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Topic: CD Ripping & Playback on Mac (Read 3610 times) previous topic - next topic
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CD Ripping & Playback on Mac

Hello, everyone. I've been lurking on the boards here for a while and decided to speak up and leech on all the knowledge around here.

So I recently got a MacBook Pro (3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB DDR3, 256 GB SSD) and as this is the first Mac I have owned myself, I have run into some roadblocks with my audio files. On my Windows machine, I use foobar2000 for playback and dealing with FLAC files and EAC to rip CDs. Since neither of these work on Leopard, could someone point me in a direction of some alternatives here for Mac? I can't stand iTunes and would love to use it as little as possible. Anything would be appreciated so I can leave iTunes behind me for good. Oh, and once it gets released, I plan on installing Windows 7 alongside Leopard which should be relieving ;]

-Kevin

CD Ripping & Playback on Mac

Reply #1 –
Well to be honest itunes works better than any of the other options, it just takes getting used to if you were a pc guy.

Get the fluke plug-in and then itunes can play FLAC. And you can use itunes to rip CD's. Use Max to convert formats if ever need to.

Your other options are VLC player, which doesn't handle file management. Audion - which seems cluttered. And Songbird, which has been buggy.

All your 3rd party options have issues, hence why itunes dominates. And to be honest you're probably better off just setting up itunes the way you like, it is highly configurable, open itunes preferences and turn off what you don't like or don't need.

CD Ripping & Playback on Mac

Reply #2 –
Use XLD for ripping and converting.

CD Ripping & Playback on Mac

Reply #3 –
You could download the Win7 RC and use it with EAC while waiting for it to be released.

CD Ripping & Playback on Mac

Reply #4 –
Quote from: Jason Newton on
Use XLD for ripping and converting.


XLD and MAX are the two most recommended Mac OS X CD rippers that I see.  They can rip to multiple formats as well.  As for playback, it is all up to you.  Do you want a simplistic interface (VLC) or something a bit more complex (iTunes)?

CD Ripping & Playback on Mac

Reply #5 –
For ripping there is also Rip and playback there is Play.

CD Ripping & Playback on Mac

Reply #6 –
Well I guess since iTunes is native to Mac it just works. Anyone who has used it on Windows knows the horror show of iTunes. Just have to play around with it to get it where I can use it or I can just keep poking around for alternatives until I hit something I like.

So we've got XLD, MAX, and Rip for ripping. Anyone wanna mention apps for playback besides Play and VLC...?

EDIT: I forgot to mention...how about ripping and then encoding with LAME?

CD Ripping & Playback on Mac

Reply #7 –
Cog for playback.

CD Ripping & Playback on Mac

Reply #8 –
Look I've been using my Mac for over 2 years now and lately I became a high quality audio fanatic in a sense sort of as a hobby, for Mac I found that the best ripping program there is, is XLD with all the newest plug-ins for the most advanced codecs, XLD also converts audio files.

For play back you can use Cog, or as stated above download Fluke for itunes for playing FLAC files. But never rip with itunes, it's not recommended in this forum becuase the ripper isn't that configurable and the correction mechanisms aren't that good.\

Hope to be of some help if you have any other questions

Felix

Yeah: your question about LAME, with XLD you can encode to LAME 3.98.2

CD Ripping & Playback on Mac

Reply #9 –
Yeah I'm right there with ya felix, just I've been on a Windows machine and found the niche of audio players and rippers that I like and enjoy using. As Soulster said, I guess iTunes really does dominate on a Mac seeing as it's made for it. Being a Windows person for a long time just put me against iTunes and all the trouble it caused.

-Kevin

CD Ripping & Playback on Mac

Reply #10 –
I love me some Vox.