Itunes Importing CD Distortion

[Margoos]

Recently since ive got a windows 7 laptop some, not all of my cds when they have been imported to itunes seem to distort when played back and im not sure whats causing this.

Ive got the import settings set to AAC encoder and Itunes plus if thats any help to solving the problem. Im not really up on this so any advice or if someone can point me in the right direction would be awesome

cheers

[Hohum]

Try using a low CD ripping speed (if iTunes has the option? Never used the program as I don't own any Apple products). Reading audio discs too fast usually results in errors.

[smouty]

In the past - this was why Progs such as EAC were made. I still prefer to do it this way.

[charlesr]

[sweeping statements ftw]EAC is the only ripping option worth using on windows[/fin]

[Margoos]

ill give that EAC a blast then, thanks for the replies guys

[Margoos]

well it looks like its not just importing that this happens with, its playback straight from the cd as well =\ ive never had anything like this happen and i dont get why it only happens to certain cds's.

Ive tried other programs to play the cd and its still the same result. anyone else had this problem?

[Number45]

Do you get the same problems if you use something other than iTunes to play them back? I've found that some drives deal with some CDs better than others, daft as that may sound.

When ripping my collection (Using EAC, natch!) I actually did it across three separate machines, because some gave me grief in one machine but not in another.

[Margoos]

yeah ive used windows media player and its the same result, looks like im going to have to get the pc out of the loft and put them on there first =(

[Number45]

You could always try cleaning the drive if you have anything handy for that?

[Margoos]

i think i might have some where, ive only had the laptop a few month and used the cd drive very rarely so i wouldnt have thought it would need cleaning just yet but ill give it ago see what happens.

[EvilBoris]

what kind of distortion is it?

[Hohum]

If it's very loud white noise then it's the drive having trouble reading the disc. Had the same thing happen with a drive I had many years ago.

[smouty]

Make sure you go through the configuration wizard properly and select accuracy over speed. Some CD drives are significantly better than others at high speed ripping which might mean your drive takes a while to accurately rip the audio. I have a 10 year old Teac which is perfect every time. On completion you should see a report with accuracy percentages and you are looking to be as close to 100% as possible. Anything less can mean you will have distortion or pops, clicks or white noise.
Some CDs (eg Sony music) might have some protection which obviously doesn't help.

[randombs]

This is interesting. I've never come across anything like this before, or maybe I have but gave up instead of using EAC. I never gave error correction much thought, probably because I've never noticed any sound issues from ripping CDs. Next time I come across one I'll give EAC a go. I'll probably give it a go anyway even on a CD that ripped fine, just out of curiosity!

@ Margos: In iTunes, is error correction turned on? Go into preferences, and in the General section's import settings, it's there. If it's off you could try turning it on or vice-versa. On my Vaio, it wouldn't rip any CDs if I had error correction on, but ripped fine with it off.