TAAS EXCLUSIVE: FREE CD Ripping & FLAC Encoding Service

DonnieW · « **on:** 3 Feb 2007, 02:17 am »

Not without risk of being laughed at, I've come up with what I think is a cool incentive for TAAS members. Something I'd like to pilot, something beneficial for the exclusive members of TAAS.

Many of you are aware of the benefits of digital audio and in particular the benefits of ripping CD's to lossless files (perhaps for Squeezebox/Transporter use). Well I've known those benefits for many years and it was with great pain that I learned the ins and outs of proper extracting (ripping) and encoding. My practical background in data forensics/data recovery has lent itself well to getting perfectly 'sound' rips. During the course of the last several months I've been working with our spectacular DVD/CD-ROM drive arrays and we've finally figured out how to rip dozens of CD's at once. Sounds simple... but it wasn't. It was a nightmare, but it was something we were bent on figuring out how to do, not for audio sake but rather for the sake of figuring out how to use our $20K 96-disc towers to multi-task.

Well we figured it out and have done a number of runs using many different configurations of EAC. It works wonderfully and is an absolutely amazing setup. It is with this great news that I thought of a great idea! Why not offer ripping service exclusively to our TAAS members - FREE OF CHARGE!!

As I have downtime on our drive arrays I can use them to rip multiple discs at a time - executed precisely for the utmost perfect rips. Don't kid yourself, there are many ways to rip and many people simply don't pay attention to the details. We're currently ripping/encoding several thousand CD's as a dry run for our friends. Based on the ease of the process, save manually loading and tagging, this is something simple enough I think I can offer to our entire membership.

So its with that I offer the service up to any known TAAS member. My staff can rip approximately 50-100 a day depending on our workload. If we've got downtime we can do far more. Everything is sorted and ideally exported to your portable drive. If you don't have a portable, you can either send me your destination drive and we can mount it -or- I can lend you one for transit sake.

I'm in the GTA and prefer to deal one-on-one. You can talk to me at the meetings or shoot me a PM for more info.

p.s. It's no freebie $300 power cords or Interconnects like the fantastic door prizes Spirit was giving out at our first meeting, but its something I can offer up to our TAAS community. I figure it can save those interested a few bucks and perhaps provide an incentive to those on the fence with lossless audio (Squeezbox lurkers).

smargo · « **Reply #1 on:** 3 Feb 2007, 02:22 am »

ok donnie :

not sound naive - what do i do - if i have some music i would like ripped

thanks,
smargo

woodsyi · « **Reply #2 on:** 3 Feb 2007, 02:30 am »

O, Donnie, can I please please become an honorary member of TAAS? I am in Virginia but I visited Tronto and went to the top of CN tower back in '78.

I only have about 700 more to go

. Seriously folks, this is a great and generous offer. I wish I were in Toronto.

t

DonnieW · « **Reply #3 on:** 3 Feb 2007, 02:39 am »

Quote from: woodsyi on 3 Feb 2007, 02:30 am

O, Donnie, can I please please become an honorary member of TAAS? I am in Virginia but I visited Tronto and went to the top of CN tower back in '78. I only have about 700 more to go . Seriously folks, this is a great and generous offer. I wish I were in Toronto.

LOL - Man... I knew somebody would either laugh or make me laugh

Seriously, this was also meant to encourage other memberships to come up with ideas. We take for granted we have a cool place to hang out at our meetings - Denny's place of business! That's what this is all about.

DonnieW · « **Reply #4 on:** 3 Feb 2007, 02:41 am »

Quote from: smargo on 3 Feb 2007, 02:22 am

ok donnie :

not sound naive - what do i do - if i have some music i would like ripped

thanks,
smargo

Simple as getting them to me and getting them back to you. PM me and I'll you know where were are time wise.

Daygloworange · « **Reply #5 on:** 3 Feb 2007, 02:57 am »

DonnieW,

Dude!!! You must be suffering from exposure to the fumes in my shop today!

Free of charge? Awesome! I hope people at least offer to buy you lunch or something!

Cheers

phowell1 · « **Reply #6 on:** 3 Feb 2007, 03:02 am »

Donnie, what a generous offer!

I wish I already had my squeezebox!

atb

DonnieW · « **Reply #7 on:** 3 Feb 2007, 03:08 am »

I've been doing PC audio for years and years. I've tried nearly every soundcard and server out there. For me... the Transporter is the 'transport' for me. I've got nearly 20 years worth of my CD's converted. Unfortunately most of them were done before FLAC and it's been a pain to re-encode. I really believe FLAC and Slim Devices are going to be BIG.

Spirit · « **Reply #8 on:** 3 Feb 2007, 04:10 am »

What can I say!
Is it fair to say that Donnie has a heart of gold?
Too bad for the me that I already paid for this service down in the States but what an incredibly generous offer you are offering.
For those of you unfamiliar with the cost of sending your CD library out for downloading, suffice it to say that if your library is extensive Donnie will be saving you some serious coin (as well as time).
Donnie, major props!!
!

Zero · « **Reply #9 on:** 3 Feb 2007, 05:01 am »

Donnie, what an awesome karma....!! VERY cool of you.

Tirade · « **Reply #10 on:** 3 Feb 2007, 03:36 pm »

This is a very generous offer! I started off doing this for free as well so Im well aware how much work is involved.

I updated my own ripping thread to include a link to this one for TAAS members. Goodluck and if you have any questions/need any help, let me know.

Tim

rick ch · « **Reply #11 on:** 3 Feb 2007, 11:15 pm »

Holy smokes!!! Donnie's awesome offer really gets me thinking about going the Squeezebox route!

DonnieW · « **Reply #12 on:** 3 Feb 2007, 11:29 pm »

Quote from: Tirade on 3 Feb 2007, 03:36 pm

This is a very generous offer! I started off doing this for free as well so Im well aware how much work is involved.

I updated my own ripping thread to include a link to this one for TAAS members. Goodluck and if you have any questions/need any help, let me know.

Tim

Very cool of you Tim, selflessly redirecting the TAAS members! It is a heck of a lot of work to do it properly as you and I both know, but if we can help people out by offering this service I'm happy to do it.

DonnieW · « **Reply #13 on:** 3 Feb 2007, 11:35 pm »

Quote from: rick ch on 3 Feb 2007, 11:15 pm

Holy smokes!!! Donnie's awesome offer really gets me thinking about going the Squeezebox route!

DO IT MAN!! PULL THE TRIGGER!!!

No kidding, this is something I'm trying to persuade people to look into. There's so much to digital (file-based) audio now that its hard to ignore. The true key to this is starting with pristine lossless files. With those in hand you're free to try the many devices out there, from PC's to the Squeezebox.

I plan on offering a 'Digital Audio Primer' at one of our TAAS meetings. We'll see what the gods say about that, but I suspect because they're already digital audiophiles they'll be quite alright with me spreading the gospel.

Daygloworange · « **Reply #14 on:** 3 Feb 2007, 11:52 pm »

DonnieW,

You cuazzie mon.....

Cheers

Cacophonix · « **Reply #15 on:** 4 Feb 2007, 12:04 am »

Thats a super duper offer!! Almost a no brainer for TAAS members!
I've been trying to rip my CDs since last 3 months, and i've managed to finish only about 30% of my CDs!

Daygloworange · « **Reply #16 on:** 4 Feb 2007, 12:26 am »

Quote

Almost a no brainer for TAAS members!

Almost????

Cheers

mcgsxr · « **Reply #17 on:** 4 Feb 2007, 12:48 am »

Great offer, my brother and I could have saved countless hours, with the combined 700 we did...

DonnieW · « **Reply #18 on:** 7 Feb 2007, 12:00 pm »

I've got a lot of requests and as it stands I am not able to take on any more until the end of next week (Feb 16-17). PM me to reserve a timeframe.

Note: One guy sent me 130 CD's in 'spindle' containers. While that saves space, it makes things really difficult when trying to tag the albums. Some CD's have absolutely no indication as to what they are, so when CDDB automatically provides the details I have no way of confirming it without the case (even some cases are non-descript). It's up to you if you send me cases or not, but there is a chance you'll get mislabeled albums. Actually about 10-15% need manual correcting.

Merky · « **Reply #19 on:** 8 Feb 2007, 08:40 pm »

Would you send this guy the works of Joni Mitchell, Gord Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen, Guess Who, Steppenwolf, Allanis, Avril, Tafelmusik, Angela Hewitt, The MSO, the TSO, the CSO, Jaime Robbie Robertson... to be digitially copied for convenience?

Is your time more precious than their livelihood?

Canada rocks. Do you?