[sygnus21]

While I'm use to stuff getting sidetracked, a reminder, this is the subject of the thread. Thanks

"Should I rip my CDs to my PC?"



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.

 

[irishpatrick33]

I've ripped my CD collection. The part that has taken forever is the metadata. I got cute and gave every song its own album art using the single. I photoshopped all these single covers to remove record labels and correct other issues--it took forever.

Then I realized that my DAP and other playback programs use one image for an entire album's art. That means the cover of one of the album singles becomes the default artwork for all the other songs on the album. Obviously, this is worse than having the actual album artwork for all the songs within. So I am in the process of undoing everything and having one album art for all songs on the same album.

 

[sygnus21]

You certainly overcomplicated things.

I use dBpoweramp, which in addition to gathering the base metadata, also gathers the album art automatically. No need to scan album covers. You can also search for the correct album cover or add you own through the program itself. I just let it do its thing, as 99 percent of the time it gathers the correct album cover.

As you can see in the JRiver image above, those album covers were gathered from dBpoweramp. Additionally, if I want to tweak or add metadata information, I can do it in JRiver as it has a very powerful metadata editor, but the bass metadata is there from dBpoweramp - album, artist, title, release date, art, etc... All this makes ripping simple, easy, and far less time consuming.

 

[BrokeAudiophileMan]

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.

they say two thousand zero zero party's over oops out of time, so tonight we're gonna party like it's 1999.

 

[wirewiggler]

I ripped all mine and use Roon with Qbuz for almost three years. Have lost isp a few times so was pleased I still had local library. I am not sure how it works out for the artist repayment, I do want to make sure they get paid so they will have incentive to continue to produce new work.

 

[earmonger]

When you bought the CD the artist was (by some percentage) reiumbursed. Probably more than the musician would get if you streamed the music a whole lot on a streaming service. The tech people are so greedy they make the record labels look benevolent....artists deserve better. When I remember, I set my streaming subscriptions to repeat the most deserving obscure artist I can think of.

 

[sygnus21]

I ripped all mine and use Roon with Qbuz for almost three years. Have lost isp a few times so was pleased I still had local library. I am not sure how it works out for the artist repayment, I do want to make sure they get paid so they will have incentive to continue to produce new work.

It works out for the artist from me cause all my rips are from the CDs I bought (near 2800 now). In fact - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/on-a-mission-to-like-jazz.693212/post-17785898

My NAS is online so as long as I can connect to the internet, I have access to my music, even though my phone. This is great as I don't need to store the files there,

 

[wirewiggler]

I currently have my media files on a Qnap server connected to my Roon Rock through a gigabyte switch. I wonder if it would be better to just move the files to a USB drive connected directly to the Roon Rock? I have also been hesitant to use Roon Ark for fear of opening a port to be hacked back to my Qnap server, I also wonder if using the USB drive would shield the Qnap from intrusion?
Bill

 

[sygnus21]

I don't use Roon so I can't speak on it. All my files are from CD's I bought. Also don't use Qnap. My NAS is cloud-based Western Digital - only has CAT 5 cable connectivity.

 

[Lindholdt]

I've had an active subscription to Spotify or Tidal in at least 10 years now, and in the same timeframe, my CD collection has gone from sub 100 to around 1500.
I still buy CD as much as possible.
Why?
For three reasons:
1. I enjoy the physical media, the whole experience of loading the CD and enjoying the full album while studying the cover art.
2. Support the artists. I always pay more then required on Bandcamp, as I want to support the people that makes music I enjoy.
3. The main reason I rip my CD's is because I absolutely hate it when artists chance their catalogue on the streaming services. Suddenly one lf my favorite tracks or albums have been "reworked". While that can be a good thing, I often prefer the original tracks, but must of the time, these are removed, when new versions are added.
Having the original versions "locked" in Plex is super important to me.

I have my whole collection available on Plex. I then use Tidal to find and test new music, which I end up buying the stuff that I really like.
I would not be happy if I lost either of the two options.

 

[Paco ignacio]

I'm buying cd's more than ever and i rip everything. I only use spotify when i'm driving and i'm considering stop paying it.

 

[Designsfx]

@sygnus21
It sounds like you’ve created a great way to access your collection whenever/wherever you need it. Just out of curiosity- what are you playing back through once its left the PC?

 

[sygnus21]

I've had an active subscription to Spotify or Tidal in at least 10 years now, and in the same timeframe, my CD collection has gone from sub 100 to around 1500.
I still buy CD as much as possible.

I'm buying cd's more than ever and i rip everything. I only use spotify when i'm driving and i'm considering stop paying it.

I only use Spotify to preview/check out stuff I'm interested in getting. Just today I bought 2 CDs after hearing them on Spotify. I too prefer having a physical copy, especially a premium (audiophile) copy if possible (depending on how well I like the album). Example these.

And yes, since getting Spotify, I've been buying more CDs as well; but it's not because I have it per se, but because it allows me to be more discriminate in what I buy now.

3. The main reason I rip my CD's is because I absolutely hate it when artists chance their catalogue on the streaming services. Suddenly one lf my favorite tracks or albums have been "reworked". While that can be a good thing, I often prefer the original tracks, but must of the time, these are removed, when new versions are added.

This ^^^ is a little confusing to me - if you rip your original CD to a drive, how does an artist re-working their album affect the original rip??? What am I missing?

Anyway, as noted in the top post, my files are stored on my NAS and streamed from there through Plex, which in turn allows me to have my collection on the go.

 

[Paco ignacio]

I only use Spotify to preview/check out stuff I'm interested in getting. Just today I bought 2 CDs after hearing them on Spotify.

You are right about that and i didn't give it a thought till now.

For example, i'm a newbie when it comes to jazz but i'm trying to hear any recommendation from friends and what i read on forums or sites, so i use spotify to check them out.

 

[sygnus21]

@sygnus21
It sounds like you’ve created a great way to access your collection whenever/wherever you need it. Just out of curiosity- what are you playing back through once its left the PC?

When out and about, I use Plexamp on my Android phone for streaming. And because my phone syncs to my car's audio system I can listen there. When at home, I don't use Plex to stream, I use JRiver Media Center to play files locally. This is setup - Teac UD-503 DAC; Rotel RCD-1072 CD player (for playing CDs direct to DAC, bypassing the PC); Sennheiser HD700 headphones. The DAC is connected to the PC via USB cable; the CD player is directly connected to the DAC, so I can bypass the PC when playing CDs. The DAC has various inputs, so I simply select coaxial for CD play, and USB for files from PC.

Speakers are Audioengine's A5+active speakers. The black cube under the desk is Audioengine's S8 Sub.

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