I recently purchased a German boxed set of Billie Holiday's Columbia recordings after reading about the superb sound quality. Two of the ten discs in the set have ripping problems, though after cleaning one of the discs I got it to rip somewhat (there are still some skipping sounds on some of the tracks). The disc pictured below will not rip at all and isn't even recognized by the Super Drive attached to my Mac Mini. Does anyone know what might be the issue with this disc? Is it because the playing surface is gold?
You need to try the problem discs in a different drive. A different drive by a different brand. Some drives just have problems with certain discs even though the drives are otherwise good optical drives. There is a good reason why my CD ripping setup has a stack of four different ripping drives. If the discs still won't rip in different drives, and you know those different drives are good at ripping different discs, then the problem is the discs. Otherwise assume the problem is the drive you're using.
I have a portable Sony cd player that the disc played in no problem. I’m going to try cleaning the super drive now and see if that helps.
There is also the possibility that the disc has copy protection. But that's unlikely. That particular CD isn't in Discogs. But I did check the label and distributor listed on that CD and none of their releases on Discogs mention they have copy protection. So unlikely that disc does. A copy protected disc will play fine in a regular audio CD player. But will have problems playing in a computer drive or a CD player that uses a data drive. Many modern DVD players use data drives (especially the DVD players that are able to play mp3 files on a CD, cause if they're reading files it has to be a data drive). One test would be to try playing the CD in your DVD player and see if it plays. If it plays then it is unlikely to have copy protection. edit: I think I did find it in Discogs Billie Holiday – Portrait (Box, CD) No mention of copy protection
Most likely culprit is the SuperDrive. I have one too. Most of the time it works great. Once in a while it won't rip a disc. Usually a full desktop-size optical drive will do the trick. That said, there are some CDs that play fine and look fine and for some reason create problems with optical drives when trying to rip them.
Cleaning the super drive helped. The disc is readable and I am able to rip most of the tracks using dBpoweramp Music Converter. However certain titles are being stubborn and taking multiple tries before I receive the "Accurate" seal of approval. FWIW, the sound on these songs is really incredible to my ears. I am not sure what the remastering process was (I haven't read the liners yet) but wow. None of the tracks I have listened to so far have any crackle at all. I can't tell they were recorded almost 100 years ago. This is the set, in case anyone else is interested... Billie Holiday – Portrait (Box, CD) *edit - to clean the super drive I used the method discussed in this article
Something else about the cd's in this set. Each comes in a jewel case with a paper booklet insert. The booklets have one staple instead of the customary two. I've never seen that before! Talk about cutting costs!
One trick to try is to configure dBpoweramp to rip at a slower speed. Sometimes setting a drive to a slower speed will get it to rip a disc that it won't rip at a higher speed. In the dBpoweramp CD Ripper go to the green settings toolbar button. Then go to the CD Ripper Options menu option. In the ripping options click on the Secure settings and get into the secure mode settings options In the secure mode settings options there is an option to limit drive speed for pass 2. Set the drive speed to something slower than maximum. Then try ripping the CD again with the slower maximum speed. It may get through the errors when ripping at the slower speed. Then set the drive back to maximum speed when you've got the CD ripped. Here's what the dialog box should look like where you can set the secure mode ripping speed. This is for Windows. I assume the Mac dialogs look similar.
I am on a Mac but really appreciate your suggestion. I looked at the preferences pane and here are my options. I switched the ripping method from Burst to Secure. For some reason the Ripping Speed option is greyed out and I can't change it.
Look at the line that says "Secure (Recover Errors)" click on the button that says "Secure Settings" That will get you to the secure settings dialog I posted. And from there you can set the drive speed.
If you run your finger along the edge of the CD it is not smooth it has minor ripples I wonder if that affects the rip ability at all. I thought about taking some Brasso and a very soft cloth and seeing if I could smooth down the edges ever so slightly
If it has lumps on the edge it is possible that could cause imbalance issues when the disc spins at very high speed. But I wouldn't try polishing the edge and trying to get it smooth. There is a possible risk that you create a gap between the top layer and bottom layer that lets in air and could cause the disc to degrade or corrode over time. I leave the edges alone. Except for trying the green marker thing on a few discs a few decades ago. If the disc is a bit lumpy in a way that might cause some imbalance at high speed then the way to fix that is to configure the ripping program to spin it at slow speed. Even going down to 4x or even 2x speed. Ripping at 2x speed will take a long time (30 minutes or more for a 60 minute CD) but can get a CD to rip that won't rip at faster speeds. Does that disc make more noise than other discs when ripping? Does it sound like the disc or drive is making more noise because the disc isn't balanced? Spinning the disc at 40x will cause vibration problems if the disc isn't perfectly balanced. That's one reason why lowering the drive speed can help with some CDs. My strategy when a disc doesn't rip or rips with errors is to first try one of my other drives. If that doesn't work then configuring the ripping program to rip at a slower speed. I also try different ripping programs. The different ripping programs have different reading strategies for errors. I'm on Windows so I try dBpoweramp, EAC, and CUERipper. Sometimes EAC will rip a disc that dBpoweramp won't. And sometimes dBpoweramp will rip a disc that EAC won't.
Golden-looking CDs with a rough edge? Burned on demand? You could do the same at home. And since you are ripping them anyway, could not you just download the FLACs?
Budget German label with questionable sources. Who manufactured the disc? it'd be on the hub-I'm just curious. I know it doesn't help your issue Green (look's like Ham's got you all set )
Thank you I will try the lowest speed and report back. The disc sounds like a quiet playing card in a bicycle spoke, if that makes sense.
seems like you were able to get a accurate rip in the end. For discs that won't rip correctly no matter what, the only solution might be to play them in a regular CD player and record the output. Works great for discs with pre-emphasis as well.
Yeah I thought I might have to hook up my portable Sony to the mic input of my Mac Mini. XLD is doing the trick though, which is a relief. I really appreciate everyones input. I am going to bookmark this thread for future reference.
Now I am worried about another disc. I paid $75 for this Elis Regina package but when it arrived the DVD looked like someone had smeared brown bird poo on it - even though the item was sealed. I tried to clean the disc using soap and a lint free cloth which helped a lot with the discs appearance but it still would not read. I then used some Brasso and a paper towel which made the disc look very scratched up, but now it plays. I would really like to figure out a way to get this disc resurfaced so that it looks like new but fear that is no longer an option. Years ago I found a company online that would resurface discs and sent them a 'Sinatra In Hollywood' cd (they told me the disc was too scratched for repair and sent it back) but I can't remember the name of the company. Have any of you ever sent off a disc to be resurfaced/repaired? Anyone reputable that you can recommend?
Stores that sell video game discs will resurface discs. Have them practice on a dollar bin CD before giving them anything HTF/OOP to work on. Some of the machines work very well but there are limits and you need to be sure it is being used correctly. The ones that use a closed system with water and varying grades of buffing discs work best IME. But even those can ruin discs when used improperly. Recently I saw a demo video of a $100 or less DIY machine that looked really interesting, but seems like a lot of trial and error and finicky-ness involved.
If you plan on ripping a lot of CDs you will find it beneficial to get an external USB connected drive for ripping. One reason is so you don't wear out the internal drive in your laptop. Another reason is because a second drive makes it possible to try a different drive if a CD doesn't rip correctly. The challenge is finding a USB drive that is known to be good at ripping CDs. Some drives are not good ripping drives and will have problems with many CDs. While other drives are very good and will sail through even scratched and damaged CDs. The challenge is to find one of those very good ripping drives. Remember the strategy. If a CD doesn't rip without errors then try a different ripping drive. Then try a different ripping program that supports AccurateRip (XLD or dBpoweramp or other ripper with AccurateRip support). Then try slowing down the drive speed. One of those options or a combination should allow you to rip most CDs. I've ripped many thousands of CDs. There have only been a handful that I haven't been able to rip. Either due to really bad scratches or due to manufacturing defects.
