[Guy 13]

Hi all,
next year or when I get back on planet Vietnam (Which ever comes first)
I will consider seriously having a parallel system to my analog system,
it's just to do like everybody and who knows, I might like it ????
I want to use my new laptop (My HP after 8 years of loyal service died) a ASUS X551C
Intel core i3 - 3217U CPU@1.80 GHz + 4.0 RAM and 2.0 and 3.0 USB outputs.
I have a FiiO D3 DAC given to me by a generous AC member via a contest.
I also got F.O.C. a ARCAM - rLINK also given to me by a generous person here in Montreal.
I have optical and coaxial cables and a device called M2TECH hiFace 192KHz digital audio interface
I need it between the laptop and the DAC because the DAC don't have USB input.
Any suggestions which shortest and easiest way I should take to play music from my laptop
to my Decware SE84C+ fine sounding amplifier?
I will have more questions later on on what other stuff I need to get music into my laptop.
By the way, I am not looking for the best of the best, my 67 years old ears are not what they use to be,
plus I am on a small (Read microscopic) budget.
Thanks.

Guy 13
 

[Phil A]

Foobar is a free player which can be used on the laptop

[Guy 13]

Foobar is a free player which can be used on the laptop

Hi Phil A,
on my previous HP laptop a Vietnamese acquintance on planet Vietnam,
did install Foobar on my previous HP laptop,
but it was not transfered onto my new ASUS laptop.
I did a search on Google and the side to me is like Chinese, I don't want to download it.
What will it do exactly or do I really need it to store music in my laptop ????
I am telling you and other AC members, I am a
BIG ZERO
when it comes to that stuff.

Guy 13

[JLM]

Too bad you don't have an Apple computer.   

Easy pleasy with JohnR's tutorial and reportedly better sound too.

I tried helping a close friend who is considering ripping his CD's and I could barely find a decent direction to send him in.

[Guy 13]

Too bad you don't have an Apple computer.   

Easy pleasy with JohnR's tutorial and reportedly better sound too.

I tried helping a close friend who is considering ripping his CD's and I could barely find a decent direction to send him in.

Hi JLM,
well, thanks for your comment,
hopefully some other AC members will help me.
It's no big deal, I still have my Rega CD player, my Rega P3 turntable,
my iPod and my Grace Mondo radio Internet,
so many different sources of music.

Guy 13

[bladesmith]

If you want something simple and easy. VOX works very well. I get better sound using it. I just drag albums over one at a time. Listen. Then clear the list and drag another album over. Sound quality is very good using FLAC. I use it like a digital turn table. It has many different options.  But I use it as a simple player. It's free.

V...

[Phil A]

I like the JRiver interface - it is $50 though. 

[Phil A]

JRiver has a forum and getting started info - http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Main_Page

[Phil A]

Hi Phil A,
on my previous HP laptop a Vietnamese acquintance on planet Vietnam,
did install Foobar on my previous HP laptop,
but it was not transfered onto my new ASUS laptop.
I did a search on Google and the side to me is like Chinese, I don't want to download it.
What will it do exactly or do I really need it to store music in my laptop ????
I am telling you and other AC members, I am a
BIG ZERO
when it comes to that stuff.

Guy 13

Do you currently have music on it?  What formats?

I use dbpoweramp to rip CDs (I believe it is $40).  Exact Audio Copy is free to rip CDs.

I guess what I am asking is do you have music now or do you need to rip your music to the computer?

[Guy 13]

Do you currently have music on it?  What formats?

I use dbpoweramp to rip CDs (I believe it is $40).  Exact Audio Copy is free to rip CDs.

I guess what I am asking is do you have music now or do you need to rip your music to the computer?

Hi Phil A,
no music right now on my ASUS laptop.
I will have a look at Exact Audio Copy and if it's easy, I will rip some of my CD into my laptop,
however, unless I use my HD650 headphones to listen to the music I will have to wait to get back to my system in Vietnam and also figure out which DAC I will use. (ARCAM - FiiO D3)
I expect that that the road to the destination wont be easy...

Guy 13
I am surprised that only you get involve in helping me,
seems to me that today almost everybody have music on computer...
 

[Phil A]

Guy - about 5 years ago, except for iTunes and an iPod for the car, I never did anything with computer audio.  Never thought I would.  Even when I had a CD changer in the car, I used a Pioneer Elite CD recorder (which I gave away before my move a couple of years back) which I got as a refurbished unit on eBay.  The only thing I did on the computer was CD labels after using the CD recorder.  My music collection just grew and grew over time.  I bought lots of SACDs. 

In the discless circle, there's a whole thread about taking hi-rez from SACDs to one's DAC (via an HMDI audio de-embedder - if you have something like an Oppo player you convert the SACD playback via settings in the player to 24/88.2kHz PCM and the de-embedder takes it from HDMI to a regular digital out that goes into the DAC).  So I did this for a bit and then decided to get a really nice DAC and just bit the bullet (with help from AC of course) and dove head first into computer audio).

I got rid of my turntable around 1985.  I really only had about 40 albums, give or take, in really good shape (e.g. nice MoFi's that I recorded on cassette for the car the first time they were played and played them rarely after that).  Most of the albums were played on cheap equipment when I was growing up (I'm just a few years younger than you).  I had separates way back in 1983 and a nice turntable but figured back then it was going to be an expensive proposition to go to the next level of vinyl playback and the storage of vinyl takes up room. I just dragged all of them for a move at the end of 1985 and didn't want to go through that again (I had gone through a move a couple of years before that and two moves dragging probably over 500 albums was a pain). 

The first step is probably getting used to burning CDs in your case.  I'd take it one small step at a time until you get more comfortable.  Then you can think about playback software as you're doing that.  As I noted I use dbpoweramp which is not expensive.  I like the JRiver interface (again not expensive) as once you have music on files it is just a matter of importing the library.  I like it as it is a relatively simple user interface.  The library will show up and many, if not most album artwork, can be obtained from the internet and it will look like the below and then you just click on the album thumbnails and songs to play as in the below:

[Phil A]

Guy 13
I am surprised that only you get involve in helping me,
seems to me that today almost everybody have music on computer...

Guy - just decide how you want to start and at some point if need be we can take it to PM and I can call you if you have a Canadian number and once you are comfortable with burning the files it will be easier. 

[mresseguie]

Howdy, Guy.

Why is it we are STILL on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean? 

I think Phil A is giving you great advice. I went the 'lazy' route in that my CDs are all in iTunes on my Mac Mini. I don't have a vast library of personal music. I have two streaming services that are quite different but I'm not ready to drop the older one yet. Just before we left for Taiwan, I subscribed to Tidal's premium service. I paid 6 months in advance and got seven months (first month free) at a discount. Thereafter, I'll pay the monthly $19.99 fee. I can use Tidal here with no problems. I quite like it so far.

Best of luck!

Michael

[Phil A]

JRiver will also pull in an iTunes library.  I use the main PC to burn and then transfer things to the music servers.  I have a small iTunes library on the main PC (basically free MP3s that came with Amazon music purchase).  So it ends up pulling in the FLAC file I burnt plus the MP3.

[Peter J]

I'm with Phil.  Not long ago I was green as grass when it came to ripping and storage and all things computer based music. I had ripped exactly ZERO discs, I don't think I even quite understood what that meant!  I finally felt compelled to do it because one could attain CD quality without the media. This was my go-to reference;

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/309-computer-audiophile-cd-ripping-strategy-and-methodology/

Now admittedly, I simultaneously built a CAPs server, which doesn't appear to be your desire, but the basics of the two programs Phil's suggesting are the same and covered in that article. Now my forlorn CD player hardly ever sees a disc, and I freakin' love the ease of access.

Lot's of info and people willing to help, too, which I availed myself to both here and CA.

[Phil A]

Unless, I have a Space Coast Audio Society meeting over my place once or twice a year where people bring over a few discs, I very seldom take out a disc.  If I'm burning a disc image from an SACD on the PS3 to be able to extract the DSD file, once or twice a year I may play back a disc on that system, which is really my third system just to hear it before I file the disc away.  Most of the time I take out a disc, it goes in the car which has a hard drive that records the CD.  I switch between the hard drive in the car and a thumb drive in the center console which has around 5,000 320kbps MP3s.  I do use Foobar once in a while to convert something to an MP3 for the car but other than that I use JRiver for playback.

[Guy 13]

Hi all...
Wow 
That's a lot of stuff to swalow !
I will read it several times because I can't speak yet the
FLAC - DSD - SCAD, etc... language.
Right now, I am wondering if I will go the way of computer stored music.
It's convenient to have access to all your music at the touch of a button,
but I still don't mind getting up to flip an LP or change a CD...
It's too bad someone cannot do all that (Complicated) suff for me
in exchange of a few $$$
I will keep reading, maybe one day before I kick the bucket
I will have figured out how to do it.
 
Guy 13

[Rocket]

Hi Guy,

If you want to make computer audio easy try and buy a secondhand Bryston BDP-1 which sell for about $1000.  I've been using one for a few months now and it is so easy to use and sounds fantastic.  I've been downloading so much well recorded music from HDTRACKS and finally listening to music I like.

I know its quite an investment but its the most important upgrade I've made in my system.

Cheers Rod

[Phil A]

Hi all...
Wow 
That's a lot of stuff to swalow !
I will read it several times because I can't speak yet the
FLAC - DSD - SCAD, etc... language.
Right now, I am wondering if I will go the way of computer stored music.
It's convenient to have access to all your music at the touch of a button,
but I still don't mind getting up to flip an LP or change a CD...
It's too bad someone cannot do all that (Complicated) suff for me
in exchange of a few $$$
I will keep reading, maybe one day before I kick the bucket
I will have figured out how to do it.
 
Guy 13

Do you have a list of the CDs that you own?

[Guy 13]

Do you have a list of the CDs that you own?

Hi Phil A
Nope...
No list of the CD I own.
I have about 100+ CD, maybe more, I never made a list or inventory.
Should I make one, a list that is?

Guy 13