Time, Craig, you're missing Time.
You're OBVIOUSLY going to want excellent fidelity (I like and respect NeverHappy's experience here). I don't know how long it takes to rip an average CD using his methodology. My (limited) experience suggests that 7-8 minutes per disk using Musicmatch at 192. For 400 CD's, you're talking about ~60 hours of swapping disks continuously. PLUS cddb lookup time, PLUS category/list management, etc.
Now, I don't dispute that some of this investment really pays off in value-added functionality, but the infrastructure startup time is signficant.
Craig, don't you also need a control device on the listening end? Digital media receiver or some such?
Do you guys back those huge drives up?
I guess I just don't want to relinquish my nice, shiny disks to the binary desert. Yes, I still have a turntable. No, I haven't used it lately.
Anybody else considering abandoning their VCR? I still have several, but now that I have Tivo, I can't imagine ever actually using one again.
Hey, if I ditch the turntable AND the VCR, maybe I'll have room for those mega changers! No, wait, I don't need one of those if I do all that ripping/networking stuff.
God, I am confused. I'm just going to go back to the beer thread where I belong.
