Storing a CD collection

[GBDevizes]

I have a collection of around 1500 CDs. They're taking up a great deal of space and I'm under pressure from the missus to "do something about it". A friend who is very techie minded suggested I buy a network hard drive and a streamer and put all the CDs on to there but this is very new to me and I don't really understand what's involved. Firstly, how would I transfer the CDs to the hard drive? Even after I sort through them all and forget a few that I haven't played for years, I'm still going to be left with a 1000+ to transfer across. I have a nice Yamaha A-S500 amp so does the hard drive connect to the streamer and then the streamer to the amp? I appreciate this is very basic stuff for you guys but it's all new to me and if I do go out and buy what's needed to do this, I want to ensure I get the right kit. I have a budget of about £1,000 but could stretch that a little if required. Thank you for any help that can be given.

 

[nads]

You will need a pc with an optical disc drive and then some suitable software. I used EAC and then you can copy and tag the CD to the hard drive. Then you need to look at a NAS (network storage device) to connect to your home network. This will allow you to access the music from anywhere in the house. You then need to look at a means of playing the music. A streamer. This could be your PC or a Bluesound node or a Project streamer, there are many many boxes out there. These will connect to your amp just as any other box does. You then controll it just as you would any player. But some do have nice apps that will do it via your phone/tablet. It will take you some time but it will be worth it. Then you could look at MusicMagpie get some cash back for the discs.

 

[GBDevizes]

Thank you for the reply nads. I think the best thing to do is to take my techie friend with me when I go shopping. There's a Richer Sounds fairly close to where I live, I've bought from them previously and have always found them to be very helpful and friendly.

 

[Friesiansam]

EAC can be a bit difficult to setup, if you are new to it, this will help: https://eacguide.github.io/

 

[GBDevizes]

Thanks Friesansam, looking at that, I think I'll surrender now....

 

[AndrewF]

I know this isn’t the answer you’re looking for, but…

Consider just making the switch to a high quality streaming service. I have a few thousand CDs, and about 17 years ago I paid a company to rip them all for me onto a HD. It was ok, although some of the meta data got screwed up. Flash forward 17 years and many of my old favorites have been reissued in remastered, expanded versions I prefer. And they stream in lossless or high-res formats. I haven’t bothered with my “own” music in ages. Things change.

 

[Vincent Kars]

EAC is fine but I do prefer dBpoweramp.
It is fast.
It pulls its meta data from 4 different sources.
Easy to setup.

Perhaps stating the obvious, rip to a lossless format. I recommend FLAC

• Lossless.
• Excellent tagging support including cover art.
• Custom tags stored in the file.
• Checksum stored in the file. This allows you to verify if the audio is corrupted.
• Plays gappless
• Wide support on Win, OSX, Linux, Android.

If you are on a Mac, better use ALC as iTunes don't support FLAC.

You need a media player as well. This the tool you use to maintain your library.
I recommend Musicbee, a very elegant piece of freeware. Foobar is another candidate but I couldn't come t grips with its interface.

Playback can be as simple as connecting a good outboard DAC to your PC and connect the DAC to your amp.

I estimate you can store 2500 CD's in FLAC on 1 TB. You might setup a NAS but a external HD coupled to your PC might do the job as well and it keeps matters simple. Modern routers often support a USB HD so basically you might have you networked solution already in place.

I use a external 2 TB USB SSD connected to my PC.
I do have a NAS to backup all the PC's in the household including the music.
Having my audio on the SSD yields a very crisp response when browsing and searching my collection.
Having a copy on the NAS not only servers as a backup but it allows me to use the NAS as server (UPnP) as well.

Enough for a start......

 

[elliswils]

How about some CD racks, full height, from IKEA...

 

[nopiano]

The easiest solution is to buy an Innuos Zen mini as that’s designed to rip and store in one box. There’s a regular suuply of earlier models on eBay when folks upgrade if the new price is too rich. But I’d agree to think carefully about streaming unless your CDs are super rare and collectible.

ZENmini Mk3 - Innuos - Benefits from a lightning-quick SSD

SSD options include 1TB, 2TB or 4TB capacities. SSD & RAM upgrades are available for owners of the HDD-based ZENmini Mk3.

innuos.com

Other products like this are available, but the Innuos isn’t at Richer Sounds.

 

[Gray]

It will take you some time but it will be worth it.

I think it took me around 7 months to convert 1000 CDs to FLAC (using EAC).

I would strongly advise only doing a few discs first then checking how they look with the use of something free, like Foobar 2000 on a laptop. At that point you can see how the metadata looks - and make any changes to how things are displayed, before you do the 1000.

AS YOU MAKE THE COPIES, BACK THEM UP as you will only want to do it once.

I have a few thousand CDs, and about 17 years ago I paid a company to rip them all for me onto a HD.

I've often wondered about the music collections of the owners of such ripping firms....you pay them - to store what they like of your music...for themselves. Nice business.

 

[nads]

I think it took me around 7 months to convert 1000 CDs to FLAC (using EAC).

I would strongly advise only doing a few discs first then checking how they look with the use of something free, like Foobar 2000 on a laptop. At that point you can see how the metadata looks - and make any changes to how things are displayed, before you do the 1000.

AS YOU MAKE THE COPIES, BACK THEM UP as you will only want to do it once.

I've often wondered about the music collections of the owners of such ripping firms....you pay them - to store what they like of your music...for themselves. Nice business.

I helped a friend rip about 600 CDs.

 

[AndrewF]

I think it took me around 7 months to convert 1000 CDs to FLAC (using EAC).

I would strongly advise only doing a few discs first then checking how they look with the use of something free, like Foobar 2000 on a laptop. At that point you can see how the metadata looks - and make any changes to how things are displayed, before you do the 1000.

AS YOU MAKE THE COPIES, BACK THEM UP as you will only want to do it once.

I've often wondered about the music collections of the owners of such ripping firms....you pay them - to store what they like of your music...for themselves. Nice business.

I’m happy if they enjoy it.

 

[Gray]

I helped a friend rip about 600 CDs.

I understand what you're saying 😉

 

[WayneKerr]

EAC can be a bit difficult to setup, if you are new to it, this will help: https://eacguide.github.io/

Agreed. Once set-up though it is a very good ripper

 

[Friesiansam]

Agreed. Once set-up though it is a very good ripper

Agreed and, it's the one I use.

 

[WayneKerr]

You don't necessarily need a dedicated streamer, I use an old small form factor PC with attached hard drive storage, this is connected to my CD player via a digital coax connection. Not pretty but does an admirable job.

I use Foobar as a media player. The main issue is ripping as it does take time and patience to get everything correct.

 

[Symples]

If you are going to copy(rip) your CDs manually, then I would recommend software by Ashampoo...
Good for beginners.. and there is a free version...

Ashampoo® Music Studio 2020 - Overview

 

[Al ears]

I use Xrecode, probably one of the best free audio conversion platforms out there today.
Metadata recovery and choice of formats is excellent.
Fairly idiot proof if I can use it....

 

[giocap]

I have a collection of around 1500 CDs. They're taking up a great deal of space and I'm under pressure from the missus to "do something about it". A friend who is very techie minded suggested I buy a network hard drive and a streamer and put all the CDs on to there but this is very new to me and I don't really understand what's involved. Firstly, how would I transfer the CDs to the hard drive? Even after I sort through them all and forget a few that I haven't played for years, I'm still going to be left with a 1000+ to transfer across. I have a nice Yamaha A-S500 amp so does the hard drive connect to the streamer and then the streamer to the amp? I appreciate this is very basic stuff for you guys but it's all new to me and if I do go out and buy what's needed to do this, I want to ensure I get the right kit. I have a budget of about £1,000 but could stretch that a little if required. Thank you for any help that can be given.

Not a hifi expert, but a senior computer programmer responding here.
Firstly you have to rip them on a hard drive, i suggest EAC - exact audio copy. Its great.
Create flac files. They will be tagged automatically.
Before starting , take some time to learn it. You dont want to rip 60 cd's only to find out a setting was wrong and you have to start over.

After that, in my opinion you are done.
DO NOT buy specific devices to reproduce this stuff. Just find a cheap and elegant computer and attach that computer to your preferred DAC via usb.

I would suggest a rasberry pi with an aluminum casing, if you are not scared of linux. Otherwise any slim underpowered windows pc will do, many of them fit nicely with your stereo. Intel NUC mini pc's are small and elegant.
You will need a screen. You could use your tv, or a dedicated 17 inch panel. I suggest a small touchscreen so you wont have to attach a keyboard and a mouse. If you use your tv , you will need to attach to your small computer a mouse and keyboard, making the whole thing a bit messier.

i suggest you use a computer because no other device is as flexible and can display your music and artwork better. The usb to dac connection ensures you will have perfect quality. Just find a dac you like.

On your computer i suggest you use KODI MEDIA MANAGER. so you can browse your music as you please.
Once you get the tags right kodi will pull down all the high quality artwork and information known to mankind.
And if a tag is wrong you can fix it from kodi.
Sent you a picture of my kodi setup.

Toal cost:
200$ for slim and cool looking computer that fits with your hifi.
100$ for a dedicated lcd panel to connect to the computer to browse your music.
from 100$ to infinity for a dac you like to attach to your stereo.
5$ usb cable computer to dac.

total price range: 405$ to infinity.

Note: ripping cds can be incredibly tedious, think about it , if you want to invest days doing one of the dullest activities known to mankind.

 

[Gray]

EAC - exact audio copy. Its great.
Create flac files. They will be tagged automatically.

They will indeed.
However, at least some of the retrieved metadata is based on what other users have supplied.
And the artwork it finds can be ropey.
I found that much of my time was spent correcting metadata and locating the best quality artwork.

 

[giocap]

They will indeed.
However, at least some of the retrieved metadata is based on what other users have supplied.
And the artwork it finds can be ropey.
I found that much of my time was spent correcting metadata and locating the best quality artwork.

Yes the tags may need verification.
But don't care about the artwork. Kodi media manger will pull all that down automatically, and more, including links to labels, producers, etc...

 

[giocap]

I have a collection of around 1500 CDs. They're taking up a great deal of space and I'm under pressure from the missus to "do something about it". A friend who is very techie minded suggested I buy a network hard drive and a streamer and put all the CDs on to there but this is very new to me and I don't really understand what's involved. Firstly, how would I transfer the CDs to the hard drive? Even after I sort through them all and forget a few that I haven't played for years, I'm still going to be left with a 1000+ to transfer across. I have a nice Yamaha A-S500 amp so does the hard drive connect to the streamer and then the streamer to the amp? I appreciate this is very basic stuff for you guys but it's all new to me and if I do go out and buy what's needed to do this, I want to ensure I get the right kit. I have a budget of about £1,000 but could stretch that a little if required. Thank you for any help that can be given.

Here me out.
I had an easy life.
Therefore , some of the worse memories i have is of ripping cd's in the late '00s.
It is mindnumbing.
Take your 1k budget. Spend 300 on the computer+screen, 400 on the dac (you can get unbelievable dacs at that price), and give a local teen 300$ to rip the cd's.

 

[michael hoy]

dBpoweramp does it all and easy to setup. It needs to be purchased but not expensive.
Ripped 1400 cd's myself. You can setup autorip put the disc in walk away and it spits the drive out at the end.

 

[giocap]

You could skip the computer with this other solution.

1.Your ripped music is stored on a NAS drive (network attached storage drive)

2.Attach that drive to your home network

3. Instead of kodi, use flex media manager. If you have a smart tv, the flex app is there. Install it. Configure Flex to connect yo your nas where your music is.

4. Connect your tv optical out to the DAC.

this way you can avoid the computer, and use your tv /remote control as the interface to browse your music. The nas can be kept anywhere, it connects to the internet.

Pricewise, maybe a bit cheaper because a NAS will cost a bit less than a small computer with a dedicated touchscreen.

 

[Al ears]

dBpoweramp does it all and easy to setup. It needs to be purchased but not expensive.
Ripped 1400 cd's myself. You can setup autorip put the disc in walk away and it spits the drive out at the end.

just about any software will do that.