I am starting to acquire a few cds (first time since mp3diags on all my mp3s).
What is the ideal program for ripping to make the quickest and best mp3s?
Those are usually mutually exclusive. With a properly configured EAC you can get "perfect" rips including a log, cue etc., but the program is fairly slow and loves to lock up the system while ripping in my experience.
Since you want to convert them to mp3 anyhow, I'd use dbpoweramps CD-Ripper. That also rips bit perfect (with accuraterip and secure ripping) and is a lot quicker. I've used it with 9 drives at the same time for years. That also allows directly ripping to mp3 if you don't want flac files at all. It's paid software but worth the price if you intend to use it heavily. If it's only a couple CDs, EAC is probably better suited (and free).
I'm still using Audiograbber.
You can rip in burst mode with Exact Audio Copy. As long as the copy verifies with AccurateRip or CueTools databases, the rip is good. AccurateRip needs one or two "key discs" to configure it first. CueTools does not. The number of DB matches should roughly correspond to the popularity of the album.
The secure mode stresses the drive and wastes time by rereading small fragments. You might only need it if ripping a rare album that is not on these databases. Secure mode is enforced by certain underground communities with outdated standards who refuse to acknowledge verification with CueTools.
If you rip to a lossless format, you can even verify after the fact. Sometimes EAC can't establish a connection to the DB, and then you won't see the verification immediately after the rip.
There are other programs such as dbPowerAmp that use verification (they invented it). But that is paid software and the interface is a bit unorthodox.
I agree completely. dbPoweramp is a collection of tools of which the CD Ripper is only one. The others include a Batch Ripper and a Music File Converter. All three are carefully maintained with frequent updates. dbPoweramp is particularly good at retrieving data from CDs afflicted by "disc rot", of which I have many. There is a free trial version with full capabilities.
I would also agree that the suite of products from Illustrate which includes dbPoweramp, Tunefusion, and PerfectTunes is valuable.
This is unfortunately a reality with some discs, especially from the late 80's/early 90's. This is where CueTools comes in handy too.
It sure what you mean by "unorthodox" as I find EAC and even more so CueTools is much less intuitive for beginners.
I do use all three programs, but dbPoweramp is always my first go-to. The others are great alternatives though when troublesome discs a need to be dealt with.
dbpoweramp, perfecttunes (by maker of dbpa), and mp3tag are my go-to programs for all my digital music creation/conversion/tag editing needs.
I rip my CDs with EAC (Exact Audio Copy) in burst mode. The vast majority has come out error-free, but if the rip doesn't pass neither accuraterip nor cuetools, I re-rip the disc in secure mode. If the rip still doesn't pass I've sometimes had success trying another CD drive.
I have some discs that don't pass accuraterip and a few that are simply unrippable. I used to try dBpoweramp on such discs, but the errors always remained - so at least in my experience it's not worth the trouble to switch between software. It's better to try another drive if you have one - quite often even a cheap drive can surprise you, so don't throw them away. And it can really help to clean the disc cautiously. In rare cases I've even managed to polish scratches with toothpaste, but I've also ruined a few discs in the process. So it's a last resort.
dBpoweramp has an automatic mode (first trying burst mode, then if required secure mode), and is supposed to be more "plug & play" than EAC. But I find EAC nicer to work with - I like the interface and the old-school menus & settings. And since I do all the tagging in Mp3tag, I don't need the additional features in dBpoweramp. I also like to have cuesheets for post-rip use, which I think dBpoweramp does not offer (I could be wrong though).
If you require super easy ripping with a step-by-step user interface, there's also Easy Audio Copy (from the developer of Exact Audio Copy). I think it has a feature for damaged discs that shows you the problematic area visually in a picture.