Why do CDs rip fast sometimes and slow other times?
- Thread starter AdlerW
- Start date
mgosdin
Super Member
It's a number of things. Older CD's don't seem to read properly at high speeds, same can be said if the CD has been "Foxed" and has fine wear / scratches. Some CD's will rip at full speed in one drive and not in another. I've even encountered brand new CD's that won't rip at full speed. Something in how they were made.
In the end, if I can get a good rip then I'm not going to worry very much about how long it took.
Mark Gosdin
In the end, if I can get a good rip then I'm not going to worry very much about how long it took.
Mark Gosdin
savatage1973
Addicted Member
Depends mainly on the amount of data (music--total time) on the original disc, and the level of compression of the output format--at least that has been my experience. Also, the oversampling rate of the read drive--if the reading drive "reads" the disc multiple times and "buffers" the results for error correction, the reproduction rate will be slower.
Okay, thanks everyone. I just find it frustrating sometimes, especially when a brand new CD rips slowly (in this case I bought a brand new 2-disc set. The first disc ripped fast, the second one ripped slowly).
I even once brought a brand new CD off of Amazon just to have it not rip at all (I looked at the bottom of the CD and it looked ripply, so I'm assuming that had something to do with it, maybe heat damage? Who knows. It was weird).
I always rip to Apple Lossless. But there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to which ones rip slowly and which ones don't. In this case, the 2nd disc that ripped slowly had 34 tracks, many of them short. But then I also ripped another CD that had only 9 tracks that were longer. Same thing. I think maybe the issue is more dependent on software than it is on individual discs. For example, every CD used to rip slowly until I changed, in the settings of XLD, the "number of threads" from "4" to "1". Now at least some of them rip fast.
I even once brought a brand new CD off of Amazon just to have it not rip at all (I looked at the bottom of the CD and it looked ripply, so I'm assuming that had something to do with it, maybe heat damage? Who knows. It was weird).
I always rip to Apple Lossless. But there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to which ones rip slowly and which ones don't. In this case, the 2nd disc that ripped slowly had 34 tracks, many of them short. But then I also ripped another CD that had only 9 tracks that were longer. Same thing. I think maybe the issue is more dependent on software than it is on individual discs. For example, every CD used to rip slowly until I changed, in the settings of XLD, the "number of threads" from "4" to "1". Now at least some of them rip fast.
KrisM
Lunatic Member
Another possibility is your drive.
I went through a problem with EAC and a built-in drive on my laptop a few years back. It was just worn out I think. EAC would do that thing where it would try and try to get an accurate rip. Some would rip fine, some would take close to an hour, some just wouldn't rip at all. It was gross.
I bought one of those cheap portable drives with the two USB cords, and it fixed the problem. Still slow, though. Most rips were over 10 minutes. 12-15 on average, I think? I then bought an external LG with a proper power supply, and my rips are way faster.
I went through a problem with EAC and a built-in drive on my laptop a few years back. It was just worn out I think. EAC would do that thing where it would try and try to get an accurate rip. Some would rip fine, some would take close to an hour, some just wouldn't rip at all. It was gross.
I bought one of those cheap portable drives with the two USB cords, and it fixed the problem. Still slow, though. Most rips were over 10 minutes. 12-15 on average, I think? I then bought an external LG with a proper power supply, and my rips are way faster.
But that's what I have lol, an external LG with a power supply, it's also fairly new. But there's also a lot I don't understand about ripping. I noticed, for example, that it's faster if "C2" is selected, but I don't really know what that is. Also I've heard "secure rips" are slower, and that's the setting I have, so not sure.
KrisM
Lunatic Member
Drives can go bad, though. And it's not always a thing where it just flat out dies. The drive in my old laptop, a Pioneer, acted funky before I moved on from it. Some days were good, some not.
Not that I'm saying replace your drive right away, just keep it mind that it may be the problem.
Secure rips are slower, because they're checking the ripped data. That's a good thing.
What kind of speed differences are you getting?
Quality of CD and drive. Good drive and good CD - no errors, bad drive or bad CD results in read errors.
If there is no errors while reading at full speed, then it will be done quickly. If errors are detected drive slows down until there is no more errors. All reads are done at least twice to compare results. If does not match - program reads again until majority of reads return the same result. This re-read cycle is done for each block at lowest speed and can result in extremely slow ripping.
When I am ripping CD's with JRiver, it is with the same drive, set to the same level of compression to FLAC or APE. For no real reason I can detect, the RPM of the drive is much faster on some CD's as is the rate that the data is transferred, and quite a bit slower RPM on others. I don't believe it has anything to do with the amount of data on the CD, but possibly what sort of condition it is in although brand new ones will often transfer only on slow RPM. One of the mysteries in life I never need to know the answer to as I am always playing other music while ripping so don't care how long it takes. Compared to ripping vinyl with Audacity, CD's are oh so easy at any speed.
Yeah it's a minor grievance at most.
But I'm not talking about it slowing down or stopping, I'm talking about it starting out slow for some CDs. For example, when I ripped this two disc set. The first disc, the rip started out at around 16x and the increased as it went on (as usual). It never slowed down or stopped. The second CD started at around 8x and increased as it went on. It never slowed down or stopped either. But for some reason, it started slow. That's the thing that I don't get.
But I'm not talking about it slowing down or stopping, I'm talking about it starting out slow for some CDs. For example, when I ripped this two disc set. The first disc, the rip started out at around 16x and the increased as it went on (as usual). It never slowed down or stopped. The second CD started at around 8x and increased as it went on. It never slowed down or stopped either. But for some reason, it started slow. That's the thing that I don't get.
cpt_paranoia
Addicted Member
EAC starts ripping quite slowly (say 6x normal speed). Once it's happy that it's not seeing error correction reports from the drive, it cranks up the speed. I have a x42 drive, and tell EAC it can use that. I find it doesn't usually go any faster than about 35x, averaging about 30x over the whole disc.
If it gets read errors (that aren't recovered by the drive's ECC), it will do multiple read attempts. That can take a long time...
The length of the CD is obviously a trivial factor.
Main factors are disc quality, drive quality and sustained data transfer rate from CD to HDD (so I rip to local disk, even though I have a GBE link to my NAS).
If it gets read errors (that aren't recovered by the drive's ECC), it will do multiple read attempts. That can take a long time...
The length of the CD is obviously a trivial factor.
Main factors are disc quality, drive quality and sustained data transfer rate from CD to HDD (so I rip to local disk, even though I have a GBE link to my NAS).
sKiZo
Hates received: 92644 43.20°N 85.50°W
Maybe it's like a kid eating veggies ... ever think your drive just doesn't like the music you're ripping? <G>
PS - you want slow, try ripping a BBC Music magazine disc. Those use a proprietary front end and all the music is in a single file. Only way to transfer the music to my HTPC is to rip the discs real time, then break it all into tracks using Audacity. Worth the effort though - some excellent recordings ...
PS - you want slow, try ripping a BBC Music magazine disc. Those use a proprietary front end and all the music is in a single file. Only way to transfer the music to my HTPC is to rip the discs real time, then break it all into tracks using Audacity. Worth the effort though - some excellent recordings ...
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savatage1973
Addicted Member
Your example of the 3-disc set kind of explains it--the index on the one disc only contained 9 tracks, while the second disc had an index of 34 tracks, so your software took no chances for error and started slow.
I always rip (and burn) CDs at the slowest speed the drive will support. With newer drives, that might be 4x or 8x. I figure it gives a greater chance of the data being read (or written) accurately. I've had some CD players baulk at CDRs written at high speeds.
Lee.
Lee.
cpt_paranoia
Addicted Member
Use EAC, and let it decide what speed it needs to use, by monitoring the drive's error correction circuits. It also connects to AccurateRip, to check the CRC with rips other people have made.
mgosdin
Super Member
I had the same "two disk rip speeds" come up this weekend, found an "Essential Santana" 2 CD set from 2002 at the thrift and when I went to rip the disks the first ran at "Full" but the second ran at "Medium". Both disks had similar track #'s, around 15, and the files for each totaled out about the same, 750 MB uncompressed. The only difference was that disk 1 had the natural silver face where disk 2 had a pale blue face. So the printing on disk 2 was more involved and that might have made it a bit more error prone.
Mark Gosdin
Mark Gosdin
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