Is there a service to install CDs in a Server?

Yep. Hire a neighborhood teenage kid to sit there and load the discs. He could use the dough and for a couple hundred bucks, you'll not have to endure the drudgery that awaits you...

-RW-

I don't think anyone just sits there and does it. Drop a disc in the computer, check the info and go do something else. Come back later and repeat. Some days you'll only input 3 or 4 disc, other days you'll do 30 to 40. Eventually you'll finish. It's drudgery, but it's not that big of a deal.

Grimace, It is a tedious job but it is better to rip what you want to listen to at given moment and ignore the rest. That way CDs you play most often will be already available on the server. Eventually you'll get all of them without unnecessary stress(just delay of 5-10min).

There are plenty of ripping service companies out there that will take your entire collection and rip them to hard drive storage. You should start by Googling "CD ripping service." The tricky part is getting the data about each CD to match up with the music files so you can do easy searching, create play lists, etc. This can get quite complicated, particularly with respect to classical music (e.g., the many variations of spelling "Tchaikowsky"), CDs that are compilations, or CDs that are not identified in the ripping process.

Ripping services vary in how good they are at doing manual corrections and searching for associated data for CDs that are not in certain databases.

When doing a search for a company, look for ones that specialize in the kind of music that is the bulk of your collection. For example, the company Ready To Play specializes in ripping classical CDs.

Other factors to study up on include the kind of server you are buying/building and the type of file you plan to rip the CDs to (e.g., FLAC, WAV, MP3). Most companies will only rip to certain kinds of files.

A few turnkey server manufacturers offer (for a price), a service for ripping your collection (Olive, for example).

Even using an outside service is a bit of a hassle. Typically, they will send you all the packing material and detailed instructions on how to package your CDs for sending out to the ripping service. Typically, this involves removing all your CDs from jewel cases and putting them on a spindle or in some other kind of compact means of packing up your collection. When returned, you will still have the task of putting all your CDs back in their original packaging. I don't know of ripping services that would take CDs in their original packaging.

If you want to get an idea about how flexible, and elaborate the use of data about your collection can be, look at the manuals that are available on line for servers such as the Sooloos.

Anyway, start by looking at what is described on the internet. That is what I did, and I've come to the sad conclusion that I have to do the ripping myself. The server I am getting rips to WAV files (optimal quality) and most companies do not support WAV. Much of my collection is classical, so I am expecting to have to do a lot of manual data entry and correction.

I hear this same question all the time and have trouble seeing the hangup. I don’t have a server so maybe there’s more to it than I know. But my plan would be to setup the server; and then when I want to listen to a CD, fetch it from the rack (just as I have for years) but instead of putting it in a CDP, I would be putting it in the server - for the last time. I don’t know, maybe we don’t want to be reminded of how many CDs we’ve purchased but don’t listen to.