Advice: Ripping/managing my CD collection for Squeezebox

[stymie miasma]

Hi all,

So I'm going to jump on the Squeezebox train, and looking for advice on the best way to do it right, from the get-go.

Right now, my computer audio situation is languishing in the 90s, as I am a big Sony/ATRAC fanboi. I have a bunch of stuff ripped to Sonicstage which I will most likely keep in the immediate future for portable use only.

As for the Squeezebox thing, I want to rip my entire CD collection (350+ last count) into a lossless format and store it on an external HD or NAS/RAID setup. I'll be using a 1 year old Dell desktop, running Windows XP. I plan to hook everything up via ethernet.

I suppose my main question concerns library management: What program works best for my intended application? I have read that Squeezebox can talk to an iTunes library, but are there other alternatives worth considering?

My collection is album-based, so I won't have any DRM'ed songs or similar floating around. I would also like get album artwork that will be visible when using Squeezebox. I also have a lot of compilations that I would like to stay as compilations at the end of the day, not as individual tracks by the corresponding artist

iTunes looks to be the easiest solution, and I like the interface for the most part. As I really have no ties to Apple, I am open to suggestions. I don't mind shelling out a little dough for a good program either.

Cheers!

[Dusty Chalk]

I'm not familiar with iTunes with Squeezebox, but if others are using it, then it must be so. Other than that, I would recommend using iTunes w/Apple lossless -- it does everything else that you ask.

[stymie miasma]

Thanks Dusty,

Yeah, i think iTunes will be the easiest route. Do you use iTunes for ripping?

Cheers!

[Voltron]

iTunes.

[stymie miasma]

That's two votes for iTunes.

[jinp6301]

SlimServer (which is the application that squeezeboxes use) dont require you to have the music library affiliated with any other program then slimserver itself. So you dont really need to use itunes or any other program.

EAC for burning if youre on a windows machine

[deepak]

EAC or dBPoweramp with AccurateRip will be more accurate than iTunes for discs that aren't in pristine condition. If you have a Mac xact is the ripping program of choice. And moved thread to the computer forum.

[stymie miasma]

Thanks for the replies, and for moving to a more suitable locale

Excuse the naive questions, but can I use EAC or dbPoweramp to associate artwork with the ripped audio files in a way that Squeezebox will recognize?

[stymie miasma]

RipNAS Essentials

My goodness, this almost looks like it would be fun!

[deepak]

RipNAS Essentials

My goodness, this almost looks like it would be fun!

That's a neat looking device with some great features. You can basically do all of that with any computer drive, but it looks like that automates everything to be quicker.

dbpoweramp with AccurateRip can be fast and secure because it checks the CRC for each track in the AccurateRip database to make sure they match. If it matches it continues in "burst" mode.

[morphsci]

I would suggest you use the newest version of dbpoweramp for ripping and/or transcoding. If you have a multicore machine it will use the multiple cores for a nice speed increase. It also uses accuraterip so it will give you a bitperfect copy as quickly as possible. The newest version also works great for album art and metadata. You have a choice of sources and if you do not like the album art from those sources it is now very easy to add in any art work you want at the time of ripping. It is not free however, but well worth the cost, especially when you are starting a big project.

There is no real advantage to using itunes with squeezecenter but there is no real disadvantage if you have nothing against using ALAC (apple lossless). With any of the current firmware revisions on the squeezbox family there is no longer any advantage to using FLAC over ALAC. If you already use itunes at all, then there is an advantage if you want one consolidated library.

[guzziguy]

EAC or dBPoweramp with AccurateRip will be more accurate than iTunes for discs that aren't in pristine condition. If you have a Mac xact is the ripping program of choice. And moved thread to the computer forum.

To get maximum ripping accuracy with iTunes, go to edit>preferences>import settings (general) and click the "Use error correction when reading Audio CDs" check box.

[stymie miasma]

Great advice guys! I'm seriously considering the dbpoweramp drive and a Windows Home Server. It will cost a little extra over a NAS, but I think it will streamline the process greatly.

[Duggeh]

When I had a squeezebox I used the itunes library sync. I ripped all my CDs with iTunes too.

I don't have a squeezebox anymore, but I still use itunes. The only time I rip with EAC is when I get audible errors like pops or clicks with itunes, but thats happened on three CDs out of hundreds and those three wouldn't read in EAC either.

[deepak]

To get maximum ripping accuracy with iTunes, go to edit>preferences>import settings (general) and click the "Use error correction when reading Audio CDs" check box.

And that's the limit of iTunes.

The error correction in EAC and dbpoweramp are far superior. And in my limited experience with Xact it is as well. Also being able to check and match CRC with EAC, Xact and dbpoweramp means you're getting a perfect copy.

iTunes works fine for scratch free CDs. But for scratched discs and early pressed discs from West Germany (where the data layer is often very thin) the other programs work much better.

Edited January 9, 2010 by deepak

[Salt Peanuts]

And that's the limit of iTunes.

The error correction in EAC and dbpoweramp are far superior. And in my limited experience with Xact it is as well. Also being able to check and match CRC with EAC, Xact and dbpoweramp means you're getting a perfect copy.

iTunes works fine for scratch free CDs. But for scratched discs and early pressed discs from West Germany (where the data layer is often very thin) the other programs work much better.

Basically echoes my experience with Mac and Windows machine (when I had one).

[guzziguy]

Interesting. I've only had problems with one disk, and it sounds the same out of my iPod as it does when played in multiple CD players. Guess I've been lucky.

[Beefy]

Another vote for dbpoweramp. I liked it so much, I bought it. A rare thing for me......

[digger945]

I also purchased db. Easy for me to use.

Some more info on ripping and storage...

Computer Audiophile CD Ripping Strategy and Methodology | Computer Audiophile and Current CA Music Servers and Diagram | Computer Audiophile

Not the last word, but interesting reading.

If your into the latest gadgets and really lazy like me, you could try one of these.

[stymie miasma]

I like what I am reading about dbpoweramp. Looking forward to getting this project started