April 12, 2005

Auditory George - Easiest way of importing my old CDs? Hello all! After downloading most of my music, I finally took a look at the stack of my old CDs and sat down to try to import them into my iTunes. The problem seems to be that when I am importing them using iTunes, the importing gets hung up on what I suspect is a song that resides on a particularly scuffed up part of the CD and just sort of hangs there. Is there a better importing option for mac, preferablly for little or no $$$? Something that will let me stop a song import if it isn't working and skip to the next song without rebooting the program? Thanks large!
posted by squidranch 19 years ago
  • how about you rip all the songs to MP3 first, then import them? iTunes proprietary software, along with the non-user changeable battery, is one of the major drawbacks of iPod. I use CDex which is small, free, and doesn't choke on scuffed CDs, at least in my experience.
  • the process of ripping is "Import" in iTunes, so I think your recommendation should work, Doris. There may also be a way in iTunes to select which tracks on a CD you'd like to import... not in front of my machine right now so I can't confirm. I don't know why you jumped on the iPod though, as it's not even mentioned in the post (and you can replace the batteries yourself).
  • If the CD itself is damaged, you can use ISOBuster. It has a free trial which will rip the files as waves for you, then you can encode them from there.
  • cdparanoia is great for ripping really scuffed CDs. Not very user friendly though (read comments on the linked page for help with compilation issues).
  • The average person can't replace the batteries or know where to look for hacks. I jumped on iPod because I think it's a bit over-rated, that's all. Is that a problem?
  • I don't know anything about Mac software. *cackles* This 'un turns up pretty quickly. I wonder if it's any good?
  • I import scuffed CD's all the time with iTunes, and have never had a problem with it getting stuck on a particularly bad track. In fact, my iBook can read most discs that my CD player can't. I might have gibberish on some tracks when it's done, but I just throw those tracks out. I've actually been raiding my used CD store's scratched bin with fabulous results. Not particularly helpful to you, Squid, sorry.
  • if they're really scuffed you might take them somewhere for resurfacing (some game trady shops will do it - a friend works in a hollywood video/gamecrazy and they resurface for a small fee). you might try music man for ripping but I can't vouch for it.. do they play properly in a reg. CD player? iTunes can skip, just cancel it when you get to a bad song and select the rest of the tracks and then hit import. problem with jumping on the iPod is that it has absolutely no bearing on ripping CDs with iTunes, at least as far as this post is concerned.
  • …problem with jumping on the iPod is that it has absolutely no bearing on ripping CDs with iTunes… Not to mention the bit about 'proprietary software.' Huh? Since when is mp3, mp4 (AAC), or AIFF proprietary? Proprietary to whom? iTunes can import/rip using all those formats. I suppose you mean the DRMed AAC (mp4) files which are downloaded from the iTunes music store. But even those are easy enough to strip the DRM out of if you have a hangup about it.
  • Squid, you can go to most indy record stores to get bad cds fixed (as mrg said), or you can try to fix them yourself. First, wash off the cd with mild dish soap like dawn, then pat dry (make sure it's really dry!) with a lint-free, soft cloth (those flour sack kitchen towels work pretty well). Try it then. If it still sticky/skippy, try this: Get some regular old toothpaste (not gel, not whitening, not tartar control. Just good ole' toothpaste.) Gently rub a small amount all over the disk, then wash gently using the method above. The toothpaste can fill in some little scratches. This might help! If it doesn't, you don't have to import the whole disk into iTunes. You can uncheck the yucky song. Hope this helps!
  • iTunes has an option to use error correction in the Importing section of its preferences. It's supposed to help if the CDs are scratched, but I haven't tried it myself.
  • The best thing I've found for this is EAC. It's pretty amazing. I managed to rip cd's from my high school collection which were basically sandpaper (sandplastic?). It can take a whole day to rip a really f'd cd because it slows the drive down and goes over the bad spot over and over again, averaging (i guess) out the errors. In the end I had almost perfect quality mp3s.
  • Oops that should be www.exactaudiocopy.de. Newbie, heh heh.
  • When iTunes imports skippy tracks, usually it has worked better for me on my Mac to just drag-copy the offending tracks to my hard drive and drag them into iTunes from there. Never tried using special CD-ripping programs before... interesting.
  • hey squid! are you going to s.k.'s on sat? oh yeah, and, um...itunes plays music...and stuff.
  • Another reason it could be doing this is when there are extras on the CD (e.g. video, etc). I've noticed that this can sometimes make it hang on the last track...
  • For me, the easiest solution for a lot of my cds was to download the stuff from allofmp3.com which costs 2 cents a megabyte. It was worth it to me to save my time of putting the cd in, taking it out, putting the next one in repeat a million times...
  • I must have imported hundreds of cd's into iTunes by now... I've found that the "error correction" option that douggles mentioned has helped occasionaly. Although at times it didn't seem to make any difference, those few times it successfully imported a "bully track" made it worth-while. I've also found that the type of file you are exporting to - and quality selected - greatly effects the way iTunes handles scuffed tracks. There are some Unix apps out there that would probably do the trick, but that's a whole 'nother story!
  • I agree that the best solution for ripping tracks is exact audio copy with the LAME encoder. Its free and a pretty powerful tool. It has a beginner and expert mode so its easy to learn if you are a newb and powerful once you get the hang of it. As for importing the tracks into the iPod, I recommend ephPod. I hate iTunes since it tried to take over my computer and all my music. EphPod will let you not only put tracks onto the iPod in a very simple manner, but will let you pull tracks off your iPod and make them into .mp3s on your HDD. You can also make playlists in .m3u (think winamp).
  • I'll throw my hat in the ring with dbpoweramp. Free, good integration with windows, flexible, works with any format I've ever come across. I've used it to rip mp3s from some severely scratched CDs, but YMMV. Not being able to read from a scratched CD could even be a function of the CD drive, I don't know. If it's just a few you can't rip, and other programs won't work, I'd try ripping with another computer.
  • sexyrobot, I am going to Baja with my brother this weekend. There are some up and coming wineries down there. Gonna eat some tacos and drink some wine, muchaco.
  • Oh, and thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.
  • squid, that sounds like a great weekend plan. I'm jealous! Say hi to Mexico for me.
  • fun fun fun! have a safe trip! bring me back something kooky!
  • Maybe I'm being too simple here, but have you tried enabling the "use error correction when importing CDs" option from within iTunes's preferences? Happened to me, too, which is why I suggest it.
  • I'm currently using iTunes with that option checked, and I have had only one CD be so bad that it wouldn't be imported. Pianistic's NMP3 Ripper works pretty swell too.
  • Just had a track it didn't like. I'm back to NMP3 Ripper.