Speed of ripping CDs

[JohnG]

I have been using a free version of dBpowerAMP music converter (dMC Audio CD Input) for ripping CDs to mp3 files. Today I converted this to a paid version after the introductory period expired. I installed the new version over the existing version, as instructed. When I did this the "new" version retained my existing settings (eg bit rate, etc.).

However, it now takes more than double the time to rip a CD as it did before. Previously it typically took around 3 to 5 minutes to rip a CD whereas now it is taking at least 10 minutes and can take up to 15 minutes.

Can anyone help? Should I go back to installing another free version? How do I get back to the previous ripping times?

[Wayne]

Re: Speed of ripping CDs

What ripping options and priority are you using?

I usually keep the priority set to normal when ripping CDs as I found setting the priority any higher resulted in slower conversions.

Wayne

[ChristinaS]

Re: Speed of ripping CDs

What ripping options and priority are you using?

I usually keep the priority set to normal when ripping CDs as I found setting the priority any higher resulted in slower conversions.

Wayne

Even Below Normal may be better.

[Spoon]

Re: Speed of ripping CDs

If the Power Pack expired, the fast settings such as 'Rip To Ram' on the CD Input >> Power Pack page will have disabled, try re-enabling it.

[neilthecellist]

Re: Speed of ripping CDs

Even Below Normal may be better.

i don't understand how setting it to below normal would result a better rip. :confused:

[Wayne]

Re: Speed of ripping CDs

I think it has something to do with the fact that there are 2 processes(?) involved when ripping tracks from CD.

When you give the conversion process a high priority it takes cpu time away from the process which is extracting the audio from the CD.

Thus the ripping takes longer.

Wayne

[LtData]

Re: Speed of ripping CDs

Yes, CD ripping is two processes: CDGrab that rips the audio off the CD and MusicConverter that converts the audio and whose priority you control. If you set MusicConverter to anything above Normal, CDGrab cannot get as much CPU time and therefore slows down the ripping.

[sidewalking]

Re: Speed of ripping CDs

If the Power Pack expired, the fast settings such as 'Rip To Ram' on the CD Input >> Power Pack page will have disabled, try re-enabling it.

Release 11 is the best one yet! Thanks for a great piece of software!

I loved the Rip to RAM option, and it is gone now. Where exactly is this re-enable function that you mentioned?

[LtData]

Re: Speed of ripping CDs

Release 11 is the best one yet! Thanks for a great piece of software!

I loved the Rip to RAM option, and it is gone now. Where exactly is this re-enable function that you mentioned?

Open up CDGrab and click the PowerPack rocket icon. You will see the option there, along with another option that decreases ripping time: "Rip & Encode at the same time". Check this option also for faster conversions.

[neilthecellist]

Re: Speed of ripping CDs

So setting it to Below Normal would make the CD ripping faster?

[ChristinaS]

Re: Speed of ripping CDs

Yes, and all conversions for that matter, within the capabilities of the machine. If the drive is slow, or the ram is low or the processor is slow, all these affect the overall speed. Some codecs are slower than others. Also it depends on the amount of conversion work required (how much frequency and other things are being changed) and any DSP effects requested.

Keep in mind that a file which is already compressed will possibly take longer to convert to yet another compressed type. This doesn't apply to "ripping" since that refers to converting audio cd tracks which are essentially uncompressed wav format.

[neilthecellist]

Re: Speed of ripping CDs

i noticed that wma is the fastest lossy codec for conversions on my computer. I would have expected the Ogg Vorbis CLI (Pentium 4 only) to be the fastest lossy, but it isn't.

THe fastest lossless codec for my computer is wav, obviously, but 2nd place is APE. Do other people have different opinions as to what codecs are faster/slower?

[LtData]

Re: Speed of ripping CDs

As I only convert to Ogg and Monkey's on a regular basis, all I'll say is that I can rip an entire CD to Monkey's (5-6 minutes) before I can convert a CDs-worth of .ape files to Ogg Vorbis (6-7 minutes, mabye more). Yes, this seems backwards from what it should be. The ape files should convert to ogg before a CD can be ripped. Oh well. Spoon HAS said, and I have repeated, that Ogg is the slowest conversion.

[neilthecellist]

Re: Speed of ripping CDs

i agree that ogg is the slowest. but why?? it's open source. people modify it and redistribute it. and it's still the slowest???? i don't understand. :confused:

[LtData]

Re: Speed of ripping CDs

i agree that ogg is the slowest. but why?? it's open source. people modify it and redistribute it. and it's still the slowest???? i don't understand. :confused:

Mabye the compression is very complex?