Is it a good idea? Anyone had experience with it? It seems fast and on the accuraterip list this ASUS - BW-12D1S-U has an offset correction value of +667. I'm looking for a solid, good quality drive but I don't want to buy a used one and the price should be reasonable.
I know there are different opinions about the importance of the cd drive (many people say that as long as the cd is ripped correctly anything else is indifferent). Please give me some opinions about the method I'm using and, if you ever experienced it, about the quality and speed of this asus bw-12d1s-u drive. Thanks a lot to everybody. Please keep in mind that I'm a beginner when it comes to ripping cds.
As far as I understand this, if EAC says it is accurate the audio in your files should be the same as on the CD. So if an AccurateRip entry exists testing shouldn't be necessary. I had issues with an Asus drive but I think it was because it was faulty. My cheaper LG drive works better for some unknown reason.
I would suggest to get EAC to use MusicBrainz for the metadata, because in my experience the metadata from MusicBrainz is more reliable than the one of FreeDB or CDDB. Especially for a large CD collection correct metadata is important to keep your sanity during the process.
Yeah... If AccurateRip gets a match you don't need secure mode. And, I've never had a audible error when EAC said "no errors", even without AccurateRip.
I would suggest to get EAC to use MusicBrainz for the metadata, because in my experience the metadata from MusicBrainz is more reliable than the one of FreeDB or CDDB.
I haven't used MusicBrainz. I'm using FreeDB and I agree... Sometimes I do have to make corrections (or I'll make changes just because I don't like the "style"). So, I always try to check the metadata.
I also like to tag songs with the original release year. The database will give you the release date for the CD, so if it's an old recording originally was released on vinyl or if it's a compilation or "greatest hits" CD, I'll update the year. It can be time-consuming researching the year and in some cases I could not find it an I left it blank.
Of course, you'll have to enter the information manually for the "underground" albums, as well as scan the artwork.
To get ripping right: If AccurateRip matches, then OK. A ripping tool that can check across pressings for "Accurate" modulo offset, can verify more disc. EAC can not, if the wiki is up-to-date.
Furthermore, CUERipper (part of CUETools) can - subject to what it has in its own CTDB database - correct small enough errors. Use with care.
For troublesome discs, using just a different drive - even one that has a worse track record - often does the trick. It isn't so that a statistically better one handles everything a worse does and then some - there might be lucky shots for each.
Do not buy two of the same drive. And beware of rebadging. If two drives have different offsets, then hopefully chances are greater that they will behave different.
Metadata: If you want to use EAC, use the CTDB plug-in to get CUETools' metadata sources.
Also, if you are willing to do work afterwards: There are scripts for MusicBrainz Picard, which can extract more metadata than your usual ripper will get. For example, the "Classical Extras" plugin gives an information overload that can be deleted afterwards.
Thanks to everybody for the answers! As for metadata I've been using ctdb. With the proper settings it finds the correct infos most of the time and large high quality artwork (not allways). Anyway I'm allways editing something, for example the capitalization of the song titles, I don't want every single word capitalized. To add tags I also have mp3tag, it's a free software and get things done.
As for the external cd drive have someone had any experience with the one I'm willing to buy? The Asus blu-ray burning device.