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Last week I [looked into Ogg Vorbis][1] and in the process discovered a Mac-only format conversion program by the name of [Max][2]. While Max can indeed convert your audio files from a variety of formats to Ogg Vorbis, even more exciting is the fact that it supports LAME MP3 converting.
I previously relied on the iTunes LAME Applescripts to rip CDs in iTunes, but unfortunately iTunes LAME stopped working for me with iTunes 7. Luckily Max has stepped in and filled that gap.
Max is easy to use, just fire it up and select the tracks you'd like to convert. Once Max has grabbed the audio files it can output them to about 20 different formats including MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, and AAC including quite a few I never heard of like WavPack and Speex.
Max uses common open source components (like LAME for MP3 and aoTuV for Ogg) as well as Apple's Core Audio functionality for formats like AAC and Apple Loseless. Max is integrated with [MusicBrainz][4] to automatically grab CD info which can then be written as metadata provided the output format you choose supports metadata.
For badly scratched or otherwise damaged discs, Max offers the error-correcting options of [cdparanoia][3].
Max is not limited to just ripping CDs though, it also handles conversion between lossy formats, which is how I originally heard of it -- as a way to convert MP3 to Ogg Vorbis. In most cases Max even seamlessly transfers the artist and album metadata between the old and new files.
I didn't have any problems going from MP3 to both Ogg and AAC, but my fellow Monkey Bites contributor mentioned that he occasionally has some trouble with FLAC to MP3 conversions losing metadata. He suggests identifying the artist, album, song before converting.
If you're using Max in conjunction with iTunes there's a nice iTunes compatibility mode that will automatically add the new tracks to your library and even create a new playlist if you like.
About the only thing Max lacks is the ability to convert proprietary formats like WMA or Real Audio files.
Max is free and open source.
[1]: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/02/ogg_vorbis_the_.html "Ogg Vorbis: The Way Forward?"
[2]: http://sbooth.org/Max/ "Max"
[3]: http://www.xiph.org/paranoia/ "CD Paranoia"
[4]: http://musicbrainz.org/ "Musicbrainz"
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