CD ripper

[ldb]

Just getting into this, I am using Windows Media Player 7.1 which does not have CD ripping software included as far as I can tell. Would anyone like to recommend some separate CD ripping software that works well with 98 and is light. I do not need anything fancy as all I intend to do is transfer CD songs to MP3 for my MP3 player.

Thanks

[herbalist]

CDex works well with 98. They're making an effort to continue supporting 9X operating systems. Open Source.

http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/

Rick

[alexanrs]

Also, Winamp 5.00-5.35 should work on Windows 98, and can rip CDs to MP3

[bristols]

Sure. Many swear by Exact Audio Copy (EAC). I use CDex:

http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/

The non-unicode version 1.70 (Beta 2) for 9x works fine.

It's very light, highly customisable, and works great with the LAME MP3 encoder version 3.98 (but not 3.98.2 it seems):

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Lame_Encoder.htm

(close CDex if open, download the latest LAME .zip file, extract from it the file lame_enc.dll, and then use it to replace the lame_enc.dll file in your CDex program directory).

If you install it with LAME 3.98, I recommend that you go to Options > Settings > Encoder and, under Quality, choose "preset fast extreme". Under VBR Quality, "VBR 0" is the highest.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

CDex works well with 98. They're making an effort to continue supporting 9X operating systems. Open Source.

http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/

I so second this suggestion. CDex is a lean, mean ripper. And it has thoughtful features that are missing in other apps like copy album info to clipboard, and save to Local CDDB and even save to CDPLAYER.INI.

@herbalist: thanks for reminding us of this. I've been using 170b2 and really believe that was the final one. But now I see something is definitely going on over there. If I read this page correctly I believe we need to get off our butts and get in contact with them to express our wishes to keep CDex on Win9x alive. They have practically asked us to do exactly that!

In fact I hope that all Win9x users here will read through that page I linked to above, a very interesting read (32 million downloads!). It is a crystal clear example of how good authors can approach the the Windows 9x/XP/Vista and new multi-core CPU hardware dilemma. While others just chuck out compatibility to make their life easy, we have here some good and talented people who don't automatically do that. They want to hear from us! So let's get to work.

[ldb]

Thanks for the replies, I downloaded Audiograbber before I got any replies. This seems more complicated with all the settings than I care to deal with. I then decided to try bristols suggestions and downloaded the Non unicode version of 1.70b2 and replaced the lame dll.

The problem is that when I go to change the Settings button I get an error message saying that "The Microsoft layer for unicode failed to initialize" Please reinstall. It then closes CDex.

I thought that this did not need unicode. What am I missing?

Thanks

[herbalist]

That's odd. I've been using 1.51 with no problems. It sounds like you've got the wrong one. Did you get the installer or the zip file? I just downloaded the 1.70 zip file. It works fine here.

MD5 for the 1.70b2 zip file:

4d4dd58ca111dc728ce4e22971e64c5d

Rick

[bristols]

I agree with herbalist - sounds like you've got the unicode version.

Meanwhile, have you tried to get your current version working by putting a copy of the file unicows.dll (the Microsoft Unicode Layer) into your CDex directory? Assuming you have the unicode layer already installed, you should find a copy in your System folder (usually c:\windows\system). Copy (don't move) it over, and let us know.

[ldb]

No, I got the right one, it is the installer version:

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/cdexos/...de.exe?download

I do not have a unicows.dll file on my system, where do I get it?

I also put the lame encoder in the audiograbber and it can be chosen from the list and used to do the conversion. I still want to compare the 2 converters though.

Thanks again

[ldb]

OK, found the download for unicows and installed it and now the CDex settings opens. I will do more experimenting later.

thanks

[useroone]

I use to use FastCDRipper