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With all the recent talk at ResEx about MP3's, I though I'd run a little demo comparing ripping MP3's on a Mac versus LinuxPPC. (Ripping is when you convert CD audio tracks and store them on you hard disk. In my example, the final format is MP3).

I had some MP3 files that I ripped under the MacOS, so I put them on a shared partition and booted Linux to see how they would play.

My first two choices for players were gmpg and kmp3, but they both produced only hiss. It wasn't until I downloaded xmms that I had a great looking player that worked.

Because the version numbers on this software changes so rapidly, I will be providing links for download pages instead of links directly to the software. So for xmms, visit the LinuxPPC Contributors page and download xmms and libxml (a required library).

In a terminal window, install them by typing:

rpm -i libxml-1.4.0-1.ppc.rpm
rpm -i xmms-1.0.1-1.ppc.rpm --force

Then in the same terminal type xmms to launch the player. Be sure to look at the EQ and Playlist - it's a beautiful program!

Now you need to get the program that converts an audio CD to a folder of MP3's. I found a nice one called Grip.

Grip uses a program called BladeEnc for the encoding of the MP3's, you can download them both at Wesmo's LinuxPPC directory and install them.

rpm -i BladeEnc-0.92.0-1.ppc.rpm
rpm -i grip-2.94-1.ppc.rpm

You now have all the tools you need to convert you CD's to MP3's. In case you were wondering, there are also some Napster clones available for Linux. Gnapster and Knapster. I couldn't find PPC Binaries for either, by both compiled fine on my computer.

So how does ripping under Linux compare to the same process under the MacOS?

To rip CD's on the Mac, I downloaded the demo of MPegger. For playing my MP3's, you gotta love Audion. And to round out the collection, there is Macster for storing your MP3's on the net.

The first noticeable difference is cost! MPegger and Audion will total $42.90. Under Linux, the equivalent packages are free.

Ease of use is, of course, the Macintosh advantage. Installation and configuration couldn't be easier, while setting up under Linux required a couple trips to the email list archive to get it working.

Once both systems were working properly, the edge tilted back to LinuxPPC. Under the Mac, ripping a CD makes using the computer virtually useless. The Mac just can't multitask. But under Linux, the load was barely noticeable. I was even able to set a new high score in Maelstrom (262,425).

The next time I have a stack of CD's to rip, I'll do it under Linux. It will allow me to continue surfing the web, or even play a game.

There were several follow-up comments to this article on Ripping CD's under MacOS and LinuxPPC. Many readers recommended SoundJam from Casady&Greene as an MP3 Ripper/Player combination that costs $39.95. The SoundJam "player only" is a free download. Brian Bergstrand pointed me to a free Mac port of the Blade MP3 encoder that I was using under Linux. Brian also adds, "QuickTime can play MP3's. Cost on Mac $0". Dan Schmidt has put together a page comparing various MP3 programs.