How to configure EAC for a perfect (100%) rip

Setting up Exact Audio Copy

You may download the latest version of EAC from:

http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

� If your machine has SCSI hardware, and/or built in CD burner, you may need
Adaptec's ASPI -
http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/speed/software_pc/aspi/aspi_v470_exe.htm

� If you have Firewire or a USB/USB2 external burner you may use Nero's ASPI -
http://www.nero.com/enu/index.html
(copy this file to the %SystemRoot%system32 or put it in the EAC's directory).

EAC produces a number of files whose names differ only by their extension. It's
strongly recommended that you tell Windows (in Folder Options) not to hide
file extensions.

Required Settings:

menu Action

� Insert a CD and press F4 (Detect Gaps).

� Append Gaps To Previous Track (Default): Selected

IMPORTANT. If you see TWO lines of Leave Out Gaps, you have a faulty installation
of EAC. REINSTALL.

menu EAC > EAC Options... (F9)

Extraction tab:

� Fill up missing offset samples with silence: Checked

� No use of null samples for CRC calculations : Unchecked
� Synchronize between tracks: Checked
� Delete leading and trailing silent blocks: Unchecked
� Skip track extraction on read or sync errors: Checked if you want to save time.
� Error recovery quality: High

General tab:

� On unknown CDs, * select automatically access freedb database

� Use language: English or Spanish selected

Tools tab:

� Retrieve UPC/ISRC codes in CUE sheet generation: Unchecked

� Use CD-Text information in CUE sheet generation: Checked
� Create '.m3u' playlist on extraction: Checked
� Automatically write status report after extraction: Checked
� Activate beginner mode, disable all advanced features: Unchecked

Normalize tab:

� Normalize: Unchecked (important!)

Filename tab:
� Naming Scheme: %N %T
� Various Artists Naming Scheme: %N %A - %T
(Do not use the file naming scheme to define folder names. This will cause problems
with the cue sheet and playlist.)

menu EAC > Drive Options... (F10)

Extraction Method tab:

� Secure mode (NOT Paranoid, Synchronized or Burst mode!)

� Drive has 'Accurate Stream' feature: Checked

� Drive caches audio data: Checked
� Drive is capable of retrieving C2 error information: Unchecked >>
(Explanation:
Do Not Check: Drive is capable of retrieving C2 error information. WHY?
Audio-CDs have two layers of error-correction: C1 (first layer) and C2 (second
layer). Both are done by the hardware itself, if a C1 error cannot be corrected
it is passed to the second stage (C2) and the drive tries to correct it here. Since
there are lots of (corrected) C1-errors, the drive just silently corrects
those and most drives cannot even report C1 (why flood the user with messages of
errors, when they are 100% corrected?). C2-errors are divided into three
sub-types:
E12 = one bit defective, 100% correctable
E22 = two bits defective, 100% correctable
E32 = three or more bits defective, no correction possible
So it would make sense for a drive to only report the E32 (uncorrectable) C2-
errors? Yes, but unfortunately this depends on the manufacturer of the drive.
Some drives report all C2-errors, some different combinations of them. Since we
don't know which drive reports which types, the C2-feature is useless,
because it might give false positives.
Another reason why C2 is useless: some CDs are intentionally contaminated with C2-
errors by the manufacturer. A normal CD-player does neither read nor recognize
C2, only a computer does. This is a subtle way of obstructing copying by computers.
Since we have no way determining, whether the C2 is real (tiny, invisible
speckle of dust, micro-scratch, etc.) or intentional, we would also get false
positives.
Concluding: deactivate the C2 error-recognition feature on your DAE software (DAE =
Digital Audio Extraction).)

Offset/Speed tab:

� Use read sample offset correction: Selected

� Please check and/or test your offset!

You may look for your drive's offset here:
http://www.accuraterip.com/driveoffsets.htm

Nothing found? Check the offsets manually,

here's a tutorial:
http://users.fulladsl.be/spb2267/offsets/offsets.htm

� Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out: Unchecked >> (checked only if retail CD is
over 80:00 min.)
� Allow speed reduction during extraction: Checked
� CD-Text Read capable drive: Checked

Gap Detection tab:

� Gap/Index retrieval method: this depends on your drive, you need to try which
method works best/fastest for you.
� Detection accuracy: Secure (best) or Accurate selected

Encoding/tagging with EAC

Download the FLAC codec and frontend from

http://flac.sourceforge.net/download.html
OR download just the FLAC codec (most people will want the 32-bit .exe) here:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=13478&package_id=12675
Do not use alternative codecs such as Flake.

All below are EXAMPLE settings!

menu EAC > EAC Options (F9) > Tools tab:

� On extraction start external compressors queued in the background: Checked

� Use [ 1] simultaneous external compressor thread(s)
� Do not open external compressor window: Checked (leave it unchecked for
debugging)

First make sure that: menu EAC > Compression Options (F11) > ...

� Offset tab / Use Offset Correction for encoding and decoding: Unchecked
(Don't confuse EAC's compression offset with the drive's read offset!)
� ID3 Tag tab / Everything: Unchecked

menu EAC > Compression Options (F11) > External Compression tab:

� Use external program for compression: Checked

� Parameter passing scheme: User Definied Encoder
� Use file extension: .flac
� Program, including path, used for compression: specify path to flac.exe
� Additional commandline options:

Compression level 6 or higher is recommended.

The following example is appropriate if you're using level 8 compression:
-8 -V -T "ARTIST=%a" -T "TITLE=%t" -T "ALBUM=%g" -T "DATE=%y" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%n"
-T "GENRE=%m" -T "COMMENT=EAC FLAC -8" %s

� Bitrate: doesn't matter

� Delete WAV after compression: Checked (or leave unchecked - wavs won't be
deleted)
� Use CRC check: Checked
� Add ID3 Tag: Unchecked (FLAC has own tags)
� High quality/low quality: doesn't matter

Remember to press shift-F6 (not F6) when ripping, otherwise EAC will not
compress/tag!
Also remember not to close EAC immediately after ripping, look at status bar: the
last track might still be compressing.

FLAC frontend (not required if encoding with EAC)

Download the FLAC codec and frontend from

http://flac.sourceforge.net/download.html
Do not use alternative codecs such as Flake.
Required FLAC frontend Settings:

� Level: 6 or higher (Level 8 is recommended)

� Verify: Checked (the only checked option)
� Replaygain: Unchecked (be sure to do so)
� If set, click Encode (when encoding is done you could make Fingerprint
additionally)
If you don't/can't use the Windows-only flac frontend you can create the
fingerprint file on the commandline:
metaflac --with-filename --show-md5sum *.flac >fingerprint.txt

Ripping and .cue creation

� Check and edit any track names obtained from the internet.

The association of an extracted single-wav image with its proper cuesheet does
always rebuild an exact, 1:1 image of the audio CD. Therefore the easiest and
savest way to create a perfect, 1:1 image of the original disc is to choose from
the 'Action' menu one of the following possibilities:
� Test & Copy image & create CUE sheet uncompressed
and Encode to flac later (recommended).

� Alt+F7 (Copy image & create CUE sheet uncompressed)

and encode to flac later.

� Alt+S (Create CUE sheet single WAV file) and

� Shift+F7 (Copy range compressed).

If you prefer to extract to separate tracks instead of a single-wav image, follow

these steps:
1. Put in the CD. :)
2. F4 (Detect Gaps).
3. F3 (Test Gaps On Silence). If the first track has "no gap" or it's 100% silent,
skip to step 9.
4. Select just track 1.
5. Alt-X (Copy Selected Tracks Indexed-Based). Retry if there are errors.
6. Rename the log "Pregap.log" .
7. Delete the track starting with the name 01.01 .
8. Encode and rename the remaining track "00 - Pregap.flac" . Tagging this small
file is optional.

9. Check and edit any track names obtained from the internet.
10. Ctrl-a (select all tracks).
11. EAC > Menu Action > Create CUE Sheet, Multiple WAV Files With Gaps...
(Noncompliant).
12. Shift-F6 (Test & Copy Selected Tracks) (without Shift, if encoding later)
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