Advice on pc based music

Ben K.

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Hello

I am thinking of going down the route of digital music. I am not interested in streaming music from websites or internet radio. I want to store all my music in one easily accesible place.

I have been looking at some options and would like some pointers please.

I am thinking of getting a sqeezebox touch and a nas drive. I will upload sqeezebox server onto the nas and then store my music on it. With the sqeezebox connected to my amp will that then let me play my music through my hifi?

Would I need anything else?

Would I be better using a network switch or not?

At a later date could I add a dac between the sqeeze and the amp for better sound quality?

Thanks for any help or suggestions
 

Gelli

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I have just been down your route and have spent the last six months ripping my entire CD collection to my computer hard drive, it resulted in 25,000 songs and about 550 GB of disk space. I play all the music via a cable from the headphone output (not ideal) connected directly to my preamp. I plan to get a basic USB DAC soon (waiting for What Hi-Fi to do a review of the new TEAC UD-H01).

I didn't need a server or NAS as I use an iMac, it was very easy to feed the CD's into it and rip to Apple Lossless via iTunes. Simple's.'The bonus of Apple is that I can even use my Apple Airport Extreme/Express wi-fi network to stream music all around my house. If you are planning to purchse some gear have a look at the Mac Mini. I live in a "Mac" world with my iPhone, iPods etc... and found this the easiest way to digitize and synch all my music. Apologies if you live in a PC world.

Have a look here for more reading:

http://www.stereophile.com/content/music-served-extracting-music-your-pc

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/faq

For hardcore Mac:

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net.au/index.php/news-blog-and-showcase/john-darkos-blog/item/291-bitperfect-itunes-add-on-for-mac

Hope some of this info helps you, good luck.

________________________________________________________

Threshold FET Nine Pre

Counterpoint Solid 1EM monoblocks

Infinity Modulus Speaker system with external crossover
 

MajorFubar

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Gelli said:
I have just been down your route and have spent the last six months ripping my entire CD collection to my computer hard drive
I'm not sure whether you have my admiration or my sympathy. That one sentence there sums up why I probably never ever will (rip my CD collection).

While I can see the attraction of downloading future purchases in a better-than-CD hi-res format and using a computer to replay them in their full glory, I really can't think of anything so demotivating and soul destroying. I think I'd rather accept the challenge of cutting the grass on a cricket pitch with nothing but a pair of toenail clippers.

Hats off to you though.
 

Gelli

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I ripped a handful of CD's every night. But decided the task was worth it - as I now have all my music in Lossless format on my Mac and can synch and make playlists for my iPods (car, gym etc..)I can also keep copies of my entire music collection in several place as well. I am thinking of seelling all my CD's now which will make enough to buy a decent USB DAC. 2,000 CD's at say 50pence each..........kerchang! as they say.
 

hammill

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Gelli said:
I ripped a handful of CD's every night. But decided the task was worth it - as I now have all my music in Lossless format on my Mac and can synch and make playlists for my iPods (car, gym etc..)I can also keep copies of my entire music collection in several place as well. I am thinking of seelling all my CD's now which will make enough to buy a decent USB DAC. 2,000 CD's at say 50pence each..........kerchang! as they say.
Illegal as they say.Copying CDs to other media is legally dubious but accepted by the copyright owners(and we all do it). When you sell the CDs, you no longer have any right to keep the copies.
 

MajorFubar

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Gelli said:
I am thinking of seelling all my CD's now which will make enough to buy a decent USB DAC. 2,000 CD's at say 50pence each..........kerchang! as they say.
As above, not wanting to burst your bubble but you're not allowed by law to keep your rips if you sell your CDs. It then makes it no different than if you'd ripped 2,000 CDs you hadn't bought. Which is another reason why I can't be bothered wasting valuable time doing it. In fact if we're being pedantic, the law isn't even really keen on you ripping your CDs in the first place, though we all do it.
 

Overdose

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Ben K. said:
Hello I am thinking of going down the route of digital music. I am not interested in streaming music from websites or internet radio. I want to store all my music in one easily accesible place. I have been looking at some options and would like some pointers please. I am thinking of getting a sqeezebox touch and a nas drive. I will upload sqeezebox server onto the nas and then store my music on it. With the sqeezebox connected to my amp will that then let me play my music through my hifi? Would I need anything else? Would I be better using a network switch or not? At a later date could I add a dac between the sqeeze and the amp for better sound quality? Thanks for any help or suggestions

I too looked into this route, but went eventually for a HTPC. Some NAS types don't work well with Squeecenter/server, but when working correctly, makes a nice accessible and user friendly experience, by all accounts. The other option, is of course the Sonos ZP90, pricier and needs some sort of remote, either Sonos remote or app for a smart phone, but is supposedly easier to setup.

My recommendation would be to use a network switch and connect via ethernet. This is by far a quicker and more stable way to connect.

Regarding a DAC, if you do consider the 'need' to upgrade, then maybe look at a more versatile DAC/Preamp combination, that could be used to drive active speakers or a power amplifier.

When ripping, in fact before you start, have a good hard think about how you want to search and store your music for archiving. Some software can make a right mess of the metadata when ripping and it's very time consuming to tidy it all up afterwards.

I have ripped losslessly to FLAC using linux based software for my collection and in retrospect would prefer to have all of my music on an internal hard drive on the HTPC as opposed to the NAS. I control the HTPC via a small netbook and the remote supplied with the HTPC.

Box count is very low and unobtrusive, power consumption is also low.
 

Alec

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It is not that the law is not keen. It is agains the law and it is as simple as that, legally. Practically, however, we know you will not be pursued for it, and I'd wager the same about keeping your rips after offloading your CDs.
 

MajorFubar

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al7478 said:
It is not that the law is not keen. It is agains the law and it is as simple as that, legally. Practically, however, we know you will not be pursued for it
That's what I was getting at: it's illegal but I don't know of anyone who's been prosecuted for it, because unless you start selling fake CDs or illegally sharing they will turn a blind eye. It's not exactly the same league as storing a few kilos of white stuff in sealed bags in the sistern of the downstairs lav.
 

Gelli

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Yes, made several backup/clone's. Update them weekly and store one off site fifty miles away.

Next task is to "rip" my vinyl collection to my hard drive!! Recently purchased an analogue to

digital converter and plan to use Peak LE with Soundsoap to do the task.
 
Gelli said:
Yes, made several backup/clone's. Update them weekly and store one off site fifty miles away.

Next task is to "rip" my vinyl collection to my hard drive!! Recently purchased an analogue to

digital converter and plan to use Peak LE with Soundsoap to do the task.

As others have said, I admire your achievement. I do wonder just how long you will be ble to keep and replay this material without a traditional physical medium, however.

I've recently started playing my LP collection again, which I had stored carefuly indoors for about 15 years. Some of the LPs are 40 years old or more, but still sound fine. A brand new turntable can replay them in 2011. I suppose LPs are 'open' in that sense.

Computer media seem only to last a few years by contrast. Suppose you had been using floppy discs or tape drives?! Is it reasonable to think that FLACs or WAVs will still be playable in 40 years time? And how many times will you need to re-copy them to newer drives and storage devices in that time?

Maybe it is immaterial because we will all be streaming from the Cloud by then at giga speeds...
 

MajorFubar

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I can't remember where I read this but I do remember reading a few years ago that scientists had artificially aged a vinyl LP and reckoned that in ideal conditions it should still be playable after 1600+ years. That means if the Anglo-Saxons had LPs, we'd still be able to play them. Though whether you'd want to listen to Anglo-Saxon music is a different matter.
 

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