My thanks to the community and a special offer.

Tirade · « **on:** 10 Aug 2005, 07:49 pm »

I’ve just spent the last 2 weeks ripping over 300 CD’s to FLAC format in order to obtain bit perfect CD quality files for use in the PC that was built for my brothers birthday project (more information here http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=20697 ). During this process I learned a lot and spent more than I wanted to in order to obtain the right components for the job but in the end I have the perfect setup for ripping CD’s to FLAC.

As a thank you to everyone who helped make this project happen, I would like to offer you my services and my time in the following way. For those of you who are making the move to the Squeezebox2 or other PC front ends but do not have the time or knowledge to rip your CD’s to a lossless format, I am willing to do it for you for free. I will be ripping CD’s using EAC to FLAC format and then burning them on to DVD’s and mailing them back to you along with the FLAC files. I do ask that you cover the shipping to and from and the cost of the blank DVD’s. Any extra money over the cost of shipping and media or any donations will be used to help cover my brother’s medical and legal expenses.

I will be using 2 Plextor Premium Drives on separate controllers to rip the CD’s using EAC properly configured in secure mode and then converting to FLAC using a compression value of 5. Files will be tagged from the freedb database and each CD will be stored in its own folder. The files will then be burned to DVD and will be checked for errors before being placed in a jewel case and boxed up to be mailed back to you.

More information will be forthcoming as the week progresses and as I finalize things. I am also working with Wayne over at The BOLDER Cable Company to offer this as a service for his customers who are having him modify their squeezeboxes. He notified me that he will have a link up for me on his site shortly.

If you are interested in having your CD’s ripped to FLAC by a company dedicated to doing things like this for a living I urge you to check out http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_ripping.html . They offer a professional service for a reasonable price (roughly $150 to rip 100CD’s to FLAC) and they are fairly quick about it.

Thanks,

Tim

silverr1 · « **Reply #1 on:** 11 Aug 2005, 05:03 am »

Are you willing to provide us with your settings for those of us who can do it ourselves and would be interested in experementing with your settings?

Tirade · « **Reply #2 on:** 15 Aug 2005, 03:06 pm »

Send me a PM if you have any questions, I dont mind helping out at all.

Now for a quick update.

Ive had a few requests to rip the flac files to a USB harddrive or other storage devices instead of just DVD's. I will rip to whatever you want, you just have to provide the device. The advantage of DVD's is that you always have a copy of your ripped music in case your HD should fail.

Also, for those who havent made the move to a PC based frontend or are curious as to what kind of sound you can get from a $500 transport, you should read this here.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=20939.msg185413#185413

Also if you dont already have my email address you can contact me at shaddai1975@gmail.com or PM me if you would like to talk voice about ripping your CD's to FLAC.

Tim

mr_bill · « **Reply #3 on:** 15 Aug 2005, 11:17 pm »

How many CD's can you get on to one DVD with this process?
I am interested in what you are doing.
Is this process meant to consolidate a CD collectino to DVD or to enable a user to put the DVD's into a hard drive and play wirelessly or is it an upgrade in performance to record to FLAC and then back to DVD?
I'm a bit confused.
bill

Jon L · « **Reply #4 on:** 15 Aug 2005, 11:25 pm »

Quote from: mr_bill

How many CD's can you get on to one DVD with this process?
I am interested in what you are doing.
Is this process meant to consolidate a CD collectino to DVD or to enable a user to put the DVD's into a hard drive and play wirelessly or is it an upgrade in performance to record to FLAC and then back to DVD?
I'm a bit confused.
bill

A DVD-R will hold 4.7 Gigs, but usually less due to TOC, etc.

A 3 minute song will be around 20 MB in one of the lossless formats like Flac or Apple Lossless, so you do the math.

The Flac files will be ripped to the DVD-R in data format, not audio format, so you put the DVD-R in the drive and copy it as data onto your hard drive.

Tirade · « **Reply #5 on:** 16 Aug 2005, 12:13 am »

Jon L is correct and Ill try to clear it up a bit more.

What I am referring to is taking your entore CD collection and ripping it to .FLAC files. FLAC files are similar to MP3's only they retain the same quality as the original CD. FLAC files are bitperfect copies of your music.

When you make the move to using the PC as a transport and start to enjoy the sonic qualities and conveinence that a PC transport offers, you will need to rip your music collection to FLAC files and store them on the hard drive of the PC that you are using for your music storage. This can be time consuming and for some it can be a headache.

I rip your CD's into FLAC files and then copy those files on to a DVD so that you can then copy the files from the DVD's to your hard drive when you get the DVD's. On average you can fit 10-15 CD's ripped into FLAC format on each DVD so if you have 100 CD's that would be about 10 DVD to hold all the data. The other nice thing about having all of your FLAC files ripped to DVD is that you always have a copy of your music in case your hard drive should ever fail.

Tim

Here is an attached image of what your collection will look like once its been ripped to FLAC and saved in individual folders and the cover at has been downloaded for each CD. This is a collection of CD's I ripped for a member this weekend.

http://www.domainofpain.net/audio/folder.jpg

Please note that downloading the CD cover images isnt something I do but there is a tool you can use to do it yourself once you have all the FLAC files copied off the DVD's and onto your HD.

I do however try to TAG every CD I rip so that it retains the correct CD info. For example in this pic you'll notice that the AC/DC album has the correct info for each song.

http://www.domainofpain.net/audio/info.jpg

Tim

mr_bill · « **Reply #6 on:** 16 Aug 2005, 12:20 am »

Thanks for the answers.
Do you then use Itunes or Musicmatch to play the CD's (or DVD's rather)
Is this a convenience move or do you get better playback? I can see how you'd save on equipment by downsizing to Squeezebox 2!

Tirade · « **Reply #7 on:** 16 Aug 2005, 12:24 am »

You would use the slimserver software to setup your playlist with the squeezebox2. Its media management software like itunes for example but they are also quite different.

Tim

Tirade · « **Reply #8 on:** 24 Aug 2005, 08:45 pm »

Just a quick bump to remind everyone that Im doing this for you if you need it done and Im also free for a phone call or email if you have questions/problems trying to do it yourself.

Tim