Homepage of Jack

"Why would anyone need another CD ripper / MP3 encoder frontend?"

If you just need everything that is new, download it here. Be sure to read the system requirements!

News:

24-Jun-2020 Jack has moved to github. A Python 3 port is being worked on. A workaround for freedb (gone) is available. I'll leave this page as an example of historic web design.
12-Dec-2004 Another release (3.1.1) aimed at fixing the nasty curses-bugs. Plugins are back (see the examples). The help-box now stays on top unless you press "?" or disable it (see manpage).
28-Nov-2004 Just over one year, again. Jack-3.1.0 is out. Lots of bugs fixed, most notably the curses addstr() problem. Options can now be set with --option=value, like in --various=yes. Your old config files should still work but I recommend rebuilding them. Here's the full ChangeLog. Most documentation is years old, only the manpage is quite up to date.
12-Oct-2003 After just over one year in development, today I bring you Jack-3.0.0. Rejoice! =) Jack is now split up into lots of tiny modules which load faster because of python's precompilation and are also easier to maintain for me. The config-file is now ~/.jack3rc and (optionally) /etc/jackrc for site-wide stuff. You don't edit your rc-files now, instead you can specify some options and let jack --save them for you. Old ~/.jackrc files are not touched or read so please plan for some configuration time after updating. What else is new... hm, let me see... real ID3v2 support with pyid3lib, fixes and patches from various sources... quite a lot. But I didn't get much feedback on the development versions so I can't (of course) guarantee that all that worked before does so now. Please tell me if there are any problems.
02-Sep-2002 Work on jack-3.0 started a few days ago. Will appear in CVS soon.
02-Sep-2002 Jack 2.99.9 released. This is a rather strange release. It's the last release before 3.0.0. I wanted to release the last "stable" version, before my work on the 3.0.0 release. But all changes are older than 2 months. I did not test it before releasing, but everything should be fine. In the unlikely case that it doesn't work for you, I won't fix it. You'd have to wait for the first 3.0 release or stick with 2.99.8. Here are the main changes:
- jack can use normal curses now (to the extent possible, i.e. without reacting to SIGWINCH (terminal window resizing)) - added sloppy ripping mode which is activated by a secret switch - added support for MPEGplus (encoder: mppenc, extension: .mpc) - --quality switch for vbr - FLAC support - new char_filter

15-Apr-2002 Jack 2.99.8 released. All bugs fixed, some improvements.
07-Nov-2001 Jack 2.99.7 released. Works now with python-2.1.x, please update, everybody ;). If you used jack before, you need to update your .jackrc. Many cleanups, see ChangeLog.
11-Oct-2001 Jack 2.99.6 released. Added Ogg/Vorbis support, renamed cursesmodule to jack_cursesmodule (this avoids conflicts) and cleaned up a bit. If things don't work after updating, reinstall and remove your .jackrc.
09-Oct-2001 If all goes well, jack will get into Debian (unstable, for now) soon. We have to thank Michael Banck for this. In the mean time you can get the packages there: [Update: jack is in Debian unstable and testing now.]
05-Oct-2001 Jack 2.99.5 released. All that applies to the CVS version is also true for this one, so read on below! I will now start to work on Ogg Vorbis support.
31-Aug-2001 Jack 2.99.5 is in CVS now. This version requires CDDB.py in addition to ID3.py which is no longer bundled with Jack. The cursesmodule is now much easier to install thanks to the Python Distutils-SIG which you may have to install.
11-May-2000 Finally Jack is hosted on .
10-Jan-2000 New Version (2.99.0-pre) "ain't it dead yet". I'm about to do some major restructuring on Jack, i.e. breaking it up into modules, so the installation has changes slightly. Read INSTALL. Cdparanoia 9.7 is now supported, so is xingmp3enc (the latter being untested). You can now use a local freedb dir. Yes, all bugs fixed, especially those concerning the image-reader. TOC file reading has been completely rewritten, it is now 100% bug-free (as if). Please, everybody try this version and gimme some feedback.
05-Nov-1999 New Version (2.2.5-pre). Still no documentation updates. Fixes 2.2.4's renaming bug. Doh.
04-Nov-1999 New Version (2.2.4-pre). No documentation updates (again). Two bugs fixed, one newly introduced. "desperate" mode for those who can't get curses mode to work. Jack now has 3333 lines of code.
04-Nov-1999 New Version (2.2.3-pre). No documentation updates (again). Reintroduced free space checking by calling df for all those (RedHat?) users who had an error with statvfs. Whoever built those rpms should be punished. rename_underscore has been replaced by something more flexible, now you can replace characters by multiple characters (like "ä" to "ae"), kill characters from the filename to be used and, of course, replace those spaces by underlines. New DAE tools: cdda2wav (finally!) and dagrab (untested as it doesn't like my Plextor). All bug fixed, of course.
22-Oct-1999 New Version (2.2.2-pre). If you get an error like "AttributeError: TIOCWINSZ", try this version. It is shipped with 2.2.0 documentation as I didn't have time to update it yet. Changes: all bugs fixed :), new features. Wait for the final version for details.
19-Aug-1999 New Version (2.2.0). New curses mode, looks much better, scroll through the status screen if it doesn't fit in your terminal. I recommend not to use XTermset any longer as it is no longer needed. The usual bugfixes are there, too, check the changelog.
18-Aug-1999 I really want to add support for the Xing encoder. Does anyone want to pay the registration fee for me? It's only $19 I think.
09-Aug-1999 New Version (2.1.0), all bugs fixed (of course!), new features like on-the-fly operation.
19-Jul-1999 Big OOPS. Version 2.0.0 contained (at least) two "brown paper bag" bugs: first, Jack tried to chdir into newly created dirs twice (one time too much), this gets you the "could not create or change to..." error. Second, the dirs were created in the wrong sequence, so instead of "artist/album" you get "album/artist". Upgrade to 2.0.1, get it from the download page.
16-Jul-1999 None of the beta testers complained, so I released version 2.0.0. Much has changed, most notably I restructured the beast a bit so that Jack no longer needs threads. It's now much easier to get it to work. Jack should (finally!) run on FreeBSD and most other unices. Jack can now create (and name according to freedb data) directories.
01-Jul-1999 Released version 1.3.5. Support for tosha(gettoc&DAE) has been added, a few non-critical bugs have been fixed.
29-Jun-1999 Released version 1.3.4. Version 1.3.3 contained a bug where it could wrongly claim that you inserted the wrong CD if track 01 doesn't start at block 0. The TOC file format changed, too, so better have them re-generated.

27-Jun-1999 Released version 1.3.3. see the changelog for details

rearranged the pages a bit. I know the layout still sux, if you have time to waste, let me know.

What's it all about?

Jack has been developed with one main goal: making MP3s without having to worry. There is nearly no way that an incomplete rip goes unnotices, e.g. Jack compares WAV and MP3 filesizes when continuing from a previous run. Jack also checks your HD space before doing anything (even keeps some MB free).

You can take a look at Jack working, there are even some explanations.

Jack is different from other such tools in a number of ways:

it is written in python
it is very configurable, maybe too much :)
it doesn't need X (but is better with it)
it can "rip" virtual CD images like the ones created by cdrdao
when using cdparanoia, cdparanoia's status information is displayed for all tracks, so you can see if something went wrong (I consider this very important - no one wants uncorrected errors or skips to go into one's MP3s. 'Tis the main reason why I don't use something beautiful like grip)
it allows for overlapping ripping / encoding: when the first track has been ripped, it's encoder is started as well as the second track's ripping process, this "read-ahead" is of course configurable, you can have it read the whole CD and start with the next one as the first one is beeing encoded
in on-the-fly mode, no WAVs have to be created, less space is wasted. I only recommend this if your encoder is nearly as fast as your ripper.
it uses sophisticated disk space management, i.e. it schedules it's ripping / encoding processes depending on available space. Jack tells you if the batch will not fit on your HD. If you want, you can have it choose the optimal sequence of tracks - great if you're low on HD space
freedb query, file renaming and id3 tagging - I know that this alone is not special, but Jack tries hard to recognize artist and title when working on a "Various Artists"-CD, so that the ID3 tag can be set correctly.
it can resume work after it has been interrupted. If all tracks have been ripped, it doesn't even need the CD anymore, even if you want to do a freedb query. In practice, this means that you can change the CD and start another instance of Jack.
it can do a freedb query based on MP3s alone, like if you don't remember from which CD those MP3s came from.

Of course, all other "obvious" features are included, too:

being GPL'ed
different rippers and encoders are supported
freedb submissions
proxy support via http_proxy environment variable (e.g. export http_proxy=http://cache.sld.tld:3128/)

You may want to read more on intallation and usage.
Because it is not just "point-and-click" I put up some examples.
Perhaps you want to know what Jack has todo.
For your amusement, read the FAQ!

Please send feedback to the address below. Yes, I wanna hear about all the typos I've made.

(changed: Monday, 06-Jul-2020 17:00:54 CEST)

24-Jun-2020	Jack has moved to github. A Python 3 port is being worked on. A workaround for freedb (gone) is available. I'll leave this page as an example of historic web design.
12-Dec-2004	Another release (3.1.1) aimed at fixing the nasty curses-bugs. Plugins are back (see the examples). The help-box now stays on top unless you press "?" or disable it (see manpage).
28-Nov-2004	Just over one year, again. Jack-3.1.0 is out. Lots of bugs fixed, most notably the curses addstr() problem. Options can now be set with --option=value, like in --various=yes. Your old config files should still work but I recommend rebuilding them. Here's the full ChangeLog. Most documentation is years old, only the manpage is quite up to date.
12-Oct-2003	After just over one year in development, today I bring you Jack-3.0.0. Rejoice! =) Jack is now split up into lots of tiny modules which load faster because of python's precompilation and are also easier to maintain for me. The config-file is now ~/.jack3rc and (optionally) /etc/jackrc for site-wide stuff. You don't edit your rc-files now, instead you can specify some options and let jack --save them for you. Old ~/.jackrc files are not touched or read so please plan for some configuration time after updating. What else is new... hm, let me see... real ID3v2 support with pyid3lib, fixes and patches from various sources... quite a lot. But I didn't get much feedback on the development versions so I can't (of course) guarantee that all that worked before does so now. Please tell me if there are any problems.
02-Sep-2002	Work on jack-3.0 started a few days ago. Will appear in CVS soon.
02-Sep-2002	Jack 2.99.9 released. This is a rather strange release. It's the last release before 3.0.0. I wanted to release the last "stable" version, before my work on the 3.0.0 release. But all changes are older than 2 months. I did not test it before releasing, but everything should be fine. In the unlikely case that it doesn't work for you, I won't fix it. You'd have to wait for the first 3.0 release or stick with 2.99.8. Here are the main changes: - jack can use normal curses now (to the extent possible, i.e. without reacting to SIGWINCH (terminal window resizing)) - added sloppy ripping mode which is activated by a secret switch - added support for MPEGplus (encoder: mppenc, extension: .mpc) - --quality switch for vbr - FLAC support - new char_filter
15-Apr-2002	Jack 2.99.8 released. All bugs fixed, some improvements.
07-Nov-2001	Jack 2.99.7 released. Works now with python-2.1.x, please update, everybody ;). If you used jack before, you need to update your .jackrc. Many cleanups, see ChangeLog.
11-Oct-2001	Jack 2.99.6 released. Added Ogg/Vorbis support, renamed cursesmodule to jack_cursesmodule (this avoids conflicts) and cleaned up a bit. If things don't work after updating, reinstall and remove your .jackrc.
09-Oct-2001	If all goes well, jack will get into Debian (unstable, for now) soon. We have to thank Michael Banck for this. In the mean time you can get the packages there: [Update: jack is in Debian unstable and testing now.]
05-Oct-2001	Jack 2.99.5 released. All that applies to the CVS version is also true for this one, so read on below! I will now start to work on Ogg Vorbis support.
31-Aug-2001	Jack 2.99.5 is in CVS now. This version requires CDDB.py in addition to ID3.py which is no longer bundled with Jack. The cursesmodule is now much easier to install thanks to the Python Distutils-SIG which you may have to install.
11-May-2000	Finally Jack is hosted on .
10-Jan-2000	New Version (2.99.0-pre) "ain't it dead yet". I'm about to do some major restructuring on Jack, i.e. breaking it up into modules, so the installation has changes slightly. Read INSTALL. Cdparanoia 9.7 is now supported, so is xingmp3enc (the latter being untested). You can now use a local freedb dir. Yes, all bugs fixed, especially those concerning the image-reader. TOC file reading has been completely rewritten, it is now 100% bug-free (as if). Please, everybody try this version and gimme some feedback.
05-Nov-1999	New Version (2.2.5-pre). Still no documentation updates. Fixes 2.2.4's renaming bug. Doh.
04-Nov-1999	New Version (2.2.4-pre). No documentation updates (again). Two bugs fixed, one newly introduced. "desperate" mode for those who can't get curses mode to work. Jack now has 3333 lines of code.
04-Nov-1999	New Version (2.2.3-pre). No documentation updates (again). Reintroduced free space checking by calling df for all those (RedHat?) users who had an error with statvfs. Whoever built those rpms should be punished. rename_underscore has been replaced by something more flexible, now you can replace characters by multiple characters (like "ä" to "ae"), kill characters from the filename to be used and, of course, replace those spaces by underlines. New DAE tools: cdda2wav (finally!) and dagrab (untested as it doesn't like my Plextor). All bug fixed, of course.
22-Oct-1999	New Version (2.2.2-pre). If you get an error like "AttributeError: TIOCWINSZ", try this version. It is shipped with 2.2.0 documentation as I didn't have time to update it yet. Changes: all bugs fixed :), new features. Wait for the final version for details.
19-Aug-1999	New Version (2.2.0). New curses mode, looks much better, scroll through the status screen if it doesn't fit in your terminal. I recommend not to use XTermset any longer as it is no longer needed. The usual bugfixes are there, too, check the changelog.
18-Aug-1999	I really want to add support for the Xing encoder. Does anyone want to pay the registration fee for me? It's only $19 I think.
09-Aug-1999	New Version (2.1.0), all bugs fixed (of course!), new features like on-the-fly operation.
19-Jul-1999	Big OOPS. Version 2.0.0 contained (at least) two "brown paper bag" bugs: first, Jack tried to chdir into newly created dirs twice (one time too much), this gets you the "could not create or change to..." error. Second, the dirs were created in the wrong sequence, so instead of "artist/album" you get "album/artist". Upgrade to 2.0.1, get it from the download page.
16-Jul-1999	None of the beta testers complained, so I released version 2.0.0. Much has changed, most notably I restructured the beast a bit so that Jack no longer needs threads. It's now much easier to get it to work. Jack should (finally!) run on FreeBSD and most other unices. Jack can now create (and name according to freedb data) directories.
01-Jul-1999	Released version 1.3.5. Support for tosha(gettoc&DAE) has been added, a few non-critical bugs have been fixed.
29-Jun-1999	Released version 1.3.4. Version 1.3.3 contained a bug where it could wrongly claim that you inserted the wrong CD if track 01 doesn't start at block 0. The TOC file format changed, too, so better have them re-generated.
27-Jun-1999	Released version 1.3.3. see the changelog for details
	rearranged the pages a bit. I know the layout still sux, if you have time to waste, let me know.