DCAudioDIY.com

Hi Everyone,

Just a simple question...

Is the technology out there, that would allow me to rip all my CD's to a thumb drive, and play them back on a device that would sound as good as my High End CD player???

Thanks, Chris

Yes, depending on the platform, there are a lot of programs that will let you rip CD's to lossless files and play them back with probably better fidelity than a CD player.

Exact Audio Copy for the PC will let you rip CD's to any storage you attach.

Programs like Audacious and Foobar2000 are bit perfect players for PC.

Each requires just some simple setup to use. Lots of info on the websites.

Good luck!

You might want to consider one of the commercial ripping services. Although you can do it yourself, it takes about 15 - 20 minutes per CD. I decided to use DMP3 ripping service. They used to do WAV files for 69 cents per CD with free shipping. Now for WAV or FLAC it is $1.09 per CD with free shipping if you rip enough in one package. Their results have been great. Since that is their main business I,m assuming they have very sophisticated programs built specifically for that purpose. It is an alternative that saves boatloads of time but there is a cost. Here is a link:

https://www.dmp3digital.com/cd-ripping- ... omparison/

You might want to consider what kind of music is on your CDs. Classical is notoriously difficult. Just think of the various ways you can describe Beethoven's 5th symphony and you will start to understand the problem. Jriver is one of the better-known packages for Classical but it still takes a lot of weeding.

Irrespective of which method you pick, you will probably find that one of the major benefits is that you will find music that you forgot you had.

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Thanks Guys!

The keyword I think is that it's a Lossless file, right?

I have a good proportion of classical music too.

What hardware do you need to pipe it into your HiFi? I think my CD player has digital input, a built in DAC, and a built in Preamp.

I don't want to hook it up to my computer however, because my computer is in a completely different room.

Chris

If you post the model of the CD player the specs should tell what is needed.

Most people use a computer to “rip” the cd’s to digital files usually flak format which is considered lossless. You have to get the music in storage whether on hard drive or thumb drive. You also should consider back ups. Thumb drives are not the most reliable. Conventional Mechanical hard drives are very reliable, cheap and great for archiving your music.
There are stand alone machines that rip cd’s but since you already have a computer you might as well as use it.
This is a process, it takes time to learn how to get it right.
There are dozens of ways to proceed and everyone has their own method that works for them.

I have ripped thousands of CDs. Generally, the ripping process can take a little as 4-5 minutes depending on your drive, the disc and the method used to rip. While the PC is ripping you can do whatever you want, you don't have to wait for it to finish for any reason other than to put the next disc in. I use Exact Audio Copy, it offers a secure mode that reads the disc multiple times. If it reports no errors you are generally good to to. EAC also uses the accurate rip database to verify that the rip is accurate and error free. EAC can save the ripped disc in pretty much any format you want. EAC will get the tags for the disc if they are available and fill in the fields for you. There are several web sites with information on how to configure EAC. I can send you a link if you decide to go this way. I can also send you the configuration file I use for flac - lossless files.

Foobar2000 will also rip CDs. It will also get the tags and check the rip against the accurate rip database. I use Foobar to play music, but have not used it to rip much so it may do more than I'm recalling.

Depending on how picky, or concerned, you are about the tags the fields filled in by whatever program you use to rip the discs will likely need some massaging. As stated, classical can be a pain. Tags are important. You can sort, filter, and search based on tags. If they're consistent it will make it much easier to find things. One of the reason classical is such a pain is not only because there is no accepted universal format for tagging the tracks, but discs often have more than one composer on the disc. I save non-classical by artist, classical by composer. I save complete discs in one folder. So the only way to find all the instances of any given classical piece is to search. Or, if you use Foobar (probably others can do this too), you can script different ways to present your library. I've written a script for Foobar that sorts anything with Classical in the genre tag by composer > piece > artist > tracks. The top level is A-Z, then composer. The problem is if the tags aren't consistent the results won't be terribly useful. I'm going back through all the classical and cleaning up the tags to conform to the standard I've adapted. For the title field it's Piece Name - other info. My script looks for the "-" and uses the information before it as the name of the piece.

I've attached a screen shot of part of Dvořák's compositions that shows the good and problems that can arise. Note that String Quartet No. 12 is shown as that as well as String Quartet In F Major. I've cleaned up all the symphonies except No. 4 apparently. The point is, if you come up with a way to do the tags and stick with it, it can save a lot of time down the road. I'd be happy to go into more detail on my standards at some point if interested.

Lastly, Foobar is incredibly customizable and powerful. It has a built in scripting language that allows a lot of automation for fixing tags and many other things. Plus if you have the same piece multiple times you can copy fields from one instance to others. So, after I fix one instance of Symphony No. 4 I'll just copy the title fields from all four tracks and paste them to the next instance in one copy/paste operation.

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It depends. If you are planning to use thumb drive as a source, you will be using the PC/Laptop as music player. Typically a standard PC does not sound anywhere as good as a High End CD Player. The PC can be improved by adding a quality sound card, good power supply for the USB etc. Number of configuration possible. Setup is very simple for headphone usage, but connecting to your stereo system needs some thinking like:
1. Can you live with the PC/Laptop fan noise or you need to buy a fanless PC.
2. How is volume controlled, by the soundcard or preamp?
3. Are you OK with going to the PC to change the track every time or you need a remote control from a smart phone or tablet?
etc. etc.

If the CD player has a USB input then it is possible to play files from either a flash drive or USB hard drive. It depends on the model CD player as I asked above if it supports the capability. My NAD 565BEE does play USB flash files as an example.