What do you use for ripping MP3s?

When I bought a Zune many years ago, I just started using the software that went with it.  It worked, but sometimes it doesn't do the best at detecting the actual track marker and songs will need editing because of it.

Also, lately the Zune software won't connect with the server and therefore won't find all the metadata from the disc.  So, you end up having to manually enter all the song titles, year, band, etc.  It gets old.

Today, I am playing around with the old Windows Media Player.  Already I am liking this better.  I threw in two CDs by obscure indie bands with only one album each (CollisionKorse and Article 150) that the Zune software can't identify.  WMP picked up on both instantly.  I may have my "new" software of choice.

What do you use to rip CDs?

Also, the Zune software has trouble finding data on new releases by Roxx and Retroactive both if they were never on CD prior to release.  Again, WMP only needed me to add the album title and band name for the new Whiteray release and it is filling in the song titles itself.  Nice!!!

I still use the old Windows Media Player.  It lets you pick several different formats to rip to, and a nice selection of bit rates.  I've tried a few others but keep coming back to WMP
I tried one that Topshot recommended a few years back and it worked really well, but it was a bit intimidating because it just did so much....and I had a little difficulty generating playlists from it (can't remember what it was called).
I'm afraid Micorsoft is going to discontinue support for WMP and might phase it out altogether in  few years, because it keeps trying to push their crappy "Groove Music" app as the "default music player" on both of my computers.

Depending on what version of Windows 10 you have, it may already be gone.  With my version, I couldn't find it by searching through programs.  I went to Kim Komando's site and she had articles on how to find the embedded program and turn it on so you could actually use it.  She did say, however, that not all versions of Windows 10 had it included.  So, technically Microsoft has already killed it.  At least it is working for me right now!!!

I use MusicBee mostly for the player but it rips good, too.

I use iTunes on my PC and I actually really like it a lot.  I have it sorted by artist by album by year which I really like, though the one thing that bugs me is that as far as I know, there's no way to sort albums that came out the same year by the same artist.  It just defaults to alphabetical.  It's a minor pet-peeve though.

But if/when I get a new music player, I'll probably use whatever software they have so I can sync it quickly/easily to the library on my PC.

Xid wrote:

I use MusicBee mostly for the player but it rips good, too.

I might have to give that one a try.  I suspect I won't be able to use WMP for a whole lot longer....would be nice to be familiar with a good alternative.

kerrick wrote:

I use iTunes on my PC and I actually really like it a lot.  I have it sorted by artist by album by year which I really like, though the one thing that bugs me is that as far as I know, there's no way to sort albums that came out the same year by the same artist.  It just defaults to alphabetical.  It's a minor pet-peeve though.

My wife has I-tunes on her lap top, but she also has an i-phone.  I can't stand itunes personally and would rather go back to hauling a case full of cds and portable cd player with me everywhere I go rather than have to use itunes.    
I did hear somewhere that Apple is replacing itunes with something else, hopefully it will let you sort your music with more options.

That's one reason I like MusicBee.  It's like the old iTunes format that was simple to use and sort.

I have never used iTunes.  When I had my old Microsoft Zune, the software for the Zune and iTunes were hostile to one another and would quickly crash a computer.  After a couple of crashes, I decided that I could use everything that the Zune software liked--which is anywhere Mp3s are sold (except for iTunes).

With Android devices, many folks have to convert the files they buy from Mp4 to Mp3 to get them to play properly.  I didn't want to have to do that with my Zune or my Android phones (whether they were Samsung or Moto).  So, I use Amazon, CD Baby, rip my own, etc.  It works.  Now that I am using the FiiO and could go anywhere, I think I will just stick to what I know.

Staybrite wrote:

My wife has I-tunes on her lap top, but she also has an i-phone.  I can't stand itunes personally and would rather go back to hauling a case full of cds and portable cd player with me everywhere I go rather than have to use itunes.    
I did hear somewhere that Apple is replacing itunes with something else, hopefully it will let you sort your music with more options.

I'm curious why you dislike iTunes so much?  I generally dislike Apple and wouldn't have iTunes if I hadn't been given an iPod years ago and since got locked into using it... but I gotta say, iTunes as a software is pretty darn easy to use IMO and I don't think I've ever had any serious issues with it - even on a PC.

kerrick wrote:

Staybrite wrote:

My wife has I-tunes on her lap top, but she also has an i-phone.  I can't stand itunes personally and would rather go back to hauling a case full of cds and portable cd player with me everywhere I go rather than have to use itunes.    
I did hear somewhere that Apple is replacing itunes with something else, hopefully it will let you sort your music with more options.

I'm curious why you dislike iTunes so much?  I generally dislike Apple and wouldn't have iTunes if I hadn't been given an iPod years ago and since got locked into using it... but I gotta say, iTunes as a software is pretty darn easy to use IMO and I don't think I've ever had any serious issues with it - even on a PC.

My dislike of it stems probably 15+ years back.  I got really ticked off that Apple refused to sell DRM free music.  At the time Apple was one of the few digital music sellers with a wide selection of songs....my kids or wife would want to by a song from Itunes and get it on their flip phone or non-Ipod player. (or even just on a disc so they could use it for a talent show...etc).  The only way to do it was pay 99 cents for the song, burn it to a cd and rip it back to MP3 (so waste 20 minutes and blank CDR).  All of this had to be done with the itunes software.  Back then the software took up a stupid amount of space on your hard-drive and didn't work very well with windows based PCs (this was long before 1TB hard drives)...the software was also a pain to get off our Windows based PC when you were sick of it as well.  I never forgave Apple for that and I completely boycott any of their products to this day.  I'm not bitter about it (honestly), I just think it was kind of a "penis-head" move by the company at the time.  Almost like they had the attitude that they were one of the first companies to come up with the widely accepted digital music platform (which I always thought was supposed to make music easier and more portable for collectors) and they shoe-horned it into a way to force people to buy more of their products just to be able to use it.  At the time the other half-a-dozen fledgling digital music sellers where basically all using MP3.
It wouldn't surprise me that the software is much better now then back when I was forced to use it, but I'll never know because I can't get past the horrible taste they left in my mouth so many years ago.  I'm a stickler for customer service, and that IMO was not good customer service.

I use WMP but I know I'll be forced to switch. With all these forced changes I'm guessing I'll be buying less and less music, this old dog is tired of being forced to change all the time.

Media Monkey

I get most of the tagging done while in dBpoweramp, then I run it through TagScanner to double check and correct any issues with the tags...TagScanner is a HUGE time saver...

dBpoweramp: https://www.dbpoweramp.com/
TagScanner: https://www.xdlab.ru/en/

then play 'em in foobar: https://www.foobar2000.org/

I use iTunes and Media Player. But in iTunes you can change it to mp3. As far as I know, I could always do this. You just right click a file and choose "save as mp3" or something like that.

MikeInFla wrote:

I use iTunes and Media Player. But in iTunes you can change it to mp3. As far as I know, I could always do this. You just right click a file and choose "save as mp3" or something like that.

Nope, not in the early days.  Believe me, I would have had someone point that out to me, I'm just sure of it.  Knew lots of Mac users and they just loved itunes but all of them kept looking at me like I was weird if I wanted to change an old ACC file (or whatever it was) to MP3.  Their same response was just "well buy an ipod"....

Staybrite wrote:

I tried one that Topshot recommended a few years back and it worked really well, but it was a bit intimidating because it just did so much....and I had a little difficulty generating playlists from it (can't remember what it was called).

That would be the awesome Foobar 2000, which is also the player I use. It is geared toward audiophiles, which is one reason why it does so much. Also open source.

topshot rhit wrote:

Staybrite wrote:

I tried one that Topshot recommended a few years back and it worked really well, but it was a bit intimidating because it just did so much....and I had a little difficulty generating playlists from it (can't remember what it was called).

That would be the awesome Foobar 2000, which is also the player I use. It is geared toward audiophiles, which is one reason why it does so much. Also open source.

That's it!
Great player/ripping software... especially if you can take a little time and learn some of its intricacies.

kerrick wrote:

I use iTunes on my PC and I actually really like it a lot.  I have it sorted by artist by album by year which I really like, though the one thing that bugs me is that as far as I know, there's no way to sort albums that came out the same year by the same artist.  It just defaults to alphabetical.  It's a minor pet-peeve though.

But if/when I get a new music player, I'll probably use whatever software they have so I can sync it quickly/easily to the library on my PC.

I know there are several "by album" sorting modes in iTunes. If you click the column heading, it cycles through them all. It's not just an A-Z/Z-A toggle. Seems to me one of them is an "album, by artist" mode.

^Yes, there is and that's how I have it sorted - which is a great feature.  But what iTunes doesn't do (to my knowledge) is have a way to sort correctly albums released the same year by the same artist.  For example, in 2013 My Silent Wake released in this order:

The Last Man (EP)
Silver Under Midnight
Empyrean Rose (split)

But my iTunes sorts it:

Empyrean Rose (split)
The Last Man (EP)
Silver Under Midnight

It's a minor annoyance, but it'd be easy enough for them to change it to release date instead of year.  Oh well, not a big deal.

kerrick wrote:

^Yes, there is and that's how I have it sorted - which is a great feature.  But what iTunes doesn't do (to my knowledge) is have a way to sort correctly albums released the same year by the same artist.  For example, in 2013 My Silent Wake released in this order:

The Last Man (EP)
Silver Under Midnight
Empyrean Rose (split)

But my iTunes sorts it:

Empyrean Rose (split)
The Last Man (EP)
Silver Under Midnight

OK, now I see what you mean. I don't know what the ID3 tag is called. In the file properties of Windows Explorer it is just called "Year". Could it store a date? If so, does software support that usage? Now that electronic singles are "the thing" I can see how having more than just a year for release date would be helpful.

Yeah it'd be super handy.  Unfortunately, Apple only allows four characters for their "year" field, though I did see somewhere a "release date" referenced but couldn't find where that's inputted (or rather, haven't taken the time to find that).

kerrick wrote:

Unfortunately, Apple only allows four characters for their "year" field

Oh, man, don't they realize they've set themselves up with a Y10k problem???