Tips for ripping CDs w/o PC or laptop

[Joeporch]

You need to add your comments outside the "quotes". Could be the tv interface and the forum software don't make that clear.

I did take a look at some of those sticks, guess you'd stick it into a usb slot on your tv? Maybe with the right connectivity to a drive for ripping you could download something like EAC onto the stick and manage to direct the ripped file to the NAS drive with it.

Altho that stick sure seems to be a lot more than a flood light .

My other posts seem to come out just fine. Not sure what I may have done differently this time, whatever it was, it was unintentional so I don't really know how to not do it again. More practice should help ( or less bourbon ).

The stick would in fact be hiding behind the TV and therefore be invisible which is an added plus. The disk reader can be stuck in a drawer when not actually ripping. The only visible addition to my shelves would be the storage device.

You mention "that stick". Are you referring to a specific one? They range from $50-$500 (At least those are the ones I am aware of ) so there are many options. I'm looking for the simplest possible device that can still do the job correctly, but no idea which one that may be. ( All these options may actually be a lot LESS than a floodlight since none would help with that dark spot! )

 

[lovinthehd]

My other posts seem to come out just fine. Not sure what I may have done differently this time, whatever it was, it was unintentional so I don't really know how to not do it again. More practice should help ( or less bourbon ).

The stick would in fact be hiding behind the TV and therefore be invisible which is an added plus. The disk reader can be stuck in a drawer when not actually ripping. The only visible addition to my shelves would be the storage device.

You mention "that stick". Are you referring to a specific one? They range from $50-$500 (At least those are the ones I am aware of ) so there are many options. I'm looking for the simplest possible device that can still do the job correctly, but no idea which one that may be. ( All these options may actually be a lot LESS than a floodlight since none would help with that dark spot! )

Sorry, didn't but take a glance at a page of sticks on Amazon...seems you'd look for the one with the horsepower and memory needed with the ports for the connections you'd need for the drive(s) you want to connect. W10 whould be able to support EAC.

 

[Joeporch]

Sorry, didn't but take a glance at a page of sticks on Amazon...seems you'd look for the one with the horsepower and memory needed with the ports for the connections you'd need for the drive(s) you want to connect. W10 whould be able to support EAC.

THANK YOU, Thank you. Well over 100 responses on various forums and finally approaching an answer ! I was beginning to think everyone is more interested in a friendly chat than giving a real answer.

As for ports, I think that's easy. The unit itself plugs in to the back of my TV which has a digital connection to my HT. The keyboard and NAS both work on Wi-Fi ( TV is already part of the same network ) so require no ports at all. If I am understanding all this correctly, the only thing that needs to be plugged in is the disk drive and power cord.

Horsepower and memory is where I am completely lost. What are the requirements for smoothly running the software I need? That is if it's even possible to add such to these machines.

 

[lovinthehd]

Try looking at the EAC site for any hardware requirements (for stick and drives) would probably be a start. This is the ripping software I use on W10, there are others, too.... http://exactaudiocopy.de/

 

[sholling]

Depending on the size of your CD collection, what you have to decide is just how much pain you're willing to accept to have the most minimalist CD ripper on your block. If you have 120 CDs and can spend 5 minutes each ripping, tagging, and filing your rips that's only 10 hours or so. On the other hand if you have 1200 CDs that's 100 hours of feeding CDs, tagging, and filing. And then you need a backup strategy because trust me if your hard disk dies 20 hours into your ripping session you won't be a happy camper.

I have a huge, hundreds and hundreds of CDs, collection so I modified my tower PC into my own version of Patrick Norton's Rip Monster 3000 by adding additional $40 drives and ripped, tagged, and filed by music/artist/album at a rate of 1 CD per minute. That collection is now stored on and streamed from a NAS that is backed up everytime I add a file. I won't try to talk you into changing plans, I'm just trying to give you food for thought.

 

[TLS Guy]

I consider a PC to be overkill. It is designed to have a million functions. I would prefer something more simple that will have just one function, running my music software.
As I mentioned in my original post, I am aware of the Vault and other similar machines. Among these the Vault is one of the more affordable, yet still triple the cost compared to my plan...To your next question.
Actually, yes an LG...And on to the last question.
And yes again. As already stated, I have tried to get answers elsewhere. Very little luck. Hoping I'll do better here.

What I need is some sort of basic processor whose sole function would be to run music software ( Rip, Organize, Access ).

Looking for a sole function processor is the root cause of your problem. A sole function device requires the design and production of a specialized chip. That is very expensive. A million dollars at least for the set up and a lot of cash for the trial run and then the production of at least a million ICs to make it worthwhile.

A computer processor chip on a board carries out a myriad of functions with an OS and the software to do what you want. The only advantage of a dedicated chip is speed for one specialized function. So if it is part of device that will have a huge production run, say an IC to control a refrigerator function the development and set up costs are with it.

So actually it is your plan that is overkill and not using a PC to carry out this function. A PC will carry out a myriad of useful other functions in your rig. A PC in an HT system is one of the most useful of additions and extends the scope of the possible.

I have two PCs in my rig an and they are the most used peripherals.

I think you have not realized that searching for a dedicated function device is the least useful and most cumbersome way to do what you want.

I highly doubt anyone has developed such a device and I doubt anybody ever would make the investment.

 

[KenM10759]

As far as I know I don't believe such an animal exists to convert standard cd disc tracks (WAV files) into MP3, FLAC, etc. digital files without using some type of software/app residing on ur PC/Laptop/Apple based computer. I could be wrong, it won't be the first time.

A Bluesound Vault (original V500) or Vault 2 can be set so when it rips a CD it'll save the WAV file as BOTH a FLAC (or WAV) and an MP3 at the same time. And then it can stream out via analog or digital outputs.

The very first Vault had only a 1TB storage, most have 2TB as the newer Vault2 has. I do not know what could possibly be easier than insert the disk, wait a few minutes, it ejects and you put another in.

 

[Andrein]

I would sell CDs and start using Tidal. Leave only disks that are not available in Tidal (wont be many) or quality in Tidal worse than CD (again should not be many).

 

[KenM10759]

I stream Tidal HiFi with my Bluesound Vault 2 and love it. I'll move to Deezer if Tidal fails.

My stored library gets used too. There's a LOT of music on it that just can't be found in any streaming service.

 

[rojo]

@Joeporch I thought of another option. If your router has at least one USB port and community-developed firmware (such as Tomato, DD-WRT, Merlin, or similar), and you're familiar with Linux, you could attach a CD drive to it and use that CD drive for ripping. If only one USB port you'll have to mount external storage (for example, using the CIFS client) not only for holding the rips, but also for mounting an /opt partition to hold your entware packages. I'm not sure whether the router's USB event triggers could monitor for a CD being inserted; but if so, you might be able to script it to fire off Perl Audio Converter to initiate the ripping / encoding / tagging automatically on insert. I've never tried this so I can't guarantee it'll work. But if you've already got the router, the sense of adventure, and the willingness to Google a lot and read HOWTOs and other documentation, then you might be able to hack a solution that saves you from buying an extra micro computer stick gadget. However, if you aren't prepared for a difficulty 4.5/5 project, then this probably isn't a good option.

Another similar but more flexible option would be a Raspberry Pi auto CD ripper. Since a Raspberry Pi runs a full Linux distribution as opposed to busybox on a router, your choices for CD ripping applications are less limited.

 

[BMXTRIX]

There seems to be some misconceptions from many about what a PC on a stick is.

It is LITERALLY, a full fledged computer on a stick about the size of a Roku stick. They are about $100, but cost varies. They have a HDMI connection, a power connection (USB I believe) and typically a USB connection (I believe). They don't have much horsepower, memory, or much else. They can load and run any and all Windows programs as it is a Windows PC.

So, that's the starting point of this: Stick PCs are still a complete computer. Just like a desktop or laptop computer, but in a smaller format.

The issue comes back to many other questions which should be asked about how you plan to access playback of the content after you have ripped it to your NAS? What type of NAS do you intend to put together? How much storage? Are you just going to buy an off the shelf NAS to use?

The hard part, IMO, is that organization, ripping, etc. requires that you pay attention to the details. CDs don't really have any information on them to let a computer know what is on the disc. The computer gets the track info, length, etc. and then compares it to a database. When it finds a match, it then applies the title to the disc and track info. Sometimes it is wrong. You would need to edit all the information for that disc. This can be problematic, but not a huge deal.

But, you also must buy into a playback solution which works nicely with your ripping solution and meets the needs and desires you hope to obtain.

How do you want to browse for music? Through your phone? Through your TV? Using a remote? Using a mouse?

What quality do you want for playback and what do you want to use for that playback?

Once again, there are tons of choices out there, but if you were thinking a PC on a stick is going to have the same audio quality as a purpose built PC, then that will never be the case.

The hard part is more about finding the specific software that you want to use and figuring out exactly what you want to do. That can be very difficult to determine at the start, and can be muddled with the vast number of choices available in software and hardware.

But, I would agree with others, that a product like the Vault, is exactly the type of solution that fits well into any good setup. It sounds like they have their act together in using lossless audio and allowing for intelligent control. The price may seem steep, but you are buying into a product which doesn't require you to jump through all these hoops you are trying to jump through, to only end up with results that may still make you unhappy, and then buying a Vault in the end because you know you should have done it anyway...

http://www.bluesound.com/en-us/products/vault-2/

Looks pretty good. Not cheap, but all the proper quality and support it should have.

Not sure about their use of their term 'USB NAS' - as those aren't a thing.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Maybe they meant USB DAS, but majority are unfamiliar with the term.
This type of storage may be raid protected, but it's missing the N as in network replaced the Direct Attached Storage.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Maybe they meant USB DAS, but majority are unfamiliar with the term.
This type of storage may be raid protected, but it's missing the N as in network replaced the Direct Attached Storage.

Nah, I had to dig in to it more, but it looks like the unit does support network shares using SMB from any NAS. Plus, if you have multiple units, once you've set one up, it will broadcast the new source directory to all attached units on the network. That's pretty cool if you ask me. Gets me kinda excited for the product.

 

[KenM10759]

I LOVE my Vault 2.

That is all.