Some CDs won't rip in iTunes
Posted by: Gavin B on 10 January 2012
I've come across two or three CDs that refuse to rip in iTunes (In Absentia - Porcupine Tree is the latest). The recent disks I've noticed this for aren't especially old - porbably just a couple of years old. It won't play in iTunes either, yet it plays fine on my CDS3 and in the car. iTunes recognises it, and pulls in the track data, but when you try to play or import, it doesn't get there. The import tries for a good while then moves onto the next track. It 'appears' to pull it in, but some of the data is 'unavailable' and it clearly hasn't ripped.
Is it just the DVD drive in my laptop, or something not quite right with the disk?
I haven't yet tried ripping it with dbPoweramp. If this did work, could I get the dbP rip into iTunes? (And if so, how?).
Thanks
Gavin
Yes, try ripping in dBpoweramp but if that doesn't work try EAC. Sometimes this one does the trick where others fail. Thanks!
I haven't yet tried ripping it with dbPoweramp. If this did work, could I get the dbP rip into iTunes? (And if so, how?).
If you rip with another ripper, just drag the ripped files from the file folder into iTunes, and the files will be added to iTunes library.
Thanks both. I'll try dbPoweramp tonight.
I've come across two or three CDs that refuse to rip in iTunes (In Absentia - Porcupine Tree is the latest). The recent disks I've noticed this for aren't especially old - porbably just a couple of years old. It won't play in iTunes either, yet it plays fine on my CDS3 and in the car. iTunes recognises it, and pulls in the track data, but when you try to play or import, it doesn't get there. The import tries for a good while then moves onto the next track. It 'appears' to pull it in, but some of the data is 'unavailable' and it clearly hasn't ripped.
Is it just the DVD drive in my laptop, or something not quite right with the disk?
I haven't yet tried ripping it with dbPoweramp. If this did work, could I get the dbP rip into iTunes? (And if so, how?).
Thanks
Gavin
Hi Gavin,
This seems a bit strange to me as I have ripped nearly 2000 CD's using iTunes on a Mac Mini and have not encountered this problem or anything similar. Even if you used some other ripper to do the job, the single point of failure may still be the DVD drive. You could save yourself some frustration trying different software by getting the drive looked at by someone at an Apple store. If your Mac has Apple care on it then it could be done for free. Good luck.
Well, I set dbPoweramp on it last night, and by this morning, over 8 hours later, it had ripped half of the album (at 0.1x speed). Hopefully it'll be finished by the time I get home tonight and I can see how the rip is.
@Spartacus - Most discs work without issue - I've come across 4 that are like this in about 350 that I've ripped. It probably is the drive as my son says he had no issue ripping this CD. My machine is a humble Dell. It is still under warranty but I'm not sure what Tesco would do with it given it's such an intermittent 'fault'.
Gavin
Presumably dBPoweramp has 'calibrated' your CD rip drive. It should do that automatically the first time attached.
Also, dBPoweramp references the AccurateRip database and reports a rip as error free or suspect based on that. Since the CD you are trying to rip is running horrendously slowly it implies successive failures to read which are resulting in a massive amount of re-reads AND I would suspect that you are getting red warning info in the AccurateRip report for each track.
Will be interested to hear what it sounds like if it completes ripping. I would take that CD and any others like it back as duff if it is a new enough purchase.
regards
geoff
If it takes so long time to rip, it must surely be damaged.
Can you see any damage on either side of disc?
(I know data is on "underside", but I've seen top-damage on CD break the reflective layer.)
Well, I set dbPoweramp on it last night, and by this morning, over 8 hours later, it had ripped half of the album (at 0.1x speed). Hopefully it'll be finished by the time I get home tonight and I can see how the rip is.
@Spartacus - Most discs work without issue - I've come across 4 that are like this in about 350 that I've ripped. It probably is the drive as my son says he had no issue ripping this CD. My machine is a humble Dell. It is still under warranty but I'm not sure what Tesco would do with it given it's such an intermittent 'fault'.
Gavin sorry I made the assumption you that you were using a Mac. If DB Poweramp is taking that long and your son has ripped the same CD on another computer then I would say that it is the drive for sure. If you machine is still under warranty, personally I would not hesitate to get it sorted by the retailer, even if it is "a humble Dell" it should still be fit for purpose. I had a problem with my Mac Mini when it was ripping CD's it was very loud even though the CD's ripped ok. It was doing it's stuff but I couldn't live with that level of noise. Apple Just swapped it out for a new drive.
By the way it was silent on some discs and extremely noisy on others and every level in between. So it could be said to be intermittent (ish)... It just demonstrated that there is a lot of variability in those silver discs. Just tell them especially if it has ripped ok on another system, you've got nothing to lose.
Okay, a brief update. The rip was no use at all - constantly breaking up.
One of the girls at work has ripped it successfully this morning suggesting it's the DVD drive on my laptop. So, now to tackle the delights of Tesco Direct & Dell customer services - I'm guessing that might involve sending the machine off somewhere.
Further up this thread Hego suggested dragging a different rip into my iTunes. Is there anything to stop me ripping this CD on a different machine / different user's iTunes then copying the relevant folder into my iTunes folder?
Just rip it - put it into a shared location (or on a memory stick etc) and then just select the folder and add to library.
> Is there anything to stop me ripping this CD on a different machine / different user's iTunes then copying the relevant folder into my iTunes folder?
Absolutely nothing: you can use any ripper on any machine - the new Mac Mini doesn't have a CD drive, so it is the only way to do it without buying an external drive. iTunes will play AIFF, WAV and ALAC, but not FLAC so don't rip it to FLAC in the other machine.
Just a quick clarification, if you try this:
Do not add the ripped files/folders to the iTunes folder via Finder/filecopy, then iTunes metadata isn't updated.
Instead:
- make sure iTunes Preferences/Settings - Advanced - Keep iTunes Media folder organized is CHECKED.
- drag your ripped files/folders into iTunes windows/application
- your files will be organized according to their tags/metadata
- if your files is missing some tags/metadata, it can be added in iTunes
Thanks, everyone. I'll give the 'remote' ripping a go - hopefully tonight if I can press-gang an old IBM laptop I've got at home.
Gavin