CD Ripping Software for OS X

Question

When I was primarily a Windows user, I used a program called CDex to rip CDs to my hard drive. I loved this program primarily because of the following features:

1. Automatic ID3 tagging using CDDB
2. Custom file naming
3. Automatic playlist creation
4. It was free!

Unfortunately, I have yet to locate a comparable program for OS X that, at minimum, provided the same features I listed above. I do not mind paying so long as the software works well.

Is there any CD ripping software out there that works as well as CDex does, if not better? The thing to keep in mind is that older Apple computers come with built-in optical drives; whereas, in newer machines, the optical drive is an external USB device.

Please Note: I am not looking for iTunes as an answer as my goal here is a simple piece of software that outputs MP3 files to my hard drive with the ability to customise file naming.

Answer 1

I use Max from sbooth.org which is released under the GPL. It doesn't appear to have been updated in a while but I still use it daily (10.8 and 10.9) to rip CD's to Apple Lossless although according to the website:

• Max can generate audio in over 20 compressed and uncompressed formats including MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, AAC, Apple Lossless, Monkey's Audio, WavPack, Speex, AIFF, and WAVE.

Additionally

• Max allows full control over where output files are placed and what they are named.
• If desired, Max will even add the encoded files to your iTunes library in a playlist of your choice.
• It uses MusicBrainz rather than CDDB for name retrieval but I suspect that won't be a problem.