2. pc-audio
  3. 119532-70365

Going to rip 2000 cds. Which software?

At 63 years old I've decided it's finally time to make the move to a digital library.  I've spent hours and hours on this forum reading about servers, streamers, music servers, nas systems and modded Mac Minis.  I'm more than confused.  I'm pretty much ready to just buy a new transport and be done with it. 

But.... I play "cuts."  I hardly ever play an entire record or cd and would like the ability to choose what's playing from the couch.

I know that the first step is ripping cds.  I have a couple of questions;

1.  Which software should I use?  I am concerned about speed and indexing.  I'm a jazzhead and have quite a few recordings by the same artists that have recorded multiple versions of the same tune.  I want to make sure they are indexed properly.  I would also like a program that doesn't take all day to make a copy.

2.  I can use either Mac or PC.  I would prefer Mac but would use a PC if it is more future proof.  I have a Macbook Air and a PC laptop and both have dual 2 terrabyte external drives.

3. I would also consider a Music Server with a nas rig.

If I do a music server with nas I'd like to keep the price around $2000.

Thanks to all of you.

--Bob


jzzmusician
mmporsche's avatar
mmporsche
144 posts
 
jzzmusician, I just noticed a Naim UnitiServer for sale on A-gon at $1995, just under your max I realize but everything is negotiable these days. 
celtic66
1,616 posts
 
The Naim UnitiServe takes about 5 minutes per ripped CD.  However, the unit referred to available here at Audiogon(great price!) is SSD which I believe will give you 512GB of storage.  Even by burning in FLAC, you would fall short of internal storage of 2,000 CDs and would to need external storage to cope, adding another piece to the puzzle.

jzzmusician OP
149 posts
 
Wow!  You guy are great.  Thank you for your help!

Right now I've got three choices:

1.  Use my MacBook Air with an external drive
2.  The Naim UnitiServe
3.  Get a streamer that runs off a nas

Number 1 is the least costly.
Number 2 is the easiest and as long as I can get a good 5 years of use I see no reason other than budget to get one.
Number 3 is attractive in that a streamer would cost less (Cambridge Audio CXN) and the music would always be on the nas

And to answer a couple of questions;

My computer is 5 years old and uses USB 2.0
My Mac uses 3.0, I think.

Whichever way I go it's going to be at least a month before I buy anything.  I just heard from Kent at Electrostatic Solutions.  I sent my Quad 2805 speakers to him for some repair.  The repair cost was very reasonable, so reasonable that I'm springing for some upgraded mods, and there goes my budget.

I'm thinking that I'll rip some cds in a casual sort of way and start messing around just using my Macbook and next month make a long term decision.

Thank you all again for your input and I certainly don't mind keeping this thread alive.

-- Bob
macdude
182 posts
 
I would like to hear rips with the Unitiserve.

I use XLD and could never get my rips to sound anywhere near as good as CD playback.

To compound the problem, I found rips via dbpoweramp on a different Macbook sounded totally different.
mesch
3,419 posts
 
I guess I am much like Ghosthouse, jump in and take a pragmatic approach. I rip via itunes to AIFF with the error correction. Use both a Macbook pro and a Mac mini.  I have found that some CDs do take longer than others, however not 15 min.  I use Pure Music for playback. I have had little problem with the learning curve, and enjoy the flexibility of computer audio. The Macbook pro allows me to take my music where ever I go. 
More to discover