Community Newsletter: Q&A: Advice needed for ripping a huge music CD collection
- 1/18/08 4:08 PM
to hear the quality transcoded..
by ondarocks - 1/19/08 12:17 PM In reply to: Best MP3 ripping software and more. by ondarocksIf you want to hear the quality of my rips "transcoded" meaning VBR mp3's ripped by EAC and then "re-encoded" @ 128kbps CBR by my radio station visit http://smoothjazztampabay.com/ Click on the listen link and you will hear the station. I broadcast at 128kbps. Which is good for internet radio. The the sound is pretty damn skippy to me, you should hear the original rips, they're even better. I used all the methods described in the above post. I'm also on Itunes Radio under JAZZ..look for Smooth Jazz Tampa Bay
Ditto
by dpayer - 1/18/08 8:48 PM In reply to: Advice needed for ripping a huge music CD collection by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Dan,
I've got the same project going. After much research I chose dbpoweramp Music Converter as my main ripper. Everything is being ripped to flac since I'm archiving. The online support with dbpoweramp is great. They have a feature called AccurateRip. Check it out. The program is fast and supports the recent tags.
I'm up to 90+ GB worth of tunes so far.
danny
Media Monkey Gold
by whipdancer - 1/18/08 8:56 PM In reply to: Advice needed for ripping a huge music CD collection by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I just went through the same process. I sold off my DJ business, but kept all my music. Nearly 6000 CD's worth of music.
I tried all kinds of things, from free to paid, iTunes to MediaPlayer and everything in between.
I finally settled on Media Monkey Gold (the paid version). I like it for a few reasons. Not only does it use FreeDB (online music database for CD's), but you can also have it search Amazon for CD information. It has strong community support and is customizable via scripting. Many useful utilities are available as scripts. Case checking, Album art. Want to reorganize your entire collection? It can do it. You can name and structure your collection in a tremendous variety of ways. I still use it to manage my collection. Adding comments about tracks, tagging them for different ways of searching, filling in missing information - I really like the program.
But like most in this category, it's a compromise. I feel it was the best one I've come across.
Lastly - I rip everything at 256 constant bit rate (not variable). The files are slightly larger, but with storage as cheap as it is, that's not an issue. I feel they sound better on good stereo equipment and constant bit rate is more compatible than variable bit rate.
Sold your DJ Business
by sideejay - 1/18/08 10:13 PM In reply to: Media Monkey Gold by whipdancerDid you sell your business or sell your equipment? Was your business worth anything other than your equipment?
Leo
by xtrasico - 1/18/08 8:57 PM In reply to: Advice needed for ripping a huge music CD collection by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Man, I am *#%&ed. This was the first time I participate in your question of the week and is going to be the last. I waited anxiously the whole week for you to select the best answers because I thought I had a shot. Oh man, was I wrong. This was REALLY frustrating. I am going to unsubscribe from your newsletter (if I can). Thanks for wasting my time. Sorry guys for been unsatisfied with this week's decision and flaming Leo, but I am disappointed. Anyway, who cares? Right?
Some other automatic methods...
by iamnemo - 1/18/08 9:01 PM In reply to: Advice needed for ripping a huge music CD collection by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
1) Check "ripping service" (WITH the quotes) on Google. For example you will find this page: http://reviews.digitaltrends.com/guide44.html.
Also SlimDevices.com (makers of the SqueezeBox) used to offer the service too.
2) Rip to WAV first, not MP3; It's always time to downconvert to MP3 or something else later and disk space is really cheap now. For a few hundred bucks you can have a 2TB RAID 0+1 array using Seagate drives capable of holding 1000's of CD-quality (WAV) rips.
3) Use a systematic directory/subdir/file convention for details.
4) You can also use the excellent and powerful CATraXX.com CD database to keep track of everything.
5) OR auto-rip them yourself: http://www.discmakers.com/shop/ClearanceBuy.aspx?ItemID=DUP040-00056 or http://www.kintronics.com/cdripping.html
6) check groups at groups.yahoo.com such as PAMS and Nirvis list for ideas.
7) More stuff here: http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?p=66821#post66821
Have fun!
Iam Nemo
Keep Media Organization and Database Organization Separate.
by cgshirley - 1/18/08 9:06 PM In reply to: Advice needed for ripping a huge music CD collection by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I'm doing the same thing with a huge classical music collection. I rip using Windows Media Player 11 at 192 kbps (wma). I use Cattrax to download and edit CDDB data (which is very inaccurate and ALWAYS needs to be cleaned up). Then, I use Cattrax to connect to the ripped files (easy to do), and copy key fields in the database (now clean) into tags of the ripped files. After that, I use MP3TAG to rename the folder/files (usually messy/jumbled from WMP's data download) to album name/track name based on the (now) logical tags that were assigned from Cattrax. Then I reconnect folder/file to the Cattrax database. Basically I don't try to organize the wma files by the folder/file structure - I just keep it flat (album name/track name) and neat (use names from my own clean database). When the media files are linked to a powerful database, from which you can update tags at any time, you can organize music any way you want without touching the folder/file structure.
give it musicshifter, best paid service available!
by kentpaul_65102 - 1/18/08 9:11 PM In reply to: Advice needed for ripping a huge music CD collection by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
if i had to rip 1000+ cds, i would never end up doing it. I would use musicshifter.com, a service where they convert your CD collection to various formats and save it to any storage device, even your ipod. And they are dirt cheap 69c/cd. This should help answer your question.
"MusicShifter is the most popular way to convert your CD collection to MP3, AAC, WMA, or Lossless digital music files. MusicShifter protects the investment in your CD collection by shifting your music to digital formats used by iPods and similar devices.
MusicShifter offers fast, professional CD conversion. With your order, MusicShifter will provide:
* Packaging and arrangements for shipping your CD collection to MusicShifter for processing.
* Professional grade conversion to MP3, AAC, WMA, or Lossless formats.
* Professional album art for your music. Best in the industry for both quantity provided and accuracy.
* Return-ship your entire CD collection with your new digital music library pre-loaded onto DVD discs or optional external hard drive.
* Instruct you how to load your new digital music library onto your iPod (or similar device).
With your new digital music library you'll be able to enjoy the freedom and flexibility that only digital music can provide."
http://www.musicshifter.com/
I have been there and I have a pretty great solution
by jaseinatl - 1/18/08 9:20 PM In reply to: Advice needed for ripping a huge music CD collection by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have about 3200 CDs that I keep in Sony CD400 (eight of them, s-linked together).
When I decided to encode my entire collection, I did the following:
I bought a cheap computer (<$50) and a box called an SLINK E. I used the software that comes with the SLINKE, PCDJ to rip all of my cds. It encoded all tracks in a directory named for the disc. It encoded any of the ID3 codes it could find on-line (which was most of them) and it automatically advanced from disc to disc.
Afterwards, I used HELIUM music manager to combine series, remixes, featured artists, subtitles, etc. It is the ONLY music manager if you have complicated collections like:
Collection: Hed Kandi Collection
Series: Beach House Series
Album: Beach House 04.02
Disc: Disc 1
Track: 01
Title: Tsunami
SubTitle: In Your Soul
Remix: Hex Hector's Liquid Dub
Artist: iForget
Featured: someSinger
Label: Hed Kandi
Catalog: HEDK030
Plus it allows you to add custom Tags, multiple images (cover, label, back, liner notes, etc).
I have a ScanSnap scanner that does about 50 pages per minute and can handle all sizes of media, so I scanned all the cd-insets and tracklists to store with the files.
It took forever, but with PCDJ, automating the RIPPING part of it was a piece of cake.
Be careful with programs like WMP or iTunes: They are sticklers for DRM and they have a tendency to completely restructure your library. For compilations with multiple artists, you are really messed up if you let iTunes or WMP organize your files: You'll have thousands of folders with obscur band name folders and one song in each. And if you have the same song on 30 albums, uggh--it'll never work.
I considered offering my entire collection of physical CD's to someone who would rip the files for me, but in the long run, this worked out best.
Jase
various artist albums solution
by hurple - 1/18/08 10:19 PM In reply to: I have been there and I have a pretty great solution by jaseinatljaseinatl, I HATE messing with various artists CDs for just the reason you state, tons of folders of obscure artists containing just one file each. Ugh.
What I did is use the "artist" tag for each "style" various artist collection (i.e. Soundtracks, Various Artists - Nuggets, Various Artists - Sun Records, etc) then name each file in the album as TrackNumber - TrackTitle (Artist Name).
So, for example, I have a folder in my MP3 collection named "Various Artists - Nuggets" and in that folder I have the 1st Rhino released 4-disc set in a folder named "1998-09-15 - Nuggets (Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968)" and in that folder I have all the tracks with track #1 listed as "01 - I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) (Electric Prunes).mp3"
That works well for me.
Also for mass, fast tagging (for example, changing all your James Brown MP3s from "Rock" to "soul" genre, Media Monkey is excellent!
Hope this helps.
Acoutica
by rkzander - 1/18/08 9:27 PM In reply to: Advice needed for ripping a huge music CD collection by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I ran across a web site with a lot of great ripping software. The site is http://www.acoustica.com/. They are free to try. There are bundles that you can purchase, or individual ones. We started with a couple of them and ended up with one of their bundles, Acoustica Gold Bundle for $89.95. It includes Mixcraft 2 & 3, Spin It Again (for converting your old vinyl LPs), Audio Converter Pro, MP3 CD Burner 4.0, CD/DVD Label Maker, MP3 Audio Mixer, plus 1300 pieces of free CD and DVD label art! This software seems to be based on the KISS theory, "Keep It Simple Stupid!" I have used the CD/DVD Label Maker many times. It couldn't be easier. There is also software for Musicians, called "Musician's Bundle." You really should check out the web site and see for yourself. We feel that we made a great choice and for all you get, it wasn't expensive. Of course, you can purchase just the software that you feel would fit your needs. I hope this has been helpful. By the way, the reviews from other people, who purchased this company's software, was nothing but praise.
Ripping a large CD collection
by mrfargo - 1/18/08 9:34 PM In reply to: Advice needed for ripping a huge music CD collection by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Primera Technology has just released a new program called PTRip (www.primera.com/PTrip) that lets you RIP a personal music collection automatically with any of their Bravo-Series disc publishers. It's pretty cool...
In regards to your dilemma
by r3vc0 - 1/18/08 9:40 PM In reply to: Advice needed for ripping a huge music CD collection by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have used WMP almost exclusively. Some other programs offer certain features but for the sake of integration and ease of use just stick with WMP. It sounds great and there is also the advantage of Windows Media Center if you upgrade to vista. You can debate the finer points all day but I have a collection upwords of 20,000 songs at this point and this seems to be the best decision. And it will always be there. Also I use the variable bit rate for my faves and the 192 for the middle of the road junk!
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