[monk]

Hello,

What Is The Best Way To Load 100's of CD's onto a PC Hardrive?

Can this tedious process be easily automated?

Is there ripping software that could know to start ripping the CD to hardrive as soon as the tray is closed?

Is there a better way to load the CD's than 1 at at time?

Thanks, Martin.

Or if its too big of questions that I'm asking,...do you know a good FAQ or website that would have the kinds of answers I'm looking for ? (thanks!)

 

[Skarecrow]

With a lot of configuring, EAC can be set up so that when you insert a CD, It automatically detects all CD info (title, track names, artist, year, etc), then you hit select all and rip/compress (with whatever format you desire. i use flac), and it will place them in a directory structure based on the CD info (i use artist\year - cdtitle\tracknumber - tracktitle). really all i have to do at the end is replaygain them, and if I didn't care about album gain being correct, only track gain, i could have had them replaygained during the ripping process.

so, to sum up, as far as i know, the best what can be done with EAC (the only ripping software worth using), is:
1. insert CD
2. hit select all
3. hit rip
4. wait until process is done.
5. remove cd, insert next cd.

 

[jink]

Skarecrow, you don't even have to hit select all, once you hit rip with nothing selected, it just grabs the whole album.

 

[classicalguy]

The information downloaded from the database is almost always screwed up in some way - poor descriptions, inconsistent formats. I think you'll have time in the long run fixing some the tagging in EAC before you rip.

 

[Skarecrow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jink Skarecrow, you don't even have to hit select all, once you hit rip with nothing selected, it just grabs the whole album.

You're probably right. I havn't payed attention in a while during ripping cause it's gotten so easy. I know I used to have to hit select all. I wonder if EAC could be configured to start ripping automatically, I've never looked into it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by classicalguy The information downloaded from the database is almost always screwed up in some way - poor descriptions, inconsistent formats. I think you'll have time in the long run fixing some the tagging in EAC before you rip.

That used to be the case, and still is to some extent, but I find that the information is correct probably 9 times out of 10 now (far better than it used to be), or even better. I very rarely now have to do in-depth manual corrections anymore.

 

[monk]

Yes,...this is the kind of direction/help I was hoping for (thanks).

I'd even hope to take it further in two ways:

1. Set the EAC to rip automatically when the CD is inserted (if the program is open).

2. Some kind of auto-loading mechanism that could feed multiple (50? 100?) CD's into the drive from a stack.

It would be great to set the CD's on a spindle and have an auto-loader feed them to the PC,...and for the EAC to know to rip the disc when it got it.

Some of this/most of this is probably not available though?

Anyway, thats good help so far, thanks.

 

[Solude]

Assuming you are running Windows XP you already have everything you need. Just set the 'Copy Music' option page in Media Player for 'lossless', 'copy cd when inserted' and 'eject cd when completed'. Now just put in the first CD and when it ejects put in the next one, repeat. Foobar2000 plays WMA and obviously WMP does too so you have an easy way to record and your playback options aren't limited.

The 'lossless' options is the best but you could also set it to whatever rate you feel is enough. WMP will automatically pull band, album and song names. It also places the files into folders based on the band. So for say, Korn... there is a Korn folder and inside it a folder for each album with the default 'folder' icon replaced by the album cover. Should go without saying the inside those folders are the songs for that album

There are other ways but this is the simplest and unless you are a MS hater no real reason to look any further.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, ripping full albums lossless takes about 2 minutes per CD. So for 100 CDs you're looking at just under 4 hours. My advice, find a couple good movies and do it while you watch them.

 

[Skarecrow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solude There are other ways but this is the simplest and unless you are a MS hater no real reason to look any further.

I dunno about that statement, but the fact that my portable plays FLAC and doesn't play WMA lossless (I believe) is a good enough reason for me... and even if that weren't the case, keeping microsoft and it's digital rights management happy self as far away from my music as I can is high on my list of priorities in this area.

 

[thomaspf]

Ripping the music you bought on a CD with WMP has nothing to do with digital rights management. There is no digital rights management on the lossless files after you have ripped them.

The format being lossless allows you to convert your files to any other format without loss of fidelity even another lossless format like FLAC.

If you plan to use your PC as a digital jukebox there are very likely many more players that support WMA compared to FLAC.

Cheers

Thomas

 

[shimage]

FLAC (according to their website) is the only lossless codec with portable hardware support. Do lossy and lossless WMA use the same decoder? If it's different, that might be the issue. In any case, I wouldn't use anything but EAC to rip on windows simply because it's the safest bet (and yes it'll sort/name things for you in whatever manner you see fit). I'm a little paranoid when it comes to rips, having found pops and other crap in my files that were incurred during the ripping process. Perhaps that's why I use cdparanoia to do all my rips

I don't see why one has to hate Micosoft to dislike their products. I hate the company because of their business practices. I dislike some of their products because they just don't make the grade, imo. WMP and Windows are two such products, but ymmv. We all have different criteria, so there's no reason to start name-calling.

As for using the computer as a jukebox, it doesn't matter how many players support WMA vs. FLAC. You should be using foobar2000 regardless, and afaik it supports every "free" codec under the sun.

 

[thomaspf]

My wife said no to foobar...

But I am surprised WMP does not make your bar. In what respect?

Cheers

Thomas

 

[Skarecrow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thomaspf My wife said no to foobar... But I am surprised WMP does not make your bar. In what respect? Cheers Thomas

Said no? Uhhhhhhhh in what regard? She said you can't use foobar on the pc? Why? I'm afraid I don't understand.

Once again I'm glad I'm not married. Nobody tells me what to do with my toys except for me (well, ok myself, and federal copyright law).

WMA files may or may not have DRM crap in them right now, but what happens next time Microsoft updates WMP and it starts modifiying your files. Hell it asks you NOW right in the configuration if it's allowed to modify your files with info it thinks you want. That's the problem with microsoft products, they always think they know better than you what it is YOU want.

And for the record, no I do not hate microsoft. I just use better products when they are offered and are convienent. EAC/FLAC/Foobar2k gives me what I want... not what microsoft tells me I want.

 

[Mr.Radar]

WMA Lossless isn't supported by any portable devices currently, and won't be for the foreseeable future. Also, the FLAC website must be out of date because Apple Lossless is supported on the iPod.

 

[thomaspf]

I don't mean to interfere with your private life but the UI for the EAC/FLAC/Foobar2k is probbaly more attractive to the hard core computer audio expert than the average user who just wants to listen to some music without applying for a CS degree

I am unaware that Microsoft is releasing any content with DRM. I thought the media publishers are the driving force on this. If a company chooses to sell their content with DRM then that's the way it is but I don't consider that a fault of the player.

Cheers

Thomas

 

[thomaspf]

The fact that Apple released lossless on their players is a great service to the community who cares about this kind of quality.

There is no magic here but having this feature a check box item when comparing devices will make it standard on any player. As a side effect I would also expect that it will drive higher quality circuitry to make the difference between compressed and lossless actually audible on these devices.

Cheers

Thomas