CDex vs fre:ac
CDex
cdex.mufre:ac
freac.orgSide by side
| Figure | CDex | fre:ac |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Audio CD Ripping Software | 7.7 (#3) | 7.6 (#5) |
| Spec score · Audio Converter Software | 7.8 (#14) | 7.7 (#18) |
| Audio conversion | CDex can convert WAV files to compressed audio and vice versa. | fre:ac converts between MP3, M4A/AAC, FLAC, WMA, Opus, Ogg Vorbis, Speex, Monkey’s Audio, WavPack, WAV and other formats. |
| Support | The support page directs users to the FAQ, help forum, bug tracking system, and other tracking systems. | The maker directs users to its GitHub Discussions area for questions and ideas, and lists issue reporting by GitHub issue tracker or email. |
Plans
In their own words
fre:ac
fre:ac is a free audio converter and CD ripper for Linux, macOS, and Windows. It converts among formats including MP3, M4A/AAC, FLAC, WMA, Opus, Ogg Vorbis, Speex, Monkey’s Audio, WavPack, and WAV. Its CD ripper saves discs in supported formats and can query CDDB/GNUdb-compatible databases for artist and title details, then write those details to ID3v2 or other tags. It can convert whole music libraries while retaining folder and filename structure. The application supports Unicode tags and filenames, including Japanese, Cyrillic, Arabic, and Indian scripts. Its MP3, M4A/AAC, Opus, and Speex encoders use multicore CPUs. fre:ac can also run from a USB stick or external drive with its configuration files stored there. The maker lists Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, and Haiku as supported systems and says the interface is available in 43 languages. Gracenote CDDB support is unavailable because of licensing issues. The software does not collect personal information, though querying or submitting CD metadata can transfer data to a configurable online database. The maker offers Windows, macOS, and Linux packages.