looking to stream and ditch CD

[Colinijohnson]

Can someone suggest a simple cost effective method of transfering my cd collection to a hard drive?. I want to ditch the cd player and stream. I stopped using Apple itunes sometime ago &now use samsung phone & tablet.
thanks
Colin

Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk

[struth]

laptop/pc etc and jriver program will do it all.

[dave2010]

Depends on how many CDs you want to transfer. If it's "only" a few hundred, then a PC with a CD reader with a suitable ripper will do the job.

If you have many CDs - say more than a few thousand - there are firms which will do it.
Relatively few computers now have inbuilt CD players, but earlier Apple kit - such as Mac Minis and iMacs did. Those can rip a CD in a couple of minutes, and may even work in background mode, so it's possible to do around 20 CDs per hour.

Something like this might do - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353435478658?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOME SPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D233037%26meid%3D8d33ca e7511b49fdb35fe6385fa99a05%26pid%3D101195%26rk%3D1 %26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D353418842082%26itm%3D3534354786 58%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSim plAMLv9PairwiseUnbiasedWeb%26brand%3DApple&_trksid=p2047675.c101195.m1851&amdata=cksum%3A3534354786588d33cae7511b49fdb35fe63 85fa99a05%7Cenc%3AAQAGAAACABrBXR0YAz6j2giC7KcgretS zNBRqPIa1h8LHKlmFG5IK2X%252FM%252F860sp6y9rfv%252F B88JvAhWVoH3hrh5Z3AwqHucJHKysLkVtuFbSeJ5O8RTD7NF9F cKUPVC6a312Ojpk2s%252B8wqSeDFCfmzpYreoFOtrF61abT2p umUxkSqNF%252BfxQnzf1ajZLi2CEz%252FSjE02lPSSdxHQbX tKHU1zmbYGLU3fq5WyM5klqqbcnnf7C3hoPMKvO299YAE%252F O4Nit1M0B6x%252BPtaiUO1o1Y2JGYCB%252BFEn4VQTSe6W0E xhPWkqOY4x5mN5zZOniBJuJt%252FJibXCqlcs7bj75vx1ytQI TdybtUbnlgr3Q%252FJsvDX9rjaYmw5It9hOSHyAnBZxcmwokG tqHgx6qNZ6vVw2h1MqY2y29KYvKqyhPYDPCVI9Qg2owAGudhfJ LnseQFApqQwvfRUCPFTe6%252FHz8Zv93yiHlP9Z771CMl%252 Bj0LGPIwuEPG67DISIWcd3Roh35ZsSnc3lX0ddlFfWi4PjCtb% 252BTRP7yttyWV3taxqTGD9%252B6PDawhGVp60U9ArxFYtxB3 DJDMPBQ8L7NuQmAdanVKPvaBM638%252BJh925j2%252BiNuYk hVx3uxxyE5xc6Fb9b6lVXBMrfaDI4dXCli%252BktPqzKUpaJi 7KnVxAt8grPNP0y81R578IzGk%252BzCl8Nu%7Campid%3APL_ CLK%7Cclp%3A2047675

However getting the model year right is important - I'm not sure which was the last iMac to have a drive. Seems it might have been 2011 - which would perhaps mean that a Mac Mini would be the best option. Actually it looks as though they last had CD drives around 2010-11 too, so no better. Otherwise one would have to rely on external CD drives.

Some 2nd hand models are/were less reliable, and some have drive failures - so if one even thinks of looking at this as a viable route, make sure that the drive is in good working order.

[sailor]

Don't know your budget but I recommend considering this :
https://www.audioaffair.co.uk/blog/innuos-zen-mini-mkii-music-server-and-cd-ripper/

I have not heard one but am going on what a good friend has told me he upgraded to from a Bluesound Node 2. He claims a nice allover improvement. One of his statements was "Shit this thing's good"

Can be found used :
https://www.hifishark.com/search?q=Innuos+Zen+Mini

[Colinijohnson]

thanks all

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[zanash]

your likely to be disappointed unless your cd is particularly poor......Ive added a streamer but mainly to access new music not listen to old stuff I already own. I actual fact Ive two streamers one that part of the Nord easystream connect dac ..and the other part of my sony hapz1es ..so these cover the £300 to £2k price range ....both in streamer mode do not get to the sound quality stored flac files. The nord spanks the dac in my artera play so its not as if my equipment is letting the streaming down !

[Geoffrey Stevens]

If you have a PC or laptop with a CD/DVD reader, then using a CD Ripper in a program such like dBPoweramp (https://www.dbpoweramp.com) works well. I did this for my CD collection (aprrox 500 CDs). It takes a while, but you can set your CD ripping, and get on with something else - each CD will take a 'few' minutes. I rip to FLAC files.

Not that difficult.

Regards,
Geoff

[bumpy]

"FLAC do not sound as good as uncompressed WAV files. As it turns out, there is more than one cause underlying this sound quality (SQ) discrepancy. We believe that the magnitude of these losses are significant enough to be of some concern to providers of music downloads, streaming services, and the end consumer. For audio enthusiasts,"

https://www.hificritic.com/uploads/2/8/8/0/28808909/2016_07_05__fi… · PDF file

I remember seeing a demo which compared the sound left over when a FLAC file was subtracted from a WAV file. The discarded sound from the compressed FLAC file was significant and enough to make me copy only into WAV files using a program called Exact Audio Copy EAC.

[struth]

ive never heard any difference. if you do then fine

[bumpy]

ive never heard any difference. if you do then fine

The only problem is that having copied all your CDs into FLAC files you cannot go back if your system changes result in the ability to hear the difference.

[struth]

i already did the tests as originally i had them in wav.

[JimR]

I ripped mine, roughly 1100 cds, about ten years ago. Used a tower PC with three CD drives so I could rip three cds at a time. Used the excellent dBPoweramp software

Took many weeks. Most ripped easily. A few were problematic - scratched or unknown to the tagging databases. Those were the ones that took the time. Ripped to FLAC.

(Just ripped the family DVD and Blu-Ray collection too. That was a bigger job!)

Jim.

[ReggieB]

I've got a Melco hard drive and have a USB CD drive attached to it. It is by far the easiest ripping system I've used. For me, the difficult bit is not the ripping as such, but getting the tagging and image association right. The Melco software does that for you. Just put the disc in, click a couple of buttons and wait for it to copy. All the tagging and image association is done in the background.

Have said that, I don't routinely rip my CDs. I find browsing a lot of ripped CDs a bit of a pain and like the tactility of selecting CDs. I bought a CD drawer cabinet and that sorted my storage problems.

I'd suggest you think carefully about ripping and getting rid of your CDs. You could miss the old CDs.

Oh!!! and don't forget to make sure you have a good backup strategy. I have all the albums I have on my Melco, also on a QNAP NAS. I also have a back up USB hard drive attached to the Melco. I've had hard drives fail. That's a very bad way to lose your music collection, which I've avoided because I have a backup strategy.

[dave2010]

Does anyone know anything significant about this cheap streamer - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WiFi-Music-Streamer-Steljes-Audio-MS2-/203074827397

Really cheap - so could be worth a punt.

[dave2010]

Does anyone know anything significant about this cheap streamer - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WiFi-Music-Streamer-Steljes-Audio-MS2-/203074827397

Really cheap - so could be worth a punt. Probably wouldn't expect ultra high quality sound from it, but unless one connects to high quality streams that's not going to work anyway.

[wee tee cee]

I use an innous zen mk2...its very good streaming and playing my CD collection.

You can make a back up copy really easily and play that hard drive via a 4k bluray player,

A google chromecast audio is a neat wee solution for streaming, it has an optical out to plumb it into a dac.....used a 5v powerbank to power it to good effect.

A laptop with CD drive and USB out is probably the simplest solution but really cheap lap top can sound pure shite.

A CD transport and DAC can really upgrade your CD enjoyment.

[MisterMoseley]

it seems as though the OPs initial question has been answered but if anyone would like information about my Raspberry Pi/Allo setup playing FLAC files exclusively then I’d be happy to oblige.

[Bencat]

Ripping CD's as has been noted is quite easy I would certainly advise buying and using DbPoweramp as it organises and tags things very well . If you have a large number of CD's to rip then I would advise to buy something like this or similar as the time taken to rip an average CD of about from 4 minutes plus on the CD drive in a laptop to about 2 mins . This drive is able to read 52 x and is built like a tank and above all gets through any CD at rapid speeds.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154542793343?hash=item23fb77e27f:g:neIAAOSwL7lg-~wN

When you have finished with it just store it away and you can either get it out when you buy new CD's or if there is only a few then you can just use the Laptop to rip those. As this is a USB CD Drive you can either use the file cd for Windows or Apple will find drivers automatically .

With regard to Flac and the original CD being different that may well be true but in my view it is always in favour of the Flac file . And as to how I can tell I keep all of my CD's but play from my server so at any time if i want to I can compare them . Did lots of this in first few weeks when i was ripping them and have done it about onve every few months when I felt I was curious . Flac files when played sound more natural and open to me so will stick with this . I also downloaded both the WAV and Flac Hi Res file version of Richard Thompson's Rumour and Sigh and they sound as much as I can tell identical . After this i stopped being paranoid and just enjoyed the music .

[Stryder5]

Does anyone know anything significant about this cheap streamer - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WiFi-Music-Streamer-Steljes-Audio-MS2-/203074827397

Really cheap - so could be worth a punt.

It will be crap using your phone’s DAC

Gary

[RockAddict]

The only problem is that having copied all your CDs into FLAC files you cannot go back if your system changes result in the ability to hear the difference.

Assuming we're talking LPCM audio, if (genuine) FLAC files are unpacked to WAV, they will be the full monty - I've done WAV to FLAC / FLAC to WAV and the WAV file size is identical. MP3 can't be reversed - there is real data that has been stripped out.

I personally can't hear any difference between WAV or (genuine) FLAC but I've long since learnt that just because I can or can't taste / see / hear something, it doesn't mean someone else can or can't.

[Pieoftheday]

Can someone suggest a simple cost effective method of transfering my cd collection to a hard drive?. I want to ditch the cd player and stream. I stopped using Apple itunes sometime ago &now use samsung phone & tablet.
thanks
Colin

Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk

I'm just returning to cd:cool: I have everything ripped to flac but have just bought a roksan k3 CD player, LOVE IT

[Lawrence001]

It will be crap using your phone’s DAC

GaryWhy would the phone's DAC be involved?