How to use Exact Audio Copy to rip CD's to m4a using the Nero Digital Audio AAC encoder

1. First, download the Nero AAC encoder. Extract the .zip folder (called "NeroDigitalAudio.zip"), and save the entire folder to your hard drive (usually the C: drive). So....the path to the AAC folder should now be C:\NeroDigitalAudio\

2. Open Exact Audio Copy (I'm assuming you've downloaded and installed it at this point)...it will start a configuration wizard. Click "next" on the first dialog box.

3. The next dialog box detects available CD-ROM drives in your computer...check the box next to the one you want to use with the software, and click "next."

4. The next dialog box asks you if you want accurate results or speed. Choose accuracy, and click "next."

5. The next dialog box informs you that EAC wants to autodetect your CD drive features. You need to insert an CLEAN, UNSCRATCHED AUDIO CD for this to work. Click "next," and wait for the software to finish its thing with your CD.

6. After EAC has detected your CD drive's features, it will display the results. Click "next."

7. In the next dialog box, EAC informs you that your drive is configured...click "next."

8. In the next dialog box, EAC spews a bunch of information about encoders. Click "next."

9. In the next dialog box, EAC asks how you want to compress your audio files. Choose "nothing right now, I will configure manually later," and click "next."

10. In the next dialog box, EAC asks for an email address. This is so you can submit CD info to the freedb database, so CD track names can be looked up by the software. Enter the address "user@freedb.org," and click "next."

11. In the next dialog box, EAC asks how you want filenames of your .m4a files to look. Make a choice (doesn't really matter), and click "next."

12. In the next dialog box, EAC asks if you're a beginner or an expert. You can leave it on beginner...doesn't matter. Click "next."

OK...you're much closer to being ready to rip cd's to m4a files! Still more setup to do...let's configure EAC to use Nero AAC as your encoder.

13. Press F11 to open the "Compression Options" window. Click the "External Compression" tab, and check "use external program for compression." In the drop-down box, choose "User Defined Encoder ." Set the file extension to ".m4a" BE SURE YOU SET THE FILE EXTENSION TO .m4a, OR YOU WILL NOT GET AUDIO FILES THAT WILL PLAY.

14. Now, you need to tell EAC how to use the AAC encoder and where to look for it. Type "C:\windows\system32\cmd.exe" (assuming C: is the drive Windows is running from) in the box that says, "Program, including path, used for compression"

15. Next, the command line must be configured to actually run the Nero AAC encoder. Assuming that you have saved the NeroDigitalAudio folder in drive C: (as in Step 1), copy and paste EXACTLY the text below into the box that says "Additional command-line options" If you saved NeroDigitalAudio to a drive other than C:, change the drive letter in the text below after you've pasted it.

"-q 0.5" determines the size of the audio file. It is the default setting, and results in files of 160-170kbps on average, and typically sound CD transparent. (I use this setting, for what that's worth. The files sound great.) Below is a table of approximate bitrate/quality settings that you can experiment if you want smaller files/different quality settings:

Now your configuration should look something like this:

16. Leave "delete WAV after compression" checked, uncheck "add ID3 tag", and leave everything else alone. The bitrate setting doesn't matter one bit (what you pasted in the command line overrides everything else).

17. OK...now you have to tell EAC how to want it to construct the filenames of your .m4a audio files. Click "OK" to save your settings and close the "Compression options" window. Press F9 to open the "EAC options" window:

18. Click the "Filename" tab. Set the Naming scheme to " %N - %T " DO NOT ADD ANY MORE THAN THIS. If you do, EAC may try to create loooong filenames for some of your songs, and it will not add the .m4a extension to the file, which means that it will not play!!! Click " OK " to save these settings.

19. OK...now you're ready to rip CD's to .m4a's! Insert a CD to try it out. EAC will show the tracks listed by number:

20. Click on the little CD button to connect to the freedb database, and EAC will look up the track names for you (if it's not in the database, you can type in the track names):

21. Click the "MP3" button on the left hand side to rip the CD to mp3. (It doesn't matter that is says "mp3." Since you've configured everything to use AAC, it will!) Just choose the folder where you want them to go...EAC will name the files for you (because of everything you did in Step 18)!

EAC will now extract and compress each track. Hopefully everything works!

Tips:

• "EAC can't find my CD-ROM drive? What do I do?"

               Sometimes EAC will not even recognize the CD drive in your PC. Try the following:

1. Start EAC, then press F9 to get to "EAC settings."
2. Click the "interface" tab.
3. Select "Native Win32 interface for Win NT/2000/XP"
4. Close and restart EAC...run the configuration wizard again if necessary...your CD drive(s) will likely be recognized now.

• "EAC created audio files, but they won't play, and the filenames look really long."

               Really...you have to follow step 18. Go back and do it.