For the simple reason that I can run multiple optical drives on my Mac - makes the process so much faster. I can’t hear any difference between FLAC and ALAC - not surprisingly.
I have had problems with iTunes rips. Even when error correction is on, scratched discs can end up with audible problems, in my experience.
I use XLD.
Looks interesting but it’s a Windows package, I’m on a Mac…
I also use XLD but it does not seem to read bad CDs any better than iTunes. I think the bad disc routines live on the hardware not the software.
Can’t recommend iTunes either. Had the same problems as @Ludwig had. I use dbpoweramp for mac OS X now.
Ripped my entire collection (800 discs) with iTunes no problems. Of the 15 failed discs (scratched) nearly all failed with xld. So far noticed 2 bad tracks in the whole library.
iTunes also has a reasonable file structure and was multiple times faster than xld for me even with EC on.
Not saying it’s the best but suited me fine. The most annoying thing it did was to prompt quite a bit for title if there were multiples, which meant when I went back to swap discs, it hasn’t ripped.
I still use iTunes for the odd disc rip and for adding music to roon. I like the ui of dragging files onto roon, but then you need an extra roon managed folder and things get fragmented.
I’m running through about 2000 CDs, half way through only tow issue discs. I’ve cut my time substantially running three DVD readers in parallel. If I have issues with specific files, I fix them as I find them. YMMV
Try Max, ripping into FLAC or ALAC. Max can do comparison rips (i.e., reading the disc multiple times to ensure consistency) or cdparanoia, which is probably overkill in most cases. It also handles just about every format under the sun. I used Max and iTunes, along with some glue scripts, a few years year to rip my couple thousand CDs.
The one wrinkle to Max is tagging. I’ve found the easiest option is to look up the CD in iTunes (which uses Gracenote) and then send the data over to Max with this Applescript.
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That looks like a nice solution. I use XLD w/ Accurate Rip DB matching, which I like, but tagging is also a problem once in a while without Gracenote. When this happens, I just rip in iTunes; but it would be great to grab the Gracenote data and feed it to XLD. Maybe I should adapt the Applescript to XLD…