Ripping discs to PC - what program besides iTunes is recommended?

OP here...I was able to finally resolve the issue I had posted about. My PC was not recognizing my iPad so I couldn’t synch anything to it but thank goodness for Google, did some research and all is well!

 

I've used AccurateRip on MediaMonkey and it works fairly well. I can't speak to the iPad, but I have used MediaMonkey with my iPod Classic and it worked fairly well. The main limitation was that MediaMonkey didn't support some of the iPod Classic functions (like resuming from where you left off). But for basic syncing it worked fine. The main issue I had with it is that I still needed to have iTunes on my computer in order to reset my iPod Classic.

I've used MediaMonkey for years and have found it will work with many devices, although you might have to set it up. I had that situation with my Sony Walkman NW-A45. MediaMonkey didn't recognize it when I plugged it in, so I had to manually configure it (such as telling it which files are compatible with the player and where the files should be placed on the player). However, once it was set up it worked smoothly.

Something to mention about MediaMonkey: It can autoconvert incompatible files when it loads them on your player but will take a long time if you have a large number of files. When I first synced my iPod Classic, it took about 8 hours to complete the sync since it had to convert all of my FLAC files to 320kbps CBR MP3s (I rip everything to FLAC and then convert if needed).

 

So, if I’m listening to an ALAC file on my iPad that I ripped from the CD, is this file supposedly “CD quality”?

 

Yes. The files are CD quality. 44.1 kHz 16-bit lossless files is the definition of CD quality files.

 

I'm still using the CD ripping function that came with Windows Media Player on my Windows 7 system installed in my Desktop PC.
I rip as WAV Lossless file... or as an MP3 if I'm going to email it.

 

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My friend's house didn't burn down, but his PC's HDD crapped out big time, leaving him with an iPod and 10,000 synced songs. (He did NOT have a backup!) I did in fact manage to retrieve all the songs and their associated metadata. Mounted the iPod as a drive on a PC/Linux laptop first. I then copied its contents to HDD and attached the HDD his new iMac (or did I connect the Lnx l/t itself?...I cannot recall) In any case, it all went onto the iMac. It took a long time, but was all good. I did see weirdness in the filenames as you note, but iTunes sorted that by itself. Earned myself a nice dinner with that one. I really do not know how it'd have gone with iOS. If I have time, I can play around with iPad vis-a-vis PC and see what results. Might be fun, but then too iPad is a minor player in my personal scheme of things, at this time. I think the OP was trying to get files off the PC and onto the iPad?

 

ALAC (FLAC as well) is not "supposedly" lossless; it is decompressed and restored to its original size, in much the same way that zip/gzip et al. data files are lossless and compressed/decompressed. There is a pretty good explanation (if one enjoys reading this kind of stuff) here: An Introduction to File Compression Tools on Linux Servers | DigitalOcean
BTW Mr. Ham, I know you were just responding—correctly—to a comment.

 

For the Mac guys, it is XLD...

 

So...what was the resolution? That knowledge could prove helpful!

 

Absolutely...I ended up having to download a driver from Apple that then allowed iTunes to see my iPad. Something about it being a 2018 model required the driver that was not needed for my old iPad 3.

 

Thanks. Good work on your part to find that.