Digital Home Thoughts: Ripping the Perfect MP3 With Exact Audio Copy

In the Encoder Configuration screen, make sure "Install and configure the external LAME.EXE compressor" is checked and click Next. EAC will then attempt to locate LAME on your hard drive. Take my word for it that it's much faster to click Cancel and Browse to the Exact Audio Copy folder (it will default to it). Double-click the lame.exe file to take you back to the LAME Configuration window. Click the radio button for "Use LAME standard settings", make sure "Let EAC create ID3 tags" is checked and click Next.

The next screen is the freedb Configuration screen. Enter a valid email address here to allow EAC to check freedb for the CD contents and automatically fill in ID3 information in the MP3 files you will create. Click Next.


The final screen in the EAC Setup Wizard is the most essential. In the Done screen, make sure to click "I am an expert, let me use the full potential of EAC" and then click Finish. The wizard will close, and you'll see the main EAC screen for the first time. Go ahead and remove the CD you tested with from the drive (you might want to keep it handy to do your first rip with). We're halfway there folks!