Ripping of copy-protected CD's

Posted by: mipi on 03 February 2011

Hi,
does anybody have a recommendation on how to rip copy-protected CD's? In many cases it helps to clone the CD on harddisk. But this doesn't help in all cases. I have many rustling FLACs which are the result of a rip of a copy-protected CD (with a cloning step in between).
Thanks, mipi
Posted on: 04 February 2011 by MediaMatt
Hi mipi,

I think the best way to rip copy protected CD's is to record the analogue out from your CD-player.  It might be a bit time-consuming, but it's less hassle than struggling with digital rips.  If you have quite a few CD's to do, then it might be worth spending a little cash on some audio software, rather than using the free stuff that's out there.  It's a fairly simple process, and you can make your FLACs from your new master WAV files rather than making a new CD and ripping that.



The key is to get a decent recording in the first place.  If your computer has a decent soundcard then use that, but it may be preferable to use a portable digital recorder. Record at a high sample rate like 88.2kHz/24bit and downsample to 44.1kHz/16bit when you make you FLAC.  I seriously doubt that you will be able to notice a major difference between the original CD and the ripped tracks done in this way.  Certainly nothing that would spoil your enjoyment of the music.



If you don't have access to any kit, then I'm sure there's someone in your local area who'd be happy to help out.



Matthew
Posted on: 04 February 2011 by Jan-Erik Nordoen
Rip them on a UnitiServe or HDX, then copy the wav files to your computer and burn to cd.
Posted on: 04 February 2011 by mipi
Nor do I have a UniteServe neither a HDX.

Just for clarification: I do not want to copy original CD's to other CD's. I want to rip them (i.e. copy & convert them to harddisk as FLAC). Normally I use dbpoweramp for that. In case of copy-protected CD's where dbpoweramp has problem sometimes it works to clone CD's to hard disk (e.g. via CloneCD) and rip it to FLAC from there. In many cases this procedures works. But there are other cases where it doesn't. My question is about these remaining cases: How to I rip these CD's?
Posted on: 04 February 2011 by winkyincanada
I haven't had a problem with copy-protected discs in years. I just use iTunes. YMMV.
Posted on: 04 February 2011 by Bananahead

Easy CD-DA Extractor works for me

Posted on: 04 February 2011 by Martin Zero
never had the problem, all cd's "protected" or otherwise rip
Posted on: 04 February 2011 by garyi
I have never found a CD that did not rip.
Posted on: 04 February 2011 by Mike Smiff
I did have a problem with  copy protected cds that would not rip in DBpoweramp when I first used it but after some settings changes they all ripped, it was a time ago now but I think it was cds with extra content on them and I just needed to tick a box in settings in order for it not to be read along with the copy protect.

One copy protected cd ripped in iTunes and one didn't, not that I am iTunes biggest fan but I gave it a good go as its free.
Posted on: 06 February 2011 by Kev T
So far I have not had a problem with a copy protected cd.  However, I have had a few discs that just do not seem to be recognised by my computer.  By which I mean, nothing happens, autoplay doesn't kick in, and the disc does not appear in windows explorer or WMA, Itunes or Media Monkey.  Very frustrating!
Posted on: 07 February 2011 by Redmires
I ripped 500+ CD's recently and did have some issues with copy protected CD's. Using a Windows 7 HP laptop and EAC, some discs refused to rip to WAV. Tried the same thing on my XP Dell desktop and they ripped ok. Could be a platform/OS problem !
Posted on: 15 February 2011 by AndyH 54
Hi,
During the process of ripping my CD's onto an HDX I came across 1 particular CD that seemed to be unrippable by me either direct to the HDX or via my PC to my NAS.
The solution I came up with was to use an old machine of my son's, an old Pioneer CD recorder. The process was to play the CD on another CD player directly connected to the Pioneer to make a copy. Somehow this copy was then rip-able on the HDX but I did have to then manually upload the artwork and track titles.
Very long-winded but it was a CD I was particularly fond of.
Posted on: 15 February 2011 by Richard Lord
Until I read this, I had no idea that CD's were copy protected.  I use a Mac and using its iTunes I have had no problems whatsoever ripping to my hard drive.

DVD's are a different matter.  However, there is a Mac compatible program called Handbrake which will rip anything, even copy protected DVD's.  

I have no idea if there is a PC version, or whether it would work with a CD., but might be worth a look if all else fails.