Source for ripping CDs to a NAS?

[david_tring]

This may be a strange question on a HiFi forum, but how important is the source CD drive when ripping music to a NAS? I'm thinking of buying a Buffalo Terastation (or similar) but currently haven't ripped any of my CDs, so I'd be starting from scratch rather than copying across a computer's worth of files. The NAS would be hard wired to my Netgear router and then hardwired onwards to my Pioneer LX-70A DLNA Blu-Ray player so in day-to-day use the PC will be off anyway.

How exactly do I get the music in to the NAS? Rip in the PC and then copy across? Is a PC CD drive, which is multi-tasking as a DVD writer too, actually any good as a source here?

Regards - David

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, the CD-ROM/DVD-R/RW drive in your computer is almost irrelevant, it will work perfectly fine no matter which model you have when ripping/copying your CD's. The software you use is more impotant for ultimate rip quality along with the type of file format you are using - try to stick to FLAC or Apple Lossless or if they are too large then 320kbps AAC or MP3.

Yes, the NAS when setup properly will appear as another drive to your computer so you'll be able to save the rips to it. If you are going to be using iTunes for instance to manage your music library and rip the CD's then you can just tell it to save the CD rips to the NAS automatically (Preferences/Advanced/iTunes Music folder location/change then choose a folder on the NAS).

Please note that if you only have the music on the NAS and you are using a laptop, then when you are away from your home network you will not be able to play the music as it isn't saved on your internal laptop hard drive. It may not be a problem, but I thought I should mention it as whilst I only save my TV shows & movies on my NAS, I keep a copy of my music files on my laptop as well as the NAS so that I can play the music files when I am away from my house with my laptop.

 

[Anonymous]

Indeed, it is the software which is important. Alternatives to iTunes (if you want to use FLAC rather than Apple lossless, or if you are paranoid about the quality of your rips) include Exact Audio Copy - click here.

Be warned that this takes a lot longer to rip CDs than something like iTunes. On the plus side, you can be (more) sure that your CDs have been ripped accurately.

For playback of FLAC, you might be interested in Foobar. You will have to be willing to get your hands a little dirty to get this set up the way you want it. On the plus side, it is highly configurable. Check out some of threads on this forum regarding Foobar.

 

[Anonymous]

Tranquil PC and Ripnas offer software to turn your Nas into a Nas ripper that does not require the PC to be switched on, they also offer external CD drives.

CGB

 

[david_tring]

Thanks mcd0234, tractorboy and cgbissett - much appreciated. I'm not interested in taking a laptop away with music content, just using the NAS at home as a (background) music source, so I expect it to spend most of its operational life with the PC switched off and just running NAS-to-Pioneer player. The Pioneer has a built-in music/video/images control function called "Home Media Gallery" which handles content OK. I've read that FLAC is the best choice to rip in so I'll investigate the various softwares you've all suggested!

Best regards - David

 

[Anonymous]

From my experience, I tunes is fine to rip your CD's but like you my receiver is a Pioneer and my receiver wont play Apple lossless at all, I have to rip them in WAV format.
I've found that Windows media player works best for me so far and again I use WAV.
I haven't tried Flac as yet but know my Pioneer will play it, I guess yours will.

 

[spinaltap]

My Yamaha receiver plays AIFF (Apple Lossless) files just fine. They are stored on a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo, and played back via a Squeezebox Classic.

 

[The_Lhc]

spinaltap:My Yamaha receiver plays AIFF (Apple Lossless) files just fine. They are stored on a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo, and played back via a Squeezebox Classic.

Your receiver isnt playing them then, the Squeezebox is. The other posters are talking about receivers that can play digital files directly from the network (or USB in some cases), without the need for an intermediary streaming device.

 

[Alec]

I know i might be nit-picking, but isnt aiff (audio interchange file format) different to alac (apple lossless audio codec)?

 

[Anonymous]

You are quite right al7478, AIFF is mainly used by pro software for editing. ALAC is the lossless compressed format developed by Apple (although they also had a hand in developing AIFF back in the day). Either way, the_lhc's point is true of course.

 

[The_Lhc]

al7478:I know i might be nit-picking, but isnt aiff (audio interchange file format) different to alac (apple lossless audio codec)?

Yup AIFF is uncompressed, equivalent to WAV in that case.

 

[The_Lhc]

mcd0234:Either way, the_lhc's point is true of course.

Twice in one lifetime? etc etc...