Ripping Audio CDs
Introduction
In this post, I describe the steps I take to create a backup of my audio CDs. I usually rip them either to FLAC or to 320 kbps MP3. After all prerequisites are installed, ripping a CD is super easy and can be done by executing a single command.
Optical Disk Drive
I use an external optical disc drive that connects to my PC via USB. It’s a Hitachi-LG Slim Portable DVD Writer, model GP60NW60. I currently use Debian 13, and there were no problems at all detecting this device, and I didn’t need to install any drivers manually. It works out of the box.
Software Installation
We need to install abcde and at least one audio codec.
Installing abcde
I use Debian, and on this distro, abcde is available through apt:
$ sudo apt install abcde
It should also be available in other major distros. Otherwise, you can always download the package from abcde downloads page and install it manually.
Installing audio codecs
Audio encoders/decoders are not part of abcde and need to be installed separately. Since I’m going to rip my CD into FLAC format, I need to install the FLAC Codec:
$ sudo apt install flac
If I wanted to rip to MP3, I would need LAME:
$ sudo apt install lame
Ripping a CD
- Insert the CD into the optical disc drive.
- Navigate to a directory where you want the CD audio files to be stored.
For example:
$ cd ~/Music - Run
abcdewith-ospecifying the output format. For example, if you want to rip to FLAC:$ abcde -o flac - abcde will now search for the album in the MusicBrainz database. After it finds at least one match, it will enter an interactive mode where the user is asked a few questions. I usually go with the first matching database record and choose the default options, as shown below. After that, give it a few minutes to grab all tracks.
Grabbing entire CD - tracks: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Retrieved 4 matches...
#1 (Musicbrainz): ---- Jean Michel Jarre / Oxygène ----
1: Oxygène, Part I
2: Oxygène, Part II
# Output removed to keep this short...
6: Oxygène, Part VI
Which entry would you like abcde to use (0 for none)? [0-4]: 1
Selected: #1 (Musicbrainz) (Jean Michel Jarre / Oxygène)
---- Jean Michel Jarre / Oxygène ----
Year: 1983
1: Oxygène, Part I
2: Oxygène, Part II
3: Oxygène, Part III
4: Oxygène, Part IV
5: Oxygène, Part V
6: Oxygène, Part VI
Edit selected CDDB data [y/N]? N
Is the CD multi-artist [y/N]? N
Grabbing track 1: Oxygène, Part I...
cdparanoia III release 10.2 (September 11, 2008)
Ripping from sector 32 (track 1 [0:00.00])
to sector 34606 (track 1 [7:40.74])
outputting to /home/pawel/Music/abcde.4d094d06/track1.wav
(== PROGRESS == [ | 034606 00 ] == :^D * ==)
Done.
# Grabbing the rest of the tracks...
Encoding track 6 of 6: Oxygène, Part VI...
Tagging track 6 of 6: Oxygène, Part VI...
Finished.
That’s it! Your audio CD is now backed up!
$ ~/Music ls
Jean_Michel_Jarre-Oxygène
$ ~/Music ls -1 Jean_Michel_Jarre-Oxygène
1.Oxygène,_Part_I.flac
2.Oxygène,_Part_II.flac
3.Oxygène,_Part_III.flac
4.Oxygène,_Part_IV.flac
5.Oxygène,_Part_V.flac
6.Oxygène,_Part_VI.flac