Have your say & ask the experts

Before you settle on EAC I recommend you try dbPoweramp. The trial version, 21 days of full functionality, may win you over. Not only is it easier to set up than EAC, it offers superior tagging features, out of the box integrated album art, and out of the box integration with Accurate Rip. It also makes a better job of adding codec support and provides a clearer interface to the command line options for those codecs. It also provides a well rounded set of plugins to enable additional DSP functions like replaygain. 

As for secure ripping functions it is at least the equal of EAC. 

I have used both extensively and would not go back to EAC.

Is there any software for Macs that people use, apart from iTunes?

Hedgehog

This is as good as it gets on a Mac

http://sbooth.org/Max/

Make sure you enable cdparanoia in the ripping options tab. 

Or XLD

http://tmkk.hp.infoseek.co.jp/xld/index_e.html

Not one I have used much but it does have its fans.

Also supports cdparanoia.  

Can someone explain why the itunes lossless isn't rated in this post? 

i.e. why isn't it as good as the other's? 

Shimminator, could be you have more than one question there, maybe not. Essentially though there are two operations when you are ripping a CD. One is the process of extracting the audio from the disc - that's the ripping part, and one is the process of encoding it to the file format you wish to store. Typically encoding also includes the addition of tags.

iTunes has weaknesses for me on both.

Ripping:

a) dbPoweramp uses a published, extremely robust, error correction approach. Apple don't, at least AFAIK, publish details of how they approach error correction and I doubt it offers the rigour of dbPoweramp

b) dbPoweramp allows for independent verification of rip quality using AccurateRip. 

Encoding/Tagging:

a) I like to encode to FLAC, iTunes does not support this

b) I find the tagging options offered by dbPoweramp much superior to iTunes

c) dbPoweramp offers additional features, such as Replaygain tagging, through the use of DSP effects plugins which again iTunes does not support

d) Encoding simultaneously to multiple file formats is easy to achieve in dbPoweramp. AFAIK you can't do it in iTunes 

All that said, if all you want is straightforward ripping/encoding to a single lossless format and you are not an obsessive (is there such a thing on these forums) then iTunes with error correction on and encoding to Apple Lossless files will give you decent results. 

Thanks for the detailed reply! i'm very fussy with my iTunes account and I have only just started using Apple Lossless and i can tell a difference. But now i feel left out.

I know these things can turn into massive debates etc but my last question is

 If i'm only using itunes to play my music and v happy with how its tag and organizes the music etc But will i be able to tell a difference in quality of sound on Apple Lossless versus dbPoweramp? or i should say can you notice a difference the sound quality?

Well, I can't answer that - too many variables (your kit, your ears etc etc).

What we can debate is will you have a better source - i.e. a lossless file that is a better reflection of the audio file stored on your CD - if you rip your CDs using iTunes or dbPoweramp.

For the reasons expressed in my earlier post I'm of the opinion that the secure ripping routines offered by dbPoweramp allied to the verification of AccurateRip allows for a more robust ripping workflow than provided by iTunes. Ergo I believe overall you'll have a better source file.

However, assuming you have access to a PC you can test this for yourself pretty quickly. If you don't spot the difference (and it's not going to be huge) stick with iTunes and Apple Lossless.

Shimminator:

[snip].... But now i feel left out.....[snip]

ianandyr:

[snip].....Not only is it easier to set up than EAC, it offers superior tagging features, out of the box integrated album art, and out of the box integration with Accurate Rip.....[snip]

PJ, Now I'm danger of sounding like a pedant. I hate that . Still, pressing on ...

I've spent enough time on both EAC and dbPoweramp to conclude that dbPoweramp is easier to get going with, especially for a newbie. Agree though that a solid EAC setup can be achieved with a little time and effort.

Fair enough - the integration is not as neatly done though.

dbPoweramp is cheap.

Yep, you can do that and it is easy. However, I'm a hundred or so albums into ripping nearly 600. dbPoweramp saves me your additional steps (foobar is awesome though) and in my experience with PerfectMeta more reliably pulls solid tagging information. With 500 albums to go for me those savings of time and concentration are more than worth the small price of dbPoweramp. Others may find that the same is true for them hence my suggestion that dbPoweramp be evaluated in the search for a ripping tool.

Don't get me wrong. I have used and liked the free version of EAC with AlbumArtDownloader and Mp3tag. I just prefer dbPoweramp. 

[snip] ... I have not heard any of them complaining over the quality of their audio files .... [snip]

Perhaps all that effort double-blind testing optical cables leaves no time to worry about the source?  

EAC Every time , for playback WinAMP is good as it's GUI is more user friendly than Foorbar but the recent updates have meant that it's wont play cue files so CD rips of mixed albums wont play gapless. 

Try this guide for a no fuss EAC setup

http://jiggafellz.isa-geek.net/jiggafellz-step-by-step-guide-to-secure-cd-ripping-with-exact-audio-copy/