After ripping with EAC, what?


Hi, I have been struggling for the past two weeks on learning Exact Audio Copy to rip my CDs. I decided to rip them either WAV (memory is cheap nowadays) or FLAC.

EAC rips the CD and throws all the files into a designated folder, including Artist, Album, etc. The problem is that I wish that it would create a library so it would be easy to retrieve the information from Windows Media Player or any other player by searching for Album, Artist, Song, Genre etc.

How can I do that?

My system:
Toshiba Satellite Laptop
Wavelength Audio Brick
Audio Aero Integrated Prima
Triangle Celius

One more question, my laptop is sitting 50 ft from my amp, what do you recommend, USB extendors or long interconnects. If it is the second option, how can I make them myself and still be top-quality? (I thought 18 gauge pure copper with Eichman RCA, opinions?)

Thanks!

Josep
josep_hernandez
+1 on the Squeezebox... great solution.

As said, FLAC provides tags (wav doesn't), so FLAC imo is friendlier, not to mention the benefits of (lossless) compression.

You can use a combination of folder structure and tags to organize your music. I use a folder organization of artist\album\ .flac Folder organization can be set in EAC so that when you rip it names the files with whatever naming convention you like (can include artist, album, track#, etc etc) and create the folder structure and put the files in the correct place. This is done on the "Filename" tab of "EAC Options". I use:
%D\%C\%N - %T

Tags will be pulled from freedb while ripping if you set that up in EAC. As mentioned most of the players will use the tags to help sort and provide album/track info, so it's vital to get good tags. Inevitably you'll have some cleaning up to do - use either TagScanner or Tag&Rename (or one of the other good tag editors to your liking) to help make sure your tags are useful to you.

One of the nice advantages of the Squeezebox software (slimserver) is the ability to organize and search on tags - all the files' tags are stored in a SQL database.

Another advantage is that it seems that FLAC computer-based audio produces relatively high-quality audio compared to even high-end mechanical transports, according to what some of the folks here have been saying, perhaps due to reclocking/jitter-reducing inherent to computer/network technology used to play the files.

Good luck!

(lots more good info on hydrogenaudio.org)
This is very helpful. I have a lot of reading to do!

Is Squeezebox a DAC as well? I already have the DAC. Is there another cheaper option?

Thanks!
Squeezebox does have an internal DAC, but IMHO the best results can be had by using an external DAC. Squeezebox has both coax and optical digital out, so you can feed the digital signal to your own DAC. I'm using a Benchmark DAC1 right now with excellent results.

I think Apple Airport Express is a bit cheaper, but I have not used it and can't comment on it.
The main shortcoming of Airport Express is the lack of display and remote control. The usability of Squeezebox or Soundbridge is in a different league.
I think the concept with APX is that you are using it in conjunction with a laptop to provide the display/control. They are in different leagues; I use a number of SB3s in my house and find the remote control options limiting. Much prefer sitting on my couch with a portable version of iTunes...