Archive. where do i start?

[admin_exported]

Hi guys,

i am really struggling to understand the best way to archive my cd's.

I am aware that i need to store in FLAC, does this mean i can keep my collection on an exterrnal hard drive and also save to my i-tunes?

I want to be able to keep the original recording on a HD safe out of the home and also not be tied into just using Apples service.

Does this make any sense? What is the easiest piece of software to do this? i would also like it to download tracklistings and album artwork if possible.

There is a minefield of information out ther and its a bit overwhelming.

I also want to future-proof the back-ups in case i change to a DAC

I'm not bothered by the speed of the achiving process as i can have it running in the background while i work - i just want the best possible storage solution

MAtt

 

[Fisherking 145]

I've recently ripped all my CD's to FLAC, after starting to do them in Apple Lossless. I now have (nearly) all of them in both formats and also in 320kbps AAC for use on portable players such as my iPhone.

I fully understand the quandary you are in, it's certainly not something you want to do more than once. If you are certain you don't want to be tied into Apple then FLAC is certainly the way to go. EAC is a free ripping program that does an excellent job, however, if you are not that into computers, people have found it difficult to configure correctly. I purchased dBpoweramp and would recommend it to anyone, very easy to use and set up. It also has various plug ins, including one that will let you rip to more than one format at the same time.

Keeping a back up on a portable hard drive is also a very good idea.

The main thing to do before you start, is to decide on your preferred format, and how you want your files named/organised. Have a bit of a Google on this, there are some good articles on the web that will save you a lot of time once you start your archiving process. I certainly wish I'd read them first.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on. It's only through other peoples experiences that the rest of us learn.

 

[John Duncan]

I've said before that you need to think about what you're going to play the content on and be guided accordingly. Whilst FLAC is open source and Apple Lossless is proprietary, if you want to play all your content through an Airport Express FLAC doesn't make much sense. You can always batch convert at a later date if required using something like dbPoweramp.

Just out of interest, are you using Mac or PC?

 

[Lee H]

My two pence worth..

I ripped everything to Flac - lossless and easily convertible to other formats and they all sit on a NAS. At the weekend I bought an external HD to back everything up nice and safe. I'm batch converting on to that in Apple Lossless so I can maintain an iTunes library for my iPhone and my wife's iPod. For this I'm using dbPoweramp and it reckons it'll take 3 days!

 

[Anonymous]

I am using PC.

The main reason is just to back it up to be honest.

I am in the process of collecting dance music CDs and once copied would like them used at a minimum.

I have only just bought a CD player and now thinking of playing music in a more digital format.

. But still unsure of using Airplay or DacMagic etc - not sure why i ma struggling to get my head around it all

Matt

 

[davejberry]

another vote here for dBpoweramp. I did all my (600) CDs to FLAC last year, it took me about a week. i have three copies, two on PCs at home and a third on an external HDD kept apart.

have just batch copied the lot (9000 tracks) to wma lossless in a little under 6 hours for use on an old portable that doesnt support flac

i found dBpoweramp simple to set up, it has good metadata retrieval but is also easy to enter info manually.

 

[Anonymous]

davejberry:

another vote here for dBpoweramp. I did all my (600) CDs to FLAC last year, it took me about a week. i have three copies, two on PCs at home and a third on an external HDD kept apart.

have just batch copied the lot (9000 tracks) to wma lossless in a little under 6 hours for use on an old portable that doesnt support flac

i found dBpoweramp simple to set up, it has good metadata retrieval but is also easy to enter info manually.

Ditto. Spent a couple of weeks (on and off) ripping 1500 Cds with Dbpoweramp into flac format on primary disc on NAS, checked all tags and artwork then archived onto 2 external discs, one at home and one at mates house. I put these two together and mirror them, every time I update the archive which is every 4-6 weeks, depending on how much new music has gone on primary system. Primary system is used to produce separate MP3 itunes content folder, and update ipods etc.

Worst case scenario is that I lose 5 weeks new music. Itunes can be scrubbed and reimported any time if necessary.