Network player for CD and DAT sourced music

[RayP]

cheeseboy,

Looking at CDex I can't seem to find an option that will perform a rip on the CD. There's an option to convert to WAV and to Compressed Audio File. Is there no option to rip?

 

[RayP]

Finally ended up with Fairstars CD Ripper together with MP3tag for the artwork. The artwork took a lot of detective work as FLAC files on a NAS box need a folder.jpg file to hold the artwork.

The Seldom Seen Kid CD by Elbow is taking up 342Mb with 12 tracks. Does that seem about right?

I'll do some serious listening tomorrow comparing ripped CD on NAS to original played on Arcam DV79. That should give me a good indication of overall quality. So far though I'm pleased how it sounds.

 

[cheeseboy]

Hi Ray

Sorry to hear about CDEX, it's been a while since I updated it but I see sourceforge have started using ad based installers.... ug. Not great. Anyways, glad to hear you finally got some software sorted that works for you.

The size seems right for a FLAC based rip, so seems like you are good to go.

Just found this guide here which may be of some use for you when the soundcard gets there. http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tutorial_copying_tapes_lps_or_minidiscs_to_cd.html

 

[RayP]

Thanks for the audacity link cheeseboy. That will be very useful.

Before I commit myself to CD Ripper software I'd like your opinion on dbPoweramp. I have downloaded a 21 day free trial and will see how it compares to freeware ones. Genenrally, do you get better software when it's not free?

 

[cheeseboy]

tricky question really. Better in this case is a bit of personal thing. Most of the standard cd ripping software all do the same job, it's just a case of what bells and whistles you find useful, and which package you find easiest to use. DBpoweramp is very good and very easy to use and also has the AccurateRip facility (which checks against an online database to basically make sure you have the best rip you can).

What one tends to find is that the free software can do most of what the paid software does, but it might not be as near as user friendly (as you found out with CDex) or may not have as many features.

In short, if something like dbpoweramp does what you want, and you like it, and you think it's worth the cash, then I'd say go for it

 

[RayP]

Thanks cheeseboy. Having used dbpoweramp for a couple of rips I am impressed with its ease of use and the Accuracy status is very helpful. Artwork is attached without any extra effort and generally of a higher quality.

Given I've saved at least a grand with your excellent advice it seems a small price to pay for decent software. And I have 21 days to make my decision too.

Listening to these ripped tracks they're identical to the original at least to these oldish ears.

 

[cheeseboy]

Thanks cheeseboy. Having used dbpoweramp for a couple of rips I am impressed with its ease of use and the Accuracy status is very helpful. Artwork is attached without any extra effort and generally of a higher quality.

Given I've saved at least a grand with your excellent advice it seems a small price to pay for decent software. And I have 21 days to make my decision too.

Listening to these ripped tracks they're identical to the original at least to these oldish ears.

Glad to hear it. I like dbpoweramp myself, but am a tightwad and a techy so I tend to use the free hard to use stuff

 

[RayP]

Glad to hear it. I like dbpoweramp myself, but am a tightwad and a techy so I tend to use the free hard to use stuff

LOL!

I'm a techie too but also a lover of nice software.

Of course CD ripping is the easy bit. The soundcard has just arrived which will be fitted this afternoon. Then starts the serious business of recording from DAT. I will use Audacity for that to create WAV files and then it looks like dbPowerAmp's Music Converter will create FLAC files from the WAVs.

Is my understanding of that correct?

 

[cheeseboy]

Of course CD ripping is the easy bit. The soundcard has just arrived which will be fitted this afternoon. Then starts the serious business of recording from DAT. I will use Audacity for that to create WAV files and then it looks like dbPowerAmp's Music Converter will create FLAC files from the WAVs.

Is my understanding of that correct?

Audacity can export straight to FLAC and when you do, it will bring up options for you to add any tags you want, so you don't have to do that later

 

[RayP]

Audacity can export straight to FLAC and when you do, it will bring up options for you to add any tags you want, so you don't have to do that later

Good man, thanks.

 

[RayP]

I've had a horrendous afternoon trying to get sound from my DAT player via the Creative Soundblaster Z. Turns out the optical cable I bought had very poor quality connectors which had to be pushed in quite forcibly. Totally different to a QED optical cable I have but is too short.

At £5 it's good value but Scan really need to think about their suppliers. Left a customer review so others can be forewarned.

Tomorrow I start on DAT recordings. Let's hope the player behaves.

 

[RayP]

What a contrast to yesterday! I've made my first recording from my DAT player using Audacity. Great piece of software!

I was initially reluctant to record a whole album fearing the file produced would be difficult to manage. So I broke it into 2 but I needn't have bothered as it was an absolute breeze editing out the dead space at the start and end and reducing slightly the space between tracks.

Being a digital source there was no need to worry about recording levels. Naming each track was easy. When it came to Export I was undecided on WAV or FLAC. Finally decided to use FLAC to cut out another stage of the process.

The only (small) mistake I made was not including a track number and artist before the track title. Easily corrected in Windows afterwards. Getting the artwork was not a problem as I just googled the album title and chose a suitable image to save as a jpg.

Copied them to my NAS box and had a listen via my hi-fi system. Excellent! No difference to the original.

The task ahead doesn't seem quite as daunting now. Bit more work than ripping CDs but it's a labour of love!

Thanks once again cheeseboy for all your help and advice. Live long and prosper!

 

[cheeseboy]

no worries, glad you are enjoying and now you don't have to worry about the dat machine breaking

 

[RayP]

no worries, glad you are enjoying and now you don't have to worry about the dat machine breaking

I have 32 2-hour DAT tapes to record. Nearing completion of the first but still a lot of work ahead. Fingers crossed the player stays healthy.

 

[RayP]

Can anyone please tell me if it's possible to attach artwork to an individual FLAC file rather than to the entire album?

The reason I ask is because some of my DAT recordings are of 12" singles and it would be nice for the relevant artwork to be displayed for each track.

I've sourced the relevant JPGs but can't find a way of attaching them to each track. I should add that I did try right-clicking the FLAC file and choosing Edit-ID tag using dbpoweramp but it failed to show the artwork when using either my Yamaha iPad app or Audio Station as part of the Synology software.

Thanks.