CD ripping software
My requirements:
- runs on Linux - specifically Xubuntu 13.04 and Linux Mint 15 running MATE
- free
- produces a separate file per track
- can play the output on my Nokia 201 or Jan's Nokia ???
- is supported
- is easy to use
- GUI and not command-line.
Sources of information:
- Wikipedia article on ripping - Ripping.
- ubuntu documentation has a page on CD ripping.
- Sound Juicer
- audiocd:/ KIO-slave
- KaudioCreator
- K3b
- also mentions: ABCDE, Asunder, Grip, Jack, Ripper X, RubyRipper
- Wikipedia has information on Category:Linux CD ripping software.
- AskUbuntu has a question What are good CD Ripping Programs? but is not very helpful.
- Tom's Hardware has a review of Linux CD rippers including:
- Asunder
- Audex
- Sound Juicer
- XCFA
- RipperX
- RubyRipper
| Product | Ubuntu software centre | URL | Features | Conclusion |
| ABCDE | Yes ★★★★★
Mint: ★★★★☆ score: 7 |
Link | Home page says: "a command line CD encoder. It will read your CD, contact a CDDB provider, download the track information, rip your CD and store all the encoded tracks in the tree layout you define. It supports multiple encoders for several formats, such as FLAC, Ogg/Vorbis, MP3,... and will use one single rip to create as many output formats as you want."
Ubuntu says: "For those who want a no-nonsense, fast, customizable ripping solution." |
No because it runs in the terminal.
Needed to install eyeD3 to process MP3 files. Needs LAME to process .MP3s. |
| Yes, 8th
Mint: ★★★★☆ score: 48 |
Link | Ubuntu Software Centre says: "A DVD ripper and encoder with a simple interface. Parses DVD into contents tree." | "Not a valid DVD drive"
No because it does DVDs, not CDs. | |
| Asunder | Yes, 1st, ★★★★☆
Mint: ★★★★☆ score: 37 |
Link | Ubuntu says: "an easy-to-use, plain CD ripper that converts into MP3, OGG and WAV."
Tom says: "provides a simple interface. Supported outputs include WAV, MP3, OGG, and ACC. Naming formats of the album directory, playlist file, and file name are customizable. Will rip the entire album; creates an M3U playlist file for each CD. Automatic CDDB lookup. Manual editing of artist name and genre per track for proper labelling of compilations. More than adequate features and a clutter-free user interface make Asunder a great option for hassle-free rips." |
Conclusion: Looks favourite. Very nice interface. Simple and clear. Relies on LAME for MP3. |
| Audacity | Yes, ★★★★★, already installed in Xubuntu
Mint: ? |
Link | Ubuntu Software Centre says: "a multi-track audio editor designed for easy recording, playing and editing of digital audio. Supported file formats include Ogg Vorbis, MP2, MP3 and WAV. Filename editing with local and remote CDDB/FreeDB database." | Conclusion: Not intended for ripping, but it can do it to MP2 and MP3. Uses LAME. Over-powerful. Slow. |
| Audex | Yes, 5th, ★★★★☆
Mint: ★★★★☆ score: 5 |
Link | Ubuntu Software Centre says: "Filename editing with local and remote CDDB/FreeDB database."
Tom says: "Available outputs include MP3, and WAV. Cover art fetching is done automatically. Include support for multi-CD albums, albums with various artists, M3U playlists, and artist/album directory creation. Not the fastest in our roundup. One of the best-looking CD ripping applications." |
Conclusion: No because it requires LAME for MP3
No for Linux Mint running MATE because is requires and installs the KDE desktop. |
| No
No |
Link | "Features" | Conclusion: N/A as not available in Xubuntu or Mint. | |
| Cdparanoia | Yes, already installed in Xubuntu
Yes |
Link | Ubuntu software Centre says: "An audio extraction tool for sampling CDs." | Conclusion: no reference to MP3 anywhere |
| Cdrdao | Yes, already installed in Xubuntu
Mint: ★★★★☆ score: 1 |
Link | "Features"
Ubuntu software Centre says: "records audio or data CD-Rs." |
Conclusion: N/A - how is this relevant? |
| No
No |
Link | "Features" | Conclusion: N/A | |
| Yes, 4
No |
Link | Ubuntu Software Centre says: "a full featured DVD ripping program"
Supports MP3. |
Conclusion: No. Would not read a CD. | |
| Goobox (CD Player) | Yes, 7th, ★★★★☆
Mint: ★★★★☆ score: 1 |
Link | Ubuntu Software Centre says: "a ripper" | Conclusion: No MP3 support because the Software Centre has goobox 3.2.1-2 but MP3 support comes with Goobox 3.3.1 :-(
No because it installs gnome in Mint MATE. |
| No
No |
Link | Ubuntu says: "Grip is no longer supported by its developers, or by Debian or Ubuntu. It has been removed from the repositories in Ubuntu 9.10." | No longer supported | |
| Jack | Yes
Yes |
No link | Ubuntu software centre says: "developed with one goal: making OGGs or MP3s without having to worry. freedb query, file renaming and id3/ogg-tagging"
Ubuntu says: "The terminal command below (Q)ueries the FreeDB database and (R)enames the extracted .ogg-files, after the complete CD has been ripped: jack -Q -R" |
Conclusion: No. Runs from the command line. Gets stuck with a flashing screen when you pause it quit it. Requires LAME. |
| K3b | installed in Xubuntu already
Mint: ★★★★☆ score: 456 |
Link | "Features"
Ubuntu documentation says: "Rip and encode audio CDs" |
Cannot do MP3
No as it installs KDE on Mint MATE |
| No
No |
Link | KDE site says: "an audio CD ripper, which uses "cdparanoia" as a backend to extract the tracks and later it encodes them to mp3 or ogg files (or many other formats supported)" | No - not available on Xubuntu or Mint | |
| RipOff | Yes, 9th, ★★★☆☆
Mint: ★★★☆☆ score: 1 |
Link | Ubuntu Software Centre says: "a CD ripper for Linux that sports a simple interface, CDDB lookups, and a plugin-based encoder architecture. You'll need to install the ripoff-mp3-plugin package to rip into mp3." | Conclusion: development ceased in 2007 |
| RipperX | Yes, 2nd, ★★★★☆
Mint: ★★★☆☆ score: 13 |
Link | "Features"
Ubuntu Software Centre says: "a graphical interface for ripping CD audio tracks (using cdparanoia) and then encoding them into the OGG or MP2/3 formats using the vorbis tools, FLAC, toolame or other available MP3 encoders. It includes support for CDDB lookups and ID3v2 tags." Tom says: "can rip into WAV, MP3 and OGG. It uses LAME to encode to MP3, so be sure to also install LAME from your package manager in order to create MP3 files with RipperX. Fipping and encoding are displayed as two separate processes so you can keep the WAV files in the process of creating MP3s. RipperX also allows you to convert directly from a source WAV file to MP3, without a CD at all. M3U playlists and album sub-directories can be created. File and sub-directory names can be customized. An old, but functional CD ripper." |
Conclusion: interface is a bit ugly. Uses LAME for MP3. |
| RubyRipper | No
Mint: ★★★★☆ score: 10 |
Link | "Features"
Ubuntu says: "one of Linux's best ripping solutions. Not included in the default Ubuntu install and is not included in any of the repositories." Tom says: "a secure CD ripping application, meaning that multiple rips are created, then scanned for differences in order to create an exact copy. Can rip to MP3, OGG or WAV. There are also options to rip entire albums to a single file, normalize volume, and create M3U playlist files. Metadata can automatically be fetched via freedb." |
Not available in Xubuntu. |
| Sound Juicer | Yes, 6th, ★★★☆☆
Mint: ★★★★☆ score: 60 |
Link | "Features"
Ubuntu says: "Ubuntu's default CD-ripping application; has the ability to download track data from the Internet. WARNING: MP3 Encoding. the gstreamer LAME plugin, used in the instructions below, is broken and will produce substandard quality MP3s. You can track the bug here. If you want to create MP3s, it is recommended not to use Sound Juicer; use a program that doesn't interface with LAME through gstreamer instead. Good examples are RubyRipper and ABCDE. " Tom says: "A lightweight application. Outputs include OGG, MP2, MP3 and WAV. Names ripped tracks to a customizable variation of track number, title, and artist, and also creates appropriate folders; great for those who prefer old file/folder organization to the newer tag-based method. This application shows up as Audio CD Extractor in the applications menu, and not as SoundJuicer." |
not recommended for MP3 |
| soundKonverter | Yes, 3
Mint: ★★★★☆ score: 11 |
Link | Ubuntu Software Centre says: "a frontend to various audio converters." | No because it installs KDE on Mint MATE |
| XCFA | Yes
Mint: ★★★★☆ score: 12 |
Link (French) | Ubuntu Software Centre says: "a tool to extract the contents of Audio-CDs and convert files to WAV, OGG and MP3. Web retrieval of Audio-CD information."
Tom says: "A multi-purpose audio manipulation application. Converts into WAV, OGG, AAC and MP3. File name format is customizable. Album covers and tags may be added and edited. Allows for the cropping or removal of track sections. A robust piece of audio file manipulation software handling pretty much everything there is." |
Conclusion: No because it has a terrible interface. Requires LAME (which it installed). Also needs, but does not install, mp3check, cd-discid and icedax. Took me 11 minutes to work out how to rip a CD. Not fully translated from French to English. |
Approximate timings for a 20 track music CD on my fast Xubuntu PC:
- Audacity took 36 minutes (and didn't name the tracks ✘) in 84.3 MiB.
- abcde took 8 minutes to create a folder named after the album containing correctly named tracks in 70.5 MiB.
- Asunder took 7 minutes to create a folder named after the album containing correctly named tracks of 108.0 MiB (very easy interface ✔).
- ripperX took 8 minutes to create a folder named after the album containing correctly named tracks of 84.3 MiB.
- XCFA took 7 minutes to create a folder named after the album containing correctly named tracks of 83.9 MiB (horrid interface ✘).
Approximate timing for an 18 track, 76:56 music CD on my slow Mint PC with an external CD drive:
- Asunder took 11 minutes to rip the files and another 3 minutes to finish encoding the files into correctly named folder and files of 110.7 MB.