Naive question: do I need a ripper?

[fiddlemaker]

Hi
Thinking about replacing my cd player with a HDD-equipped streamer. In addition to being tempted by tidal etc, I quite like the idea of getting rid of all the CDs that are cluttering the place up at the moment. I was wondering if there is any benefit in going for a streamer/ripper like the Innuos Zen mini or Bluesound Vault 2?
If I went for something like an Auralic Aries mini (with HDD fitted) presumably I could rip CDs on my laptop and transfer the files to the streamer over the wireless network?
Cheers
John

[Pieoftheday]

[QUOTE=fiddlemaker;1002513]Hi
Thinking about replacing my cd player with a HDD-equipped streamer. In addition to being tempted by tidal etc, I quite like the idea of getting rid of all the CDs that are cluttering the place up at the moment. I was wondering if there is any benefit in going for a streamer/ripper like the Innuos Zen mini or Bluesound Vault 2?
If I went for something like an Auralic Aries mini (with HDD fitted) presumably I could rip CDs on my laptop and transfer the files to the streamer over the wireless network?
Cheers
If you do rip all your CD,s I personally wouldn't get rid of them, HDD can fail:) Jim

[struth]

yup, you could. plenty other options too tho. an rpi for instance...a laptop etc all controlled from a tablet. works very well, but your idea will be good too. does add a bit to it if you can integrate spotify etc into the system tho.

[Sherwood]

Hi
Thinking about replacing my cd player with a HDD-equipped streamer. In addition to being tempted by tidal etc, I quite like the idea of getting rid of all the CDs that are cluttering the place up at the moment. I was wondering if there is any benefit in going for a streamer/ripper like the Innuos Zen mini or Bluesound Vault 2?
If I went for something like an Auralic Aries mini (with HDD fitted) presumably I could rip CDs on my laptop and transfer the files to the streamer over the wireless network?
Cheers
John

Two points:

1) It is not that hard drives can fail: they will. Make sure you have at least two rips of each cd on separate drives as it is time consuming to rip a large collection.

2) Making backups for personal use remains a grey area, but not if you sell the CDs after ripping them. That is a clear breach of copyright.

It is possible to buy automated rippers now that simplify the process of ripping to FLAC. http://www.acronova.com/solution/article/3/review.html

This one works with dBPoweramp.

Geoff

[mikmas]

Hi
Thinking about replacing my cd player with a HDD-equipped streamer. In addition to being tempted by tidal etc, I quite like the idea of getting rid of all the CDs that are cluttering the place up at the moment. I was wondering if there is any benefit in going for a streamer/ripper like the Innuos Zen mini or Bluesound Vault 2?
If I went for something like an Auralic Aries mini (with HDD fitted) presumably I could rip CDs on my laptop and transfer the files to the streamer over the wireless network?
Cheers
John

There was a time when I would wholeheartedly recommend simply ripping on your laptop and choosing an RPi for playback and streaming, however, after the most recent in a long line of time wasting excursions this morning re-reserving the RPi adress on my router I am seriously considering binning the RPi and looking at the Innuos Mini solution myself. There are plenty of alternatives now that combine ripping with file playing and internet streaming but everything I've heard about the Mini sounds good :)

Yes the RPi is much much cheaper but there are a lot of hidden costs to factor in - and the time wasting element given that software packages all seem to have their own particular lacks before even going through the inordinate amount of fuss setting them up. If that was the end of the story, fair enough - but as this morning's fiasco proved once again... that is rarely the case.

[willbewill]

Vortexbox is my weapon of choice, makes ripping pretty easy, attach a usb DAC for playback, and stream to RPIs using Picoreplayer, or Squeezeboxes.

And yes keep the CDs as backup and to prevent possible prosecution, I throw away the jewel cases and put cd and paperwork in folders, cardboard cases filed away in drawers

Vortexbox folders are easy to access via a Windows PC on the same network, so I can easily transfer music to my DAPs.