I’m looking for advice to rip my cds into digital format onto a hard drive.

Things I’m considering:
How will it get organized?
Software help?
Quality of file / file type?

Maybe there’s already a thread about this?

I’m google searching this too of course but anyone with firsthand advice or knowledge would be great. I feel like this could be a real can of worms project.

Some players I use occasionally are VLC ( not a fan seems complex ) iTunes

Thanks.

I still use EZ CD Audio Converter (formerly Easy CD-DA Extractor) for all of my ripping and converting.

EZ CD Audio Converter

Yes, it costs money, but the included lifetime updates has made it well worth it for me. And yes, it still gets updated.

I don't use it in the most automated way, since I like to look over the metadata and make minor tweaks where necessary. Usually the CD art it finds is perfectly fine, but I still like to Google image search for higher-quality images when possible. For more trusting rippers, I'm sure it can be used easier than the way I do it.

I personally keep my music folder organized by artist (each in their own sub-folder), then have full artist name, album title, track number, and track title in the filename itself, but you can tailor the output to whatever you want.

I always output to FLAC level 8.

I use MediaMonkey for playback on both my computer and my phone. I'm still happy with it.

It was you who introduced me to that way back in 2008.

Hey CV. Thankyou for that info. That’s great. Sounds like you’re still happy with it. I’ll check it out.

Is there any benefit to using an SSD an HDD. Ie solid state may have less “ noise “ then a mechanical hard drive. I have a 500 gig mechanical drive but if solid state would provide lower noise I’d buy one. Like a 1 TB or even bigger maybe? Not sure how many files and space will be needed. This is all fairly new to me.

Edit: the goal is for highest sound quality possible of my collection and long term ease of use and adding of files.

SSD is definitely faster access.

Oh that’s a good point. I never considered that at all. Might be key with a lot of files. Thanks.

I use DB PowerAmp. Yes, it costs money. It's kinda clunky, and takes a bit of time to set it up. I like it because it can be configured however the user wants (being open source). It will also rip in different formats simultaneously, and drop the ripped files to different folders. This is handy, because I use FLAC files for my home systems, and high res MP3 for thumb drives. When I rip a CD, it does this automatically.

If there was a more simplistic piece of software that would do what this does, I'd probably use it.

One thing I am constantly fighting, is song DB Gains. Automobiles do not have the tech to read a song and adjust sound DB, so the MP3's need to be leveled. I use another third party software to adjust DB levels. That's MP3 Gain.

EZ CD Audio Converter has loudness normalization as a built-in feature, but I've never used it, so I can't say how effective it is.

I thankfully don't have any devices in use anymore that makes me want a secondary format like MP3, but I can see the appeal of the multi-encode feature for those who still do. I sent a message to Poikosoft (EZ CD Audio Converter's developer) to suggest the feature.

I'm still using a mechanical drive for my media files simply due to space requirements. Between the size of my collection and wanting plenty of breathing room, I ended up with a 6 TB. That said, the music portion of my media files only comprise 424 gigs at the moment, at over 22,000 tracks (primarily FLAC, but I do have MP3s mixed in when they were online purchases with no lossless option). I've never felt it was sluggish at accessing anything, so I haven't been tempted to switch to SSD for media files yet, but if you're starting fresh and are concerned about the noise of the drive, I wouldn't shy away from SSD at all.

That’s great info. Thanks. Sounds like a 1tb ssd would fit the bill for my needs. It’ll be music only.

Not to beat the dead horse here but any particular brand names out there that are better than others quality wise in the ssd world?

I've gone with Samsung for mine. They consistently get good reviews, and I haven't had cause for concern yet. I would read more recent shootouts to see what the state of the SSD world is. My two go-to sites are:

AnandTech

Tom's Hardware

It seems like there are a lot of competitive options anymore.

Thanks CV. I’ll check those out. Appreciate it.

I’m really looking forward to organizing all my music and files and playlists finally. And getting a hard drive and CD rips done is a hefty component of that.

Thanks Charles. I'll have to give that software a try. I was surfing their website and the software looks a lot simpler to use than DB PowerAmp, but has as much, if not more functionality.

Oh, definitely let me know what you think. I tried dBpoweramp way back in the day, but it was more than I wanted to wrestle with at the time. I'm not sure how it is now, but it will be interesting to hear your comparison. I'm sure there are pieces of EZ CD Audio Converter that aren't very intuitive, but I'm used to using it.

Reply from Poikosoft:

"Thank you for your suggestion. It's been requested few times already. It's on my list of things to do. It will require some bigger changes to the user interface but I look forward to try it."

Cool. I bought and downloaded the "package" and have been clicking on the menus, taking it for a spin. I think I'm going to like using it.

Looking for some input on M22 V4 what do you guys think about them, price is good $225 including stands
RJ

if they are in good condition the price is a bargain. Buy them ...
Note you might what to pair them with a sub to get some low end .... for mids on up they are great

Agree with this. That’s a bargain. If I came across that I’d jump it. I suppose it’s all relative to your income but I’d say that’s a great deal in general terms. If possible confirm all the drivers are operational first and have a quick listen. But if it’s just cosmetic issues then I’d say go for it. Maybe get a reason why he / she is selling.