Which PC software do I need?

[Themis]

A good playing software and powerful tag editor is MediaMonkey.
It can also sync to any portable device, including iPods.

[aquapiranha]

A good playing software and powerful tag editor is MediaMonkey.
It can also sync to any portable device, including iPods.

Lots to think about then. I have never ripped CD's to a PC, just wanted something simple that handles FLAC to rip and play.

[Themis]

Lots to think about then. I have never ripped CD's to a PC, just wanted something simple that handles FLAC to rip and play.

You can download a trial version from their website. Give it a try.

[technobear]

If you want to stream in the future then you will naturally want to check out the Squeeze devices from Logitech.

You can download Squeezebox server right now for free to see what it does.

You can also download the beta version of Squeezeplay which will play music on your PC streamed from Squeezebox server (which can be running on the same or a different PC).

The look and feel of Squeezeplay is essentially the user interface for the upcoming Squeezebox Touch.

I generally rip to WAV and use a folder/file naming convention to store the metadata. Squeezebox server can learn your folder/file naming conventions (up to 5 different ones) and so works well with WAVs.

Squeezebox server also handles FLACs no problem.

When I want to create tagged compressed audio files, I usually use TagScanner to write the tags as this can extract tags from folder/filenames. MediaMonkey can also do this.

[Primalsea]

I store all my CD's on hard drive now (if that makes sense). I bought a PC designed to be a media centre which means it's well made, quiet, has built in remote control receiver and a nice display on the front that tells you what you're listening to. In fact it just looks like an overgrown CD player including all the button on the front. Most importantly it has SPDIF output built in.

I just us Windows 7 with Media Centre. I used to run Vista with Media Centre and that was pretty good too. I just rip to Wav and the PC downloads all the cover art and track listings automatically.

A tiny bit of a headache to set up but once done flawless and slick in operation believe it or not. If you dont like windows you may be catious but Windows 7 is a different animal alltogether.

[aquapiranha]

Cheers guys. I have media monkey and EAC. I just need to read up on the different #levels# of FLAC files etc and sort out where to rip the files to so they appear in media monkey. Does anyone know if it will put them into alphabetical order automatically? not that I am a bit sad about these things you understand....

Ta!

EDIT.. I now have a very good PC with SATA which I did not have before, and the preice of drives is coming down all the time. I have a n Emu 404 pci card, not sure how useful that will be? it is an older one. The PC has high def audio built in.

[Stratmangler]

I use this chain of instruction %A\%C\%N - %T which needs to go into EAC Options/Filename/Naming Scheme.

You set the directory where you want the folder setup/files to be created/go elsewhere in EAC options.

%A\%C\%N - %T translates into "Create Artist Folder\Create Album Folder\Track Number - Track Title"

I also use Mp3tag to tidy things up afterwards. Depends on how you want things to be tagged.

Chris

[Stratmangler]

I have a n Emu 404 pci card, not sure how useful that will be? it is an older one. The PC has high def audio built in.

I had issues with bus noise breaking through on my current desktop. Cured the problem by putting my old sound card in the machine.

If you have any bus noise breakthrough you will be able to spot it fairly easily.

Chris

[aquapiranha]

Thanks for that Chris, I will be starting the ripping next week hopefully, so I all the advice will come in handy!