Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems I'm itching.. (Superior NAS Music Playback clients)

The tedious part of ripping is entering all the information in the tags, particularly with classical music where the Gracenote database is chocked full of inconsistencies. It is much better for rock, pop, jazz, etc.

Ronnie,
I am currently "contemplating" ripping my (600+) CD collection in a lossless format (probably WAV for compatibility despite being on a Mac). I have no urgent need to run things through a NAS, but as you so rightly point out it is the time spent doing the ripping that is the most daunting part of the process. For now I am just getting used to the joy of having an M spinner & DSP setup. Plugging in additional kit can come later. The point to me is that I figure this mammoth task will be less painful if done in occasional stints with no time pressure.

And for this reason, I totally agree with your argument of keeping full quality at the ripping stage. A 500Gb hard drive was practically unthinkable when I started collecting cds - the data on one CD was more than the harddrive of any off-the-shelf PC. By the time I actually want to run my collection into my M kit via a server, they'll no doubt be 500Gb flash drives costing the price of a few cds at most.

John

Ronnie,

I had more or less decided to store my CD's using Apple Lossless (AL) via iTunes, mainly because the conversion programme I am using can read AL & convert it to most other formats, but cannot convert anything to AL.
However, your mention that: -

'Meridian may have more flexibility with WAV files in the future (think Aprodising filters etc)'

has made me think. Can you elaborate?

Robert.

Hi Ronnie

Totally agree about ripping to the best available quality, and making separate archives for other purposes thereafter. I made an MP3 (192) archive from the Apple Lossless files for Mrs M to stick on her iPod nano. I used dBpoweramp Converter, which although a bit fiddly to set up, worked well. It's inexpensive, and can convert into almost any format, if you start with WAVs or lossless files.

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/

Bomble, you are right about storage...even 18 months down the line since I set everything up, the size of storage has increased markedly, and the cost has dropped.

Cheers

George

FWIW, my own opinion is that the biggest "hassle" (exageration) part of the ripping job is the simple process of getting the CD, taking it out of its case and then putting it back in again. This is especially true when you're working your way thru your CD collection and trying to recall which CD you have ripped etc

I agree with this! Have ripped >400 CDs twice (yeah, once to an iMac and then to NAS FLAC for the SB3), and have found that the jewel cases pose serious potential for surface damage to CDs. Has anyone ditched their jewel box cases? If so, what are you storing the CDs in now?

Mr Meridian, thanks for your long and very helpful post.

I had independently come up with a design that attached a Western Digital 1Tb drive by ethernet to my wireless router (BThomehub) as the primary store for the CD copies. I have a laptop and cannot easily install a larger HDD. You describe the WD as basic and slow. So would I expect slow ripping speeds (over a wireless connection from my laptop) but OK for playback via a Squeezebox? Any other issues? At �150 with an onboard ethernet card it seemed almost too good to be true.

Bug in my design is that I guess the laptop must be always on?

Dipping my toes in here so SOTA is not a prime requirement, just ease of use and sound quality equal to CD.