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Please Help a Novice With EAC/FOOBAR. PLEASE.

205.188.116.16

I have become frustrated trying to put it all together through searching forum archives.

I hope that someone will kindly put me out of my misery here and Kindly offer a simple step by step instruction how to properly utilize EAC to rip/record and then Foobar to open an play my WAV files/muaic.

I have been trying, with no success, to be able to (in FOOBAR) open 1 folder and display all of my music Titles on the right side of the screen, ready to play.

I don't know anything about adding or combining ripped WAV files/albums with Cue's if this is something that needs to be done.

A simple STEP BY STEP description of the proceedure from EAC through FOOBAR is much needed and will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Lance

Follow Ups:

I GIVE UP! FOOBAR WINS. - chopper87@aol.com 06:38:02 06/11/09 (11)
I cannot adaquately thank you guys enough for taking the time to help me here. THANK YOU.

With all the consistant hype about the EAC/Foobar combination, who'd a thunk that it would be such a royal pain to make a simple, organized, well layed out and very easily accessable (one touch) Playlist using this combination.

Hell, Windows media center automatically grabs each cd displaying album cover art and everything immediately when a disc is spun up. I have no doubt that this and other software of it's genre would have NO issues ripping into a beautifully visually organized setup. However, sound quality definitetely takes priority for me and I hear/read that EAC and Foobar at the best.

So, I am relegated to Ripping to; Drive G:\Redbook (folder). Then I must access RED BOOK folder from within FOOBAR. Then there are all of my titles, lined up in alphabetical order next to an open folder icon (for each cd title). I then choose a folder/Title and it opens up to an empty window with only the ALbum/CD title of the folder just opened. Then I double click this Title and YAHOO! the cd's title is displayed on the top console of the Foobar playback window. I must follow this somewhat cumbersome proceedure for each and every cd title that I want to listen to. Eventually the top Foobar Console gets pretty crowded and confusing sinse it does not seem to be set upin any particular order (like alphabetical).

Anyway, I am greatful to have access to great sounding copies on my external hard drive, I just can't believe that the EAC/FOOBAR combination appears to be so organizationally inept.

Thanks again for all your help.
- RE: I GIVE UP! FOOBAR WINS. - Dawnrazor 11:01:54 06/11/09 (3)
  Chopper.
  
  When you ripped, do you get individual .wavs or one big .wav for the whole album? And in your redbook folder, are there subfolders, or just .wav files?
  - RE: I GIVE UP! FOOBAR WINS. - chopper87@aol.com 06:57:27 06/12/09 (2)
    "When you ripped, do you get individual .wavs or one big .wav for the whole album? And in your redbook folder, are there subfolders, or just .wav files?"
    
    I choose to record via "Action" then "Test & copy selected tracks". I let EAC automatically choose all tracks, which it records individually and numbered. Or, I simply select the WAV pictorial Icon on the left of the window which appears to accomplish the same recording numbered individual tracks. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
    - RE: I GIVE UP! FOOBAR WINS. - Dawnrazor 08:45:10 06/12/09 (1)
      Ok,
      
      Are these individual files in different folders?
      
      So each album is in its own folder?
      
      IMHO the best way to do it is to use the: ACTION/ Copy image and create cue sheet option.
      
      That should produce a .wav file and a small .cue file.
      
      Let me know when you get that accomplished.
      
      See AFAIK there are just 2 ways to handle .wav files effectively. One is to have individual files in separate folders, or have cue sheets.
      
      Ideally things would be in individual .wavs with cue sheets, not one big .wav and a cue.
      
      If you can get us a pict of your redbook folder. Open the folder and then press CTRL, ALT, and PRT SCR keys all at the same time.
      
      Then open up the paint program and then edit/ copy and you should have a pict of the screen you were on when you hit CTRL, ALT, PRT SCR. Then save this pict.
      
      Make a new post on the asylum and above the post message option is the BROWSE option on the right. Click that and then find your picture.
      
      Then click PREVIEW MESSAGE.
      
      YOu should now see your picture.
      
      DO the same thing with your foobar setup and to add more than one pict, click browse again, find the 2nd picture, and then click preview again. YOu should have 2 picts in the post now.
      - RE: I GIVE UP! FOOBAR WINS. - chopper87@aol.com 08:28:09 06/13/09 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: I GIVE UP! FOOBAR WINS. posted by Dawnrazor on June 12, 2009 at 08:45:10
        
        dawnrazor,
        
        Fantastic and very clear instructions, thank you. I will follow them as soon as I can and start a new post so that it will be easier to find. I hav not listened to recorded music for a while due to my difficulties with EAC and Foobar. So, I have decided to go ahead and finish ripping to the described folders and do a little bit of listening before starting the potential re-working process. I have been impressed with the consistant clean (no break ups,pops,clicks etc...) recordings from EAC so far. However, I have only been listening through my Laptop and cheap monitoring headphones. Time to test the sonics in the big system.
        
        Lance
- RE: I GIVE UP! FOOBAR WINS. - Old Listener 10:50:24 06/11/09 (6)
  You have setup problems. The EAC side can be fixed. You probably are just not a candidate for using Foobar.
  
  > I have no doubt that this [Media Center?] and other software of it's genre would have NO
  > issues ripping into a beautifully visually organized setup.
  > However, sound quality definitetely takes priority for me and I
  > hear/read that EAC and Foobar at the best.
  
  My experience comparing files ripped by EAC, dBpoweramp and J.River Media Jukebox/Media Center 12/13 convinced me that they produced the same results. My conclusions were based on comparing the audio streams in the files rather than listening tests. All three have secure ripping modes that work properly.
  
  All of those programs allow you to specify templates for the folder in which ripped files are placed and the file name. This template uses tag values such as [Artist], [Album], [Track Title] or [Track Number]. dBpoweramp and J. River let you use other tags such as [Composer] as well.
  
  For me, the difference is in ease of use
  
  EAC - lots of things to set, poor documentation, lots of 3rd party guides
  dBpoweramp - far fewer options, somewhat better documentation, better tag lookup, some support for tags such as [Composer}.
  J. River - few options to set, documentation about like dBpoweramp, tag lookup on par with EAC. Excellent support for whatever tags you want to use. Since J.River is an integrated ripper/tag editor and player, when you rip Cds, the files are ready to play.
  
  There may be other programs that can produce the same results but I don't think anyone has done convincing comparisons of EAC to other rippers.
  
  On players: The majority opinion on this forum is that "everything sounds different". Different camps like different players. Pick you camp.
  
  If you pick a player based on objective critera, it gets easier. Some criteria that might matter to you:
  
  can output bit-prefect output
  can use the ASIO interface for output
  can use the WASAPI exclusive mode interface in Vista for output
  can generate and use fixed and smart playlists
  can use tags like [Composer] or whatever you want
  can provide an album cover based user interface
  can provide a browser pane user interface showing lists of values for tags (text based.)
  can upsample your audio content in the player s/w.
  Has fewer/more options
  has good documentation of the options you need to set.
  
  You choose Foobar as your player. That isn't an easy place to start. Look for something with fewer options to set, better documentation and the features you need.
  
  I use J. River MC. Others use Winamp.
  
  Cmp/cplay is popular on this forum. Lots of setup required and a very minimal UI.
  
  Bill
  - Poikosoft Easy CDDA ? - RafaelDob 09:02:24 06/13/09 (1)
    Hello Bill,
    
    What is your opinion of this ripper. Soundquality of course is paramount but ease of use for novice is close second
    
    Thank you
    Rafael
    - RE: Poikosoft Easy CDDA ? - Old Listener 10:06:27 06/13/09 (0)
      > Poikosoft Easy CDDA ?
      
      I have no experience using that program. I looked at it when I was selecting tools several years ago.
      
      I have detailed experience with EAC, dBpoweramp and J. River programs. All have an effective secure ripping mode. They all tell you when they are not successful in ripping a track securely. They are widely used and their performance has been documented by a number of people.
      
      Bill
  - RE: I GIVE UP! FOOBAR WINS. - chopper87@aol.com 07:15:43 06/12/09 (0)
    Bill,
    
    Thnks a bunch for further clarifying this matter for me. Being new at computer audio setup I guess that I was expecting these two "POPULAR" and respected softwares to be more user friendly and to ofer organizational capabilities similar to the Media recorder/player in Windows Vista. Oh boy was I ever wrong. BUT, I will gladly trade visual functionality for sonics every time. So, if I need to (From inside Foobar) choose an album FOLDER then click on the Album file to launch the title and accompanying songs into the final Foobar playback window, so be it.
    Or, maybe I'm still doing something wrong?
    Thanks guys.
    
    Lance
  - They should make this post a "sticky". - Charles Hansen 20:05:08 06/11/09 (2)
    Bill's advice is very sound and based on *lots* of first-hand experience. The questions raised by the OP come up on a regular basis. Bill has been very patient in advising newbies (including me!), but he'll eventually tire of it.
    
    Maybe the moderators could make a "sticky" or some other kind of archive so that the same advice doesn't have to be given over and over and over and over and....
    - Bill chose to respond. - chopper87@aol.com 07:33:07 06/12/09 (1)
      "Bill's advice is very sound and based on *lots* of first-hand experience. The questions raised by the OP come up on a regular basis. Bill has been very patient in advising newbies (including me!), but he'll eventually tire of it.
      
      Maybe the moderators could make a "sticky" or some other kind of archive so that the same advice doesn't have to be given over and over and over and over and...."
      
      Charles,
      
      I desperately needed and greatly appreciate/appreciated any and all who have taken the time to offer there voices of experience to this potentially very frustrating subject. I believe that those of us with questions should always search this and other pertinant sites for answers prior to posting questions. I had done this and was unable to answer my questions (not even close). Charles, I am sorry if this post has somehow upset you, but
      Bill, again, thanks for your wilingness to offer helpful advice. I am confident that your's and other's responses within this post will be VERY VERY helpful to other frustrated biginners searching the archives under this topic.
      
      Lance
      - No criticism intended - Charles Hansen 13:49:39 06/12/09 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: Bill chose to respond. posted by chopper87@aol.com on June 12, 2009 at 07:33:07
        
        I didn't mean to criticize you in any way. This forum started with a unique thread viewer that has advantages and disadvantages. It has now been supplemented with something called e-Threads, which is more like what other forums use. But many people still use the Classic view, whereby threads fall off the map after a few days.
        
        The result is a lot of topics in a lot of forums get re-hashed on a constant basis. Bill's knowledge is good enough that it should be kept alive somewhere. Maybe someone could start a computer audio Wikipedia or something. My point is simply that things on the internet tend to be somewhat ephemeral, and more so here due to the original thread viewer.
One suggestion - Scrith 11:57:00 06/08/09 (0)
Try ripping to FLAC, which is a lossless format (same quality as WAV) that preserves tags and is much easier to deal with, in general (plus it has the advantage of being smaller, and it will be easy to detect if one or more of your files ever becomes corrupt...features that are lacking with the WAV format).
You can always convert to WAV format later (without any loss in sound quality) if you feel like it, but I highly doubt you'll ever want to (for the reasons mentioned above). As far as sound quality goes, there are some people that seem to have "faith" that a file format that is larger will somehow sound better, but that notion has never been proven in an objective test, as far as I know (although there have been numerous posts here and elsewhere that attempt to explain to these people why their notions about larger files sounding better are flawed).

Edits: 06/12/09
My Foobar2000 primer - Feanor 06:26:03 06/08/09 (1)
Chopper,
I agree with others that Foobar2000 is daunting for beginners, however it is one of the most configurable players and it can be your best choice depending on your needs.
I recommend the default interface from the most current Foobar version -- My guide for rank beginners' can be found *HERE* .
EAC, on the other hand, I don't much like. It can be a pain to use and really doesn't do a better job the dBpoweramp Ripper , see the link below. I strongly recommend the dBPoweramp Reference version, worth every bit of its $36 price.
By the way, I've never heard (with my own ears, that is) the slightest reason not to rip to FLAC versus WAV. Use FLAC to reduce disk requirements by 50+% and get better tag (metadata) support.
___
My Stereo Configuration
Feanor's Classical Music Survey, 250 Compositions
- dBpoweramp Ripper (Open in New Window)
Edits: 06/08/09 06/08/09
- RE: My Foobar2000 primer - GCrouser@hvc.rr.com 06:32:44 06/10/09 (0)
  Foobar can be daunting, but that's only if you're setting up a library. I've never even tried that. I use Winamp & J River for organizing the library.
  
  What Foobar is good for is quickly playing a file (song). All you have to is highlight a file or files (while in explorer)& hit enter. Or you can drag it to Foobar. Instant playback.
  
  I use flac also. But sometimes if a file is compressed too much it can sound different than it's wav counterpart. This doesn't happen too much, but it just happened to me 10 minutes ago. The smaller file was lower in volume. Very strange. Probably the 2nd or 3rd time I've encountered this phenomena in the last 5 years.
  
  G
Or just use iTunes -nt - AbeCollins 00:47:41 06/08/09 (1)
.
- Or just use iTunes ? - RafaelDob 08:52:20 06/13/09 (0)
  Hello,
  
  I am even more in "stone age". I started to look on music server as my next "digital front end" and I am learning....
  
  I also have the same problems with EAC and Foobar.
  
  For example when I use icon WAV on EAC - the rsulting WAV files are placed in the directory I designate (usually I call it CD title) in ALPHABETICAL order and not in the order of actual composition...Don;t know what to do?
  
  At any rate I don;t have iTune, iPhone, iPad, i... (never needed one).
  
  Does iTune work with Window based computers? What does it do - ripping, library organization or palyback (which the easiest part e.g. soundcart or NAS based DAC)?
  
  Thank you
  Rafael
RE: Please Help a Novice With EAC/FOOBAR. PLEASE. - Dawnrazor 22:05:00 06/07/09 (2)
Hey Chopper,

Foobar is the worst player to try to configure even for a non novice. I remember spending days infront of the computer to get it to do what I wanted.

The flexibility and tweakability is off the charts, but so is the pain. The go hand in hand, so take some comfort. Many have been ground up by foobar.

To diagnose this, we really need more info. Screen shots of both foobar and your music folder would be helpful.

It sounds like you have .wav files in one folder. Is this right. If so, that is part of the problem. I know of no player that will handle .wavs without different folders or cue sheets. Unless you just have one big .wav for an album, it just wont work...and even then you cant fast forward.

Also, in eac, there is an image+ cue icon. Try ripping with that button. That should solve most of your problems, the rest is just little stuff at that point.

You could look at the AOB3 doc on the cmp thread since that has an eac, and foobar step by step.
- RE: Please Help a Novice With EAC/FOOBAR. PLEASE. - chopper87@aol.com 06:34:20 06/08/09 (1)
  Dawnrazor,
  
  Wow! I'm glad to hear that it's not just me having issues trying to properly configure EAC with FOOBAR. Not that I wish anyone else the kind of headaches that I am going through, it's just that I was biginning to feel ike more of a moron than usual.
  Last night I tried the Image+cue Icon with one of my one of my CR-R's but got the same useless results. I should'nt say useless, but hard to use results. Anyway, I will try this rip configuration with other CD's and hope for more user friendly (or at least functional) results.
  There has just got to be an easier way to geter done than with this combination of software. I am one who claims to want the best sonic results at all cost, but, this has got me considering going back to one at a time CD's :(
  
  Thank you very much for your advice. I will try and follow all of your advice and get screen shots to you as soon as I figure out the process.
  
  Lance
  - RE: Please Help a Novice With EAC/FOOBAR. PLEASE. - Dawnrazor 07:46:19 06/08/09 (0)
    What do you mean by t he same useless results?
    
    DId you get a cue sheet and a big .wav file?
    
    Id so you probably need to tell foobar to look for the cue sheets only.
RE: Please Help a Novice With EAC/FOOBAR. PLEASE. - play-mate 20:47:10 06/07/09 (1)
hey lance

as with so many complex, but logical things : once you get the concept and the hang of it, it´s quite easy !
here is the page that got a lot of us grasping it !

www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/
- RE: Please Help a Novice With EAC/FOOBAR. PLEASE. - chopper87@aol.com 06:36:06 06/08/09 (0)
  Play-Mate
  
  Thank you very much. I will investigate this site right away.
  
  Lance

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