Ask this question – "should I rip my CDs to my PC?” and you will get a myriad of opinions. But the question behind that question should be what are “you” wishing to accomplish? Many have their ideas, but do they align with yours and your needs?
For me,
when I decided to rip my 2700+ CD collection to PC in FLAC using
dBpoweramp (which also does a pretty good job in tagging and grabbing album art) I did so with the intention of being able to stream my personal collection anywhere I wanted to via
Plex.
Yes, I have
Spotify’s music streaming service, but since I’m also a music collector who buys physical copies of stuff I really like and have been buying since the mid-70s. As such my collection is my main source of music, and though I listen to Spotify, it’s also mainly used as a previewer of what I want to buy.
The great thing about having my collection on PC now is I can easily find stuff. I can easily browse though it in
JRiver Media Center by album cover, artist, title, track name, or genre. I can easily create personalized playlists. I’m now listening to stuff I’ve not heard in years or otherwise forgot about. And most importantly, I can hear it wherever I want.
Because my Western Digital NAS is also cloud based and supports
Plex Media Server, I can stream from outside the home to any device Plex is supported on, including my android phone via
Plexamp, as well as phone to car. From the car I can issue voice commands to the Infotainment system to play what I want, be it album, track, or playlist, so no fumbling with knobs or touch screens.
And as long as I have internet connectivity Plex works. I’ve driven from VA to NY with Plex streaming and never lost connectivity from my NAS.
Sure, you can do all this with streaming apps, but this is about those of us who wish to rip our own physical collections and have it available anywhere.
Of course, there’s always a pro/con / “what if” scenario – storage considerations, cost of hardware/software, size of collection, time required, streaming service, what if a drive fails. For me, I did consider those things, and some were already in place, so for me ripping was a no brainer.
This is just one of many avenues, and I’m sure there will be a plethora of opinions and points, and that’s fine. Do bear in mind this is targeted at those such as myself who collect and wish to rip to PC.
My two cents.