Is there an easy way to make an exact audio copy of a CD?

I imagine you originally had to pay for your Windows application, too…

😉

Anyway — I believe you were referring to Toast. This is indeed the best way to do what you want. And you're right again — don't use MP3s at any stage.

There is a reason applications to do this don't come with the OS — fear of Piracy. I know you're not a Pirate, although BTW it is *International Piracy Week* in the Logic Studio Forums (true! Not making it up).

Read the Software Licence Agreements that come with the OS if you feel like a laugh! Or maybe not.

🙂

why not set your import options in iTunes to Aiff (non compressed) instead of mp3?

iTunes > Preferences > General
Click on "Import Settings..."

Choose AIFF
Setting:

Sample rate 44100
Sample size 16 bit
Channels Stereo

Now you can burn to disc.

btw, I believe a Burn folde would be fine too. Just copy the Audio files from CD into the Burn Folder and burn the folder. I believe that would then be an exact replica of the CD. You can try it out.

Toast is a more elegant option.

JG

Try this:

http://simplyburns.berlios.de/

There is the issue of the dreaded "2 Second Pause", but that may not be a problem, depending on how literally we should take "Exact Copy".

If "Exact Copy" means all the tracks in the right order, without doing anything naughty to the files (such as compressing them), then a Burn Folder would be fine.

In which case, JG99's advice is perfect! You won't even need to spend any moolah… a perfect replica of your CD, for nothing but the cost of the disc.

But if by "Exact Copy" you mean including all the exact correct pauses, then the answer is Toast.

+(I keep forgetting that in Windows "leave my files alone without changing them" is not usually the default option.)+

Follow up: I was curious about the exact .v. approximate copy points made in this thread, so I experimented with SimplyBurns (link above). I took a commercial CD and copied it using:

Toast 8
Finder
SimplyBurns
cdrdao in BSD

The only one that in fact made an exact copy was SimplyBurns. You wouldn't expect an exact match with the Finder, of course, but I was surprised that Toast 8 didn't (it messed with the initial track start (it reverted to 2 secs) and end timings, and the TOC was slightly different when viewed in Terminal. Maybe a later version of Toast would be different.

Inserting the copy I made back into my Mac was immediately identified by the Gracenote database, as if I'd inserted the original, showing that the subchannel data was intact.

I then copied an old CD release which had a copy protection scheme of the time, and again, I got a perfect copy, +complete with+ its copy protection (demonstrating again how useless such schemes are).

This is totally brilliant! Another excellent analysis & exposition.

I had forgotten that Toast can't change the initial pause. I don't think this has changed; it was documented the last time I read their manual.

Gracenote is the clincher. I hope your post doesn't get pulled on the grounds of encouraging piracy! Surely not. +Information before commerce! Bring back culture!+

Warning: Windows Content Ahead.

Actually exact audio copy is freeware for non-commercial use.

It is a brilliant utility, especially for scratched disks. I've recovered unplayable disks (kids make mayhem with Wiggles disks) with only minor losses. It's little wave editor is great to, particularly for noise reduction. I used it to remove rumble for LP recordings. If you still have a Win PC around it's recommeneded.
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

Apart from the question as to why you would want to recover any Wiggles, you raise an interesting point. This shouldn't be a terrible hard application to write. Perhaps the authors might consider a Mac port (since there seems to be some demand)?

Alternatively, things pop up on [Versiontracker|http://www.versiontracker.com> all the time. Worth keeping an eye open.

Also I have found that talking directly to the author of a utility can be really effective on occasion, & is always worth a try. Even those of us who can't write applications can influence those who do.