Rip CDs to iPod compatible AAC/MP4 files using EAC

In a bold move, Nero Software AG some time ago released a freeware, command line version of their famous Nero Digital AAC encoder - which was previously only available bundled with their flagship Nero Burning ROM software package. Recent listening tests showed that Nero AAC’s quality is quite good, leaving to the user the delightful decision between one excellent free encoder or the other excellent free encoder. In this guide audio expert Roberto Amorim will help you setup EAC so that you can rip your CDs to iPod compatible AAC/MP4 and tag them in one go seamlessly.

Preconditions:

• EAC installed and properly configured. Download HERE.
• Nero Digital Audio Encoder, which you can download from HERE.

Let’s start ripping!

1. After you download NeroDigitalAudio.zip, move the file to your EAC folder (or save it there right away when downloading)
2. Using your favourite unzipping tool, unzip the file to that same folder.
3. Open EAC and go to the Compression Options window (F11). Once there, go to the External Compression tab.
4. In the External Compression set the options as seen in the screenshot on the right
   1. Make sure the “Use external program for compression” box is selected.
   2. On the “Parameter passing scheme” select “User defined encoder”.
   3. On the “Use file extension” write either .mp4 or .m4a, whatever suits your fancy. If you are an iPod user, I suggest you use m4a.
   4. On the “Program, including path used for compression” use C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe or C:\Winnt\system32\cmd.exe depending on the name of your windows folder.
   5. It’s a little more difficult now. First, find the complete path leading to the folder where the Nero encoder is. In my computer, it is C:\Music\Rippers\EAC\win32\. Then replace the entries in the following command line with that path: /c neroaacenc.exe -q 0.45 -if %s -of %d && Neroaactag.exe %d -meta:artist=”%a” -meta:album=”%g” -meta:track=”%n” -meta:title=”%t” -meta:genre=”%m” -meta:year=”%y”
   6. Unselect the “Add ID3 tag” box
   7. Finally, exit the configuration window clicking “OK”

That command line in step 4.5 will give you VBR (Variable BitRate) files with a bitrate around 150kbps. If you want to increase or reduce quality, play with the number after -q in the range from 0.01 to 1.00 If you prefer ABR (Average BitRate) or CBR (Constant BitRate) encodes, replace the -q X.XX part in the line with -br XXX or -cbr XXX, being “XXX” the target bitrate.

Now you’re ready to rip! Just pop one music CD in your ripping drive, grab the music names from FreeDB, and click the “Rip to MP3″ button (Shift-F5). In a few minutes, you’ll have neatly tagged m4a files that you can play in foobar2000, or import into your iPod etc…

17-Dec-2007 - v1.10 - Major changes in structure, ported to new platform - Ljpp
21-July-2006 - v1.01 - Minor changes - Ljpp
19-July-2006 - v1.00 - Initial release - Roberto Amorim