I'm starting to think about ripping my CD collection--between 4K and 5K CDs, best as I can tell.
I also am in the market for a laptop, which I will use for ripping. What should I get? Apple or PC? And which model?
Note that I don't really do portable music--that is, I don't have an mp3 player--though I suppose I'd get one for the car if nothing else if I had a large collection of music files.
UPFRONT: 5K CDs = around 417hrs of Ripping and 4 Terabytes of Storage.
This is at 5 Minutes a CD and at full quality(WAV/AIFF).
I guaran-frickin-tee you that some one is going to say it can be done faster and take up less space.
Step one: determine the most acceptable compression. MOST are fine with 256Kbps the same as the iTunes Music Store. This will determine the amount of storage you need. (5K CDs @ 256Kbps is about 1 Terabyte (TB))
Step two: Identify your budget. e.g. a 4TB External Hard Drive + an Apple Laptop w/ iTunes is about $1500
Step three: Identify how you are going to transfer from CD to computer. The cost averages $1 a disc to have it professionally done. Or several slices of pizza and $20 bucks to have the kids do it.
OR
Free if you spend hours a night ripping.
Step four: Ensure you have the right track title, album art, song name, album name etc. These can be tedious but are very important.
I've ripped thousands of CDs, used several compression settings, and lost of my music and done it all again.
What I use now is a McIntosh MS750 (
discontinued~ $2300 used) with a Sony CDP-CX400 (
discontinued $115 used, ebay). It is a music server and CD Changer combo that allows me load 400 Discs at a time and they are automatically transferred to the McIntosh Music Server with the right Track, Album, Art, etc in FLAC and 256Kbps format. The best thing is that I set and forget and it does it all for me. Yes, it copies the music in real-time (1X) and it takes two weeks, but I can do other things. Of course I also like that it can archive my records, tapes, etc and burn them to CD.
The
BEST OF THE BEST Digital music system is The Meridian Digital Music System (
$4K and up!). formerly called Sooloos. Hands down the best way to enjoy your music, but it comes with a price.