition audio CDs and decodes them to 24 bit.

Right clicking on a track list column title (ie Length) allows customization of which fields are shown in the track listing. Artist, Genre and Year are only shown when compilation is checked. CRC shows the checksum calculated from the last rip, ripping twice and the CRC numbers will show in Green if matches the previous CRC, or in Red if miss-matches. Miss-matching CRCs are a sure sign that one of the rips had errors. The File Name column shows the final filename to be written, if the file exists it is shown in Red. Track Technical highlights exotic CDs (such as HDCD or CDs with Pre-Emphasis), it is possible to Rip HDCDs to 24 bit by installing the DSP effects and using HDCD Effect. To set the order of columns, remove all check marks and re-check in the order required.

Path and Naming work together to set the output folder and filename, by default naming dynamically changes depending upon CD:

Normal CDs:   \[Artist]\[Album]\[Track Number] [Artist] - [Title]

Compilation CDs:   \Various Artists\[Album]\[Track Number] [Artist] - [Title]

Where items in [ ] are filled with real values. Naming seems complex at first, however rip a few CDs and it will become clearer. Pressing Set allows customization of the naming convention.
 

Q. No audio tracks are listed?
A. Is the correct CD drive selected (if you have more than one)? Still no go? try clicking Options and setting Communication to Windows Internal.

Q. My CD drive does not Rip at full speed?
A. You have a 52x Speed CD drive?, yet it seems to take 3 Minutes to Rip a 3 Minute track...well firstly to test your Ripping speed convert one track to Test Conversion (if converting to mp3 most of the time will be taken up compressing!). If the extraction speed is obviously too slow (I have a 52x speed CD and it rips at 15x for track 1, and 28x for the last track, this is normal) try this [Audio CD Ripper FAQ]. 

Q. It Rips, but sometimes there are clicks and jumps?
A. Enable secure mode to recover errors.

Q. Disc titles are not filled in automatically?
A. First check there is an active internet connection (browse the web), check no firewall is blocking access (such as ZoneAlarm, Norton or Windows Firewall), if your connection requires a Proxy Server enter details into dBpoweramp Configuration.

A tutorial on setting up Secure Ripping & Advanced Options.

  Main Index