Fast ripping of CDs (and storage)

[Tim]

Jeez, for that money I'll do it and a lot cheaper too

[webby]

Jeez, for that money I'll do it and a lot cheaper too

I thought about that too, but thought I'd just share the info.

[Tim]

At nearly a pound a pop, I could take a week off work and get paid more than my regular job, for sitting at home and listening to music

[brainz2000]

Vortexbox is designed to do just what you want .... Or dbpoweramp in bulk ripping mode...

I used both when ripping my cd collection

Tim

[Tim]

Does Vortexbox rip multiple CD's at the same time, not heard of that one?

[dave2010]

I haven't tried multiple rips, and I doubt your processor would cope with it, I'm just going to run a test and see what a drain it would be?

I was amazed just now. In my tests on my iMac (couple of years old), the CDs took between 8-10 minutes to rip to FLAC using Max. I looked at the CPU usage, and it was between 2%-25%, and disc usage was nowhere near max either. I was also streaming a previously ripped FLAC file to my Squeezebox at the same time. I did think of stressing the machine out more - for example by running VLC or even Quicktime on HD videos, but I know that on this machine that doesn't work too well even without anything else running.

The new iMacs (and indeed even the Macbook Pros) are maybe 3-8 times faster than mine, so probably would have even less load on the CPU.

I have older PCs, and I'm not desperate to buy another one. The number of hours I've spent (wasted!!*?&*?!!! ... aaaggghAAGGGHHH!!!) on PCs (not always my own - indeed often other people's) trying to keep them working or restoring them back to life probably far exceeds the time I would spend on ripping. I guess I could afford a new one though, just for this job, though maybe it would be better to buy another iMac or even a Mac mini. If things are better/faster using Windows (not sure that they would be), then I could run Bootcamp or one of the emulation packages - VMWARE/Parallels/VirtualBox - but right now it is looking as though maybe just one newish iMac will do the job.

I recently ripped around 1,500 CD's and if they are in good condition, you can get them done in around 2 minutes each ...

May be possible, but depends on kit, and what else is going on. Not sure if Max is fast - as above - but might test out other ways, maybe even iTunes -> ALAC. What did you use to do the rips, and what PC or PC spec do you have?

What surprised me is that it does seem that I can work on the iMac at the same time, so even if I can only do 6 CDs per hour, then it might only take a modest number of months "working" time to get most done. If I also set up my machine at work to do this, then I could transfer the files back each day or week, and it could well be possible to get through 20 or so a day - with relatively little extra effort. As it happens, the "inquirer" about the possibility of storing CDs this way has also offered to help/do the work, so if everyone in my family is trained up to do this, then maybe it would only take 6 months to get everything onto hard drives.

Probably need several hard drives and an organised plan for action though.

I would build your own if you can, the sound quality you will achieve from a dedicated music player will outclass the units you have mentioned and cost a darn sight less, but you will need a good DAC. You should also get lot's of help from the file audio boys here, if you get stuck or need advice

Thanks - that might be a project for when I finally give up work - scheduled for a couple of years.

And if you don't want to build one, get a Squeezebox.

Got an SB3 and a BoomBox model already. I feed the SB3 into a Caiman.

[webby]

New mac mini's that have just come out have no optical drive! This could mean you can pick up the previous model and save a few quid. Whatever, the mac mini is a great machine. See here: http://www.solutions-inc.co.uk/index...0gb-was-p64900

Edit: I use XLD for ripping to ALAC on my 2006 imac. Takes about 5 mins per cd, but it depends on the settings I guess. I use XLD's secure ripper and check the AccurateRip database for integrity. I do not verify suspicious sectors or test before copy as this would slow the process by half. I've not had a bad rip yet.

[Tim]

Lots of food for thought there, I have no experience of Mac's, but an 8-10 minute rip time is not very enticing!

I have older PCs, and I'm not desperate to buy another one. The number of hours I've spent (wasted!!*?&*?!!! ... aaaggghAAGGGHHH!!!) on PCs (not always my own - indeed often other people's) trying to keep them working or restoring them back to life probably far exceeds the time I would spend on ripping.

Lol, tell me about it - I have stopped repairing other peoples computers now, I used to do it a lot, but got fed up of being taken advantage so I changed tack. I did a few jobs at work for people, but started charging and my prices were 50% of whatever PC World would charge. Strangely the requests have dried up now, which was the intention

What did you use to do the rips, and what PC or PC spec do you have?

Specs are after my performance screen capture;
Home built
Win7 Pro x64
Intel E8500 3.16GHz dual core CPU
8GB RAM 1066MHz DDR2
Plextor PX-L890SA optical drive
EAC v0.99

http://www.exactaudiocopy.de

http://www.dbpoweramp.com

I have always used Exact Audio Copy to do my rips, mainly for the error correction. It is fiddly to set up the first time, but once you do it, that's it. You can create differing ripping profiles, so I have a profile for speed which on an unmarked prisitine CD (as most of mine are) can do a rip in under 2 mins. Then I have an error correction profile for charity shop and eBay CD's, which takes longer - around 5 mins. dBpoweramp is very popular and a lot easier to use, but I have only played with it, but it certainly has a lot of very useful functionality. EAC is free, dBpoweramp costs around $38.00 with a free trial available. Try them out and choose? I found the drive is very important too, I started with a Pioneer drive that during long sessions used to slow and get problems with error correction failing, probably due to heat. I now have a Plextor, which I love, it's fast and gives accurate rips every time - laptops . . . forget it, unless it's just a single rip every now and then.

Probably need several hard drives and an organised plan for action though.

Definatley, this is the most important element, as you won't have the stomach to do it again, so a backup plan is essential. Hard drives are so cheap now though and you should easily get 4,000+ CD's on a 2 TB drive.

[dave2010]

Lots of food for thought there, I have no experience of Mac's, but an 8-10 minute rip time is not very enticing!

I'd agree with you if it wasn't possible to do anything else. Actually I'm not sure that it is such a problem if it's possible to get on with other work at the same time. The timings I gave were in the modes with paranoid error detection and verification - both in Max and in iTunes. Actually I've just done another one which took only 5 minutes direct into iTunes - I think the timings depend on the degree of error correction and also on the final destination of the files.

Lol, tell me about it - I have stopped repairing other peoples computers now, I used to do it a lot, but got fed up of being taken advantage so I changed tack. I did a few jobs at work for people, but started charging and my prices were 50% of whatever PC World would charge. Strangely the requests have dried up now, which was the intention

Well done. In my case it's harder - because the requests come from a wife and daughter who insist on using these things, but manage to turn their problems in to my problem! It's got to the point where I'd rather buy them new Apple kit than spend any more time on such problems. Could fill a whole thread or forum about this!

I've still got a Vista laptop with either a dead hard drive or a virus waiting to be dealt with. Fixed it once, but ....

I have always used Exact Audio Copy to do my rips, mainly for the error correction.

Despite above, I have and do still use PCs for some things, and EAC is one program I do use for ripping if I'm on a PC.

Definatley, this is the most important element, as you won't have the stomach to do it again, so a backup plan is essential. Hard drives are so cheap now though and you should easily get 4,000+ CD's on a 2 TB drive.

I am certainly not going to do this without reasonable backups, once we get going.

[Tim]

Good luck with your quest anyway Dave, whichever route you take. It is a lot of effort to start with, but the rewards are worth it IMO