Scratch that last comment, I misinterpreted :B

Oh, and no, this isn't just about MP3s.
If it were, I'd've not commented.

The Advanced Specialist (#97) - I already know about LAME and how good/not good it is. I'm not saying MP3 sucks - I'm saying that there's better out there than MP3. I know that portable players out there often don't handle formats other than MP3 and WMA - which is part of the problem. (On a side-note, my own does handle OGG as well, though not FLAC or any others.) Okay, so it's pretty childish of me to be saying that LAME is "accurately titled" - I know it's not "lame". It's just getting old to me. Yes, the encoder itself is open source. That doesn't change what I said.
No, this doesn't sound like audiophile training at all - it sounds like "Leave me alone with my MP3". Well, you know what? I didn't ask you to change. You can stick with them if you want, so do it if you want.

I'm so glad The Advanced Specialist popped in! Since I am not, I would like to know what format I need for a standard stand alone CD player. The original is voice (old time radio) so super quality is not the issue. Can anyone help me out? And BTW thank you for the informative history on LAME.

Hmm. OOPS! Keilaron makes a bungle. Maybe some audiophile training is due for you? Oh well. Anyway...

- Everyon pretty much knows already The LAME codec is renowned for being the best and highest quality mp3 codec today. ESPECIALLY at medium-level bitrates, such as above 128. For example at 160 and 192, which provides an optimum balance of speed, space, compatibility and sound quality.

- If you don't know this, then some audiophile experience and basic sound training is in order. (And before you start jumping at the keyboard flailing acronyms like FLAC, APE, OGG, WMA, etc. Don't bother. This is about mp3's. Many portable players which are what people are using nowadays do not handle FLAC, APE, and few OGG. WMA is Microsoft, still not as versatile as mp3. Not supported by all players, subject to DRM, a bit smaller, entangled in MS licensing mechanism.)

- Agreed, LAME is advanced, and not well understood by amateur users who have not studied psychoacoustics, psychophysics, and have experience as an audio or recording engineer. You can tell those that may be in the codec novice area because they don't get the name's origin but instead think it's 'lame'. Kind of like a teen would get their endless amusement about the word "uranus" snickering and guffawing "your anus, hee hee hee. get it? your anus? ha ha ha haha" giggling to no end, But to a person who is actually at the NASA level and at the eschelon of studying Astrophysics, this gets old, fast. Such as it is with the word "LAME CODEC". And although it is one of the most advanced, thankfully a lot of the LAME codec parameters, including the VBR and the Q factor used in the LAME codec have been set by default for you and home users don't have to change much of anything.

-MARK, LAME codec is OPEN SOURCE.

-MARK, if you check your 'audiograbber' program that you said you like, it USES the LAME codec.

-CDEX was written BY one of the lead engineers ON the LAME codec project team. Audiograbber was not. But if you like that one, you can surely use audiograbber if you want. Audiograbber has a nice GUI, but the reason people don't use AudioGrabber was because the author sold out at one point to "XING". XING made a HORRIBLE encoder! He sold his sister program "AudioCatalyst" to them. AC was free and nearly a clone of AG except it used the awful XING encoder. And until his non-compete contract ran out, AudioGrabber used to be shareware and demand a fee. CDEX has always been free. So you may use whatever you like, but since the author of cdex was on the actual project team that developed the best encoder in existence, I prefer that. Your mileage may vary.

-Even Exact Audio Copy, EAC, known as the highest quality ripper uses the LAME codec. (EAC is high quality, employing rigorous error correction, and anti-jitter, but not as quick & dirty as CDEX) Either one is ok, but CDEX is just more convenient when you want to rip & go with less futzing and tweaking of EAC.

"Written by: audiophile | Rating: 5 | Date: 16 Apr 2006

"No doubt about it, lame is the highest quality encoder. For the longest time, I used BLADE ENC at 256kbps. But a friend switched me over and I swear I can tell no difference from a 320kbps MP3 encoded w/ LAME to the original audio cd. Apple should ditch their useless AAC and opt for MP3's encoded with lame. The highest quality I've yet to come across, next to lossless, of course."

Even Exact Audio Copy, the platinum standard in perfect ripping, uses the LAME codec.

AFTERDAWN.com review:
"LAME MP3 encoder is the only codec is actually being developed and improved. The outcome of the developement work of the LAME open source community is that LAME outperforms all commercial MP3 encoders as well as other free ones.

LAME gives you good speed, best quality and huge amount of options and flexibility. This is a commandline utility you can setup for use with good quality ripper, such as Exact Audio Copy "


For more information, you may check out the Frequency Domain Half-Sweeps and digital sample graphs HERE:

http://ff123.net/signatures.html

--

This is very interesting article AVS Audio CD Grabber. This audio CD ripper tool offers rich options for your special requirements. Make direct digital copies of your audio-CDs at a hard drive in the most popular compressed audio formats.Further information click on the link http://www.audiobooks2buy.com/specialOffers.aspx/MP3

#90, Keilaron, I rip in mp3 because it's a univeral format. All my players can use it. I fell in love with OGG, but use most of my music on portables. However, my Cowon A2 apparently takes OGG so it's a good excuse to start.

Oh nooo! It won't work on virtual CD's. Bummer.

-Pauloparra

I had an activation key. I had to go to "My Computer", then Program Files to activate it, but it worked.

SnowyDay, well put!

Dynamicadam, sorry to break it to you... you weren't first. try 4th.

.....Heartbreaking, isn't it? heh. (notice the sarcasm)

I think Windows Media Player or Nero can get the job done just as well. This one's just not for me.

Thanks for the offer anyways!

Moonseal (#82) - ...320 kpbs MP3s? WHY?! If you wanted high/full quality you should have went for OGG or FLAC (at the least).

Hi guys,

I like how simple it is to use AVS Audio CD Grabber. I am not a media pro, I don't have bat ears and I was born when cassette tapes and LPs were the way to listen to music. I don't have much time to learn to use software like foobar, CDex and AudioGrabber.

As for EAC, before you download it it says,
Caution ! Beta Version ! download this beta version on your own risk.
Not very comforting to the unexperienced.

So I am using AVS Audio CD grabber because I know it will work fine. Why? because I have been using AVS audio editor since it became available here and never had a problem with it, so I have developed trust with OMT.

///****** NO USEFUL INFO ABOUT 'AUDIO CD GRABBER' FOLLOWS ******///

The rest of this comment is a rant about the "Me first" posts. Read if, like me, you think that this is becoming a serious problem and it is getting worse as time goes on. Otherwise, stop reading and go on to the next comment.

Fed up (#58) you are wrong about babies. If you ignore a crying baby (not a toddler), the crying won't stop and you are probably neglecting to do something the baby needs (food, diaper change, fever,...). Babies cry for a reason, not just to annoy you. Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with you, you just used a bad analogy.

What I don't understand is that, if the posts are moderated, how can the moderator(s) let useless comments like "I'm first to post yeah!" go through? I know they resort to 'it looks nice' or 'I've been waiting for this software for a long time', or dumb statements like that to appear useful, but obviously the only information they want to convey is their pride on being on top. Read #12, he is right on the spot.

GAOTD, if you want to look professional and give the software developers a chance to see how users rate their software AFTER they have used it, you will do us all a favor and refuse to post those messages. Everyday I have to waste precious time reading them and, as time goes on, they are getting worse and worse.

Just my opinion

-Mario

good one!

this seems like another one of those programs targeted at the not so computer savy individuals. this is deffinately not worth paying $30

Very fast conversion. About 1/5th as fast as nero.
Thanks for the wonderful program. I like it. But
nero express is free. This is good for a year.

Nice program but I'll stick a free program Express Rip

http://www.nch.com.au/rip/index.html

I like speed when ripping and can rip a cd to harddrive in 2 minutes with Express Rip

I love the way the "first comment guy" riles up all of those insecure faigs! Keep it up dude!

#58. In response to your comment, "If you have a baby and he crys…… giving him attention only makes him cry more… but if you ignore him then he stops crying on his own and does not cry as much going forward."

You're wrong. If you want a child with a positive outlook on life, who is self-confident, and who feels that the world is a friendly place where his needs can be met...you should make every effort to meet his requests for attention (crying) as promptly and appropriately as possible. Sometimes they aren't wet. Sometimes they aren't hungry. Sometimes they saw a big hairy thing (cat) that scared them. Sometimes they heard a scary noise (ambulance) that we filter out. Whatever the case. When a baby 0-1 1/2 years crys he needs attention.

My mother-in-law and i had this argument for years. She has three kids who won't give her the time of day (including my ex). They all have personality deficits to some degree or other. I obeyed my instincts with my kid and she is a warm, loving, positive human being. She never gave me a moment of trouble. She is independent also.

My sister followed your advice. Let 'me cry. It's true that eventually, they cry less. They give up. They learn the world is not a friendly place and probably their needs won't be met. My sister's oldest daughter nearly killed herself last month.

It is a big problem in our culture. Many adults are profoundly depressed from childhood because of this neglect. Others have no sense of self-worth. ADHD is a big problem too, because adults want to parent when it is convenient for them, not when it is necessary for the child.

You can actually communicate very early with your baby with sign language using broad gestures and repetition. They use sign language on gorillas and chimps. There is even a Baby Sign Language product somewhere. I made my own up with my baby. I'm sorry for taking this forum's time with this, but couldn't let it go. It's a huge problem in our culture. If you want something to love that takes little investment of your own time or effort, for goodness sakes get a cat or dog.

The software worked okay for me. I tried one of my daughter's CDs. I'd like a software package that would read scanned text so I can convert books I'd like to read but don't have time to, into audio CDs to listen to in the car. Thanks GOTD team. I appreciate the software. Can you guys get something like Trojan Guarder Gold that gets rid of trojans without the necessity of constant updates? Or maybe something like a collection of clip art or sound effects we can use for our home video productions?

After using to rip 5 albums, here's my $.02. I had no installation problems and the sound quality is great. I used the secure setting because I popped in a couple CD's that I bought in the late 80's. They're old. But pretty mainstream: Joni Mitchell. I probably won't use this program again and here is why: the CDDB database fetched completely unrelated material, no matter what I did to correct the problem. I can set a 320 bitrate in MP3 in many other programs on my system, and get album covers, tags and lyrics from MediaMonkey and that new Zortram program we got earlier in the week from GOTD. I love all these programs that the GOTD team keeps throwing at us! Keep up the good work, guys.

No support Folks why ask --


Terms and conditions

Please note that the software you download and install during the Giveaway period comes with the following important limitations:

No free technical support
No free upgrades to future versions
Strictly non-commercial usage
THIS SOFTWARE PRODUCT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. WITHOUT LIMITATION, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT ALLOWABLE BY LAW, END USER ASSUMES THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE DOWNLOADED SOFTWARE PRODUCT.

Cna Anybody ever read any more i have visted this site everday and i read the comments --- please help please help . do they not read what it says when they download the product . NO SUPPORT.

cOME ON guys and gals start reading .

Obsolete. It's nice and all, but why?

Hey #70!

Thanks for your comments! While I did not have the time to try to find a protected CD, I did use two semi-older ones (One being Jewel and another being a dance music collection CD.) They did both work for me besides the CDDB issue. I will say that I do not expect this application to work on them all; you are dealing with newer and newer protection schemes and will never be 100% functional. I do appreciate your comments and do see the issue that can arrise. Many programs do have the same issue however and even worse than this. I don't remember the name, but I remember one ripper which couldn't get the audio to sound even close to nice (And I don't have a picky ear)

To #62: Thanks for the compliment. It is greatly appreciated.

#34 Jon & #74 Zorchenhimer
Sure, if you want to use it Windows Media Player will rip a CD and it's not true that it forces you to add DRM to all your ripped tracks. Starting with version 10 on up that can be easily shut off. Just go to Tools->Options->Rip Music->UNcheck the box in front of "Copy Protect Music", click OK on the warning message that pops up saying you have to accept all responsibility for use of unprotected tracks, yadda, yadda. Presto! Rip to your heart's content with no DRM.

From the same screen (Tools->Options->Rip Music), it's also quite easy to change from the default WMA format so it's not trying to force you to use that either. Most programs install with default options the end user would rather change, there's really no difference between those and WMP and as you can see changes are simple. Personally I prefer other ripping programs but anyone who just wants fast and easy would likely be quite happy with WMP. It even supports variable bit rates and has a lossless format.

#2 and #9, there is no such thing as saying "thank you" too much. There are plenty of advertising loaded sites out there that claim to offer free software but it usually turns out that the programs are merely cripled demos. If the folks at GOTD are making some money for themselves off of this while keeping their site relatively clean of junk then more power to them. I would far rather skim though a bunch of user/non user posts looking for ones that help me than deal with flashing banners, pop ups, and ads that now start speaking to me. Someone here came up with a great idea and I really hope it succeeds.

#15" people claiming to be te first comment WOW what an achievement.
How about areal a real comment on the appl itself:

Reply :When your cheeks have cleared from shame you may go to the forum or you may add something usefell yourself here .

Doesn't Windows media player do the exact same thing as this program?

This app is great-better than alot of others...this site rocks..

good one!

I agree #2, for example today I clicked the one Google ad on the page. Since GOTD does so much, I feel it is all I can do.

Also, I agree with several of you; I may only download 4 or 5 items a month, why would anyone put GOTD down? Why make bad comments? If it is so bad, then move along.

PS: Everyone click the ads and help out!

#60 - You along with all the other commenters on the "firsty craze" should ignore it so that we dont have to skim through the comments regarding that nonsense. If we all stop commenting on it, the result will be a simple scrolling past it's stench in the beginning and then it is over.

#51 - Your review was impressive and yet I find it difficult to believe that you actually had success with this program (I'm not calling you a liar, I'm just hoping for some direction so I can be successful also). I used five CD's: The first three were CDA files that were a complete disaster with this program. The program reported no files found. I next inserted a WAV file CD which was semi-successful (nice ripping?). Next I have a CD with various file formats which the program was unable to read most of the files. The last was a really old CD that had no protection and could be easily copied to my computer with a drop and click which of course was a great success (another case of nice ripping?). Let me ask you what is ripping and does this program actually rip anything that couldn't be "ripped" using plain vanilla already included with every PC drop and click technology? Because after 45 minutes of testing, my CD tests showed this program cannot rip squat.

I expect ANY CD ripper program to allow me to insert my CD, run the program on the drive with the CD, choose the tracks/files I wanted to copy to my PC, and finally press "OK" to copy those files to my PC. Instead I got the all too often annoying message "no files found."

Dear Moderator, and the frustrated few that are having activation/installation difficulties: Many of the posts are the helpful trying to assist other posters in activating their "Give Away" of the Day. Each give away's download comes with a read me file and usually a pop-up window during the installation that includes repeated (from the read me file) or extra instructions for the program's activation. Their difficulties may arrise from multi-tasking or just not reading the read me file. A simple clarification of this (i.e., EXPECT and look for the gray box) on the home page may eliminate HELP! posts within the main body of posts, leaving room for more helpful/informative posts. It will also provide a more professional looking advertising for your software providers that presents testimonial/informational style presentation to future buyers. It is the advertising aspect of this site that allows us to have the opportunity to obtain this software, so let's try to make it the best it can be in order to continue receiving free software. Many of the posts could be weeded out or categorized as "can't activate," "I'm first," "you're full of steer manuare because it is obvious you haven't even tried this software," and some real jewel posts that could advance the sale of the offerings or save users from buying the software. I hope the site advances in popularity. The site is a great idea and thank you for the offerings.

LOL! #15, Being new to this site i was just wondering if there was an exclusive prize for who post first? Anyways, i do not need this freebie thanks GGOTD!

Mark (#59) - People really didn't care about the legalities of the MP3 codec itself - not even the media spoke about it.
The company died.
Besides, if you're worried about that, just use another format: I suggest OGG Vorbis.
Either way, I believe the LAME MP3 encoder is appropriately titled.

nobueno (#61) - Suggest some then.

Foobar2000 can do this, and more; And it is open source.
Next.

sine nomine (#40) - Depends how the "stream" works and if it's really just a file being downloaded and played.

http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/

Much, Much, and much better than "AVS Audio CD Grabber"
And its freeware!!!

Is it in Polish?

Thanks to GOTD! Thanks to users who suggested other rippers and for giving us a chance to comparison. I am wondering that, which is the best software for extracting mp3 files to make an audio cd? I am not satisfied with all that i tried so long and looking for a good one.

thanks #51, that is the kind of post that is helpful...#56 is dead-on, for those who are serious, EAC is the best out there, free, and as I burn most of my music in lossless (.flac format), I find it invaluable...for those who don't care Media Player is easy with no learning curve

GIveaway please give better apps than one a month. All the others
are pretty useless. Thanks for everything.

bears repeating:

The moderator should edit and snip stupid posts like “I’m first”. They add nothing at all to the site and just make it look like a childish mess. It’s not limiting free speech, it’s editing. All newspapers columns do it. This isn’t a public podium for children with tiny egos.

CDEX does rock but is it illegal to use a MP3 codec that you did not pay for? Or does that only apply to MPEG?

If posters did not bring attention to those lonely few who post first... then those lonely sad saps who post first would not think it was such a big deal....for example, If you have a baby and he crys…... giving him attention only makes him cry more... but if you ignore him then he stops crying on his own and does not cry as much going forward.

If you all did this by ignoring thoses who post first or those who continually do not read instructions and are unsuccessful on the softeware installation, then I would not have to scroll trough 50% of the posts reading crud about who posted first....when I simply hope to scroll through the comments about user experience and impressions of the software being offered.

I wish GOTD would have two forums to post...one for those who post first and those that want to comment about those who post first, and a separate forum for those who are simply interested in finding about today's software offering.

Sorry I have been biting my tongue for a long time, but let us just provide feedback of the software. Good feedback is beneficial for the developers, and the more feedabck they get... good or bad... the more they will want their software on this site to get the feedback they need... and we get better free software its a win win!

Realy wanted this,still can't activate anything from this site.

There's way too many freeware apps that do this for me do really care about this one.

And yes. EAC is the best freeware ripper this is. For quality anyway. As far as simplicity goes...I would say Windows Media Player will suffice. Don't have to know much at all about nothing to use the WMP ripper.

What's with all of the first several comments EVERY DAY about "I am first to Comment !!!", and then saying that "I will surely download this". If you are trying to let GOTD know that you are going to download it, they already know statistic-wise when you download it, or activate it.

What value are those useless comments to other users?!? Please comment on information we can use such as WHY you like or dislike it, suggestions, installation problems or concerns, etc.

ANYONE ELSE AGREE WITH ME?

this is pretty useless.. although no activation code, a similar softwarre was released on this site 2 weeks ago i think

I have liked all the free software so far and i think i am going to like this one.

If Windows Media Player didn't do this, it would be useful.

Also-Dynamicadam:
We all know you sit there with your post copied to your clipboard....waiting to hit CTRL-V at the exact second you see the title go up. You have no idea what the title will be but your post is so generic ("Just what I've been looking for!", "I need this one!") you just hit PASTE and get your jollies.

Way to go. Loser.

Hello all! My 15-Minute Review is up! Check it out!

http://www.bladedthoth.com/news/2007/02/28/15mr-avs-audio-cd-grabber/

Enjoy!