Is computer audio a bust?

If you have any PC with a decent quality optical drive, Windows Media Player can be configured to rip to lossless .wav file format very easily. THis works very well, just make sure WMP displays the tags correctly before starting the rip because editing .wav file tags after the fact is not easy.

Once ripped, you can use the free version of MEdia Monkey to convert to otehr formats as needed. FLAC is best overall for sound quality and tagging.

Or a small investment in dbpoweramp will give you most everything you need to rip and tag fairly easily as well. Add MusicBRainz Picard to help with autotagging where possible and you are quite armed and dangerous for very little investment, although all tools will have a modest learning curve up front to figure out how to use them best in each case.

wow!, This thread is still around!, I admitt, I agree entirely with knownothing's post, I have talked to many distributors and dealers, They believe, with the thousands of cd's that are out there in every one's library of music, disc spinners will be here for a very, very, long time from now, although computer audio and streamers are taking hold of some market, it is really only 5% of the entire high-end audio!, Most of the market bares transports, dacs, cd-players, analog turn tables, we all may be dead and gone before computer audio surpasses the way of digital and analog as we know it now, may be an opinion of the dealers and distributors, However, I must say, I agree with them, cheers.

What was the most used source at RMAF?
What was the second most used source at RMAF?

AUdiolab,

Might the dealers viewpoint be skewed by the fact that these traditional "audio" only devices is their bread and butter whereas one can build a very good computer audio system with a little know-how without ever having to visit those traditional shops?

Most larger local B&M shops in my area that are still around have major inventory and floorspace dedicated to computer audio related gizmos. As always, they sell the gear that is of better quality and easier to integrate perhaps than what one might put together themselves otherwise.

Myself, I make a living from understanding and applying computer technology, so I have not bought anything for that from an audio store to-date becasue frankly I will pay a premium there for nothing better than what I might assemble myself otherwise, but, as has always been the case, there is value in going to someone with that special expertise needed to deliver good sound still for many, though there are many other options out there these days than ever before. Overall, its a win win for everyone.

... disc spinners will be here for a very, very, long time..

One major advantage of computer audio is that it takes the spin out. Ripped discs can play directly from memory...and you can have endless bit-perfect copies as backup...and you can delete tracks that are cringe-worthy, or reorder tracks.