[davidrs]

Have decided to finally download my cd collection.

Would love your advice, sugestions and recommendations on the best way to go about doing this.

My system is PC/Microsoft 7 based.

My preferance is for an EXTERNAL Drive, but am open to adding an additional internal drive. SATA/Firewire is ok.

I have quite a few cds from the 1980s when quality was poor(er!). So burners and software that do the best job with these discs.... as well, as the newer better mastered/remastered cds.

Any additional advice in this general area will be helpful as well.

Thanks,

David.

[Delta Wave]

I would go with a Plextor CD/DVD drive and EAC - Exact Audio Copy to rip it... it's freeware. And you can't go wring with a sata Western Digital HDD.

[davidrs]

Want to emphasize that this is for downloading from original cd.

Burning to disc is not important, since I made the move to online sources and high resolution downloads a while ago. Though good metadata support/linkage is desirable.

I realize that most drive hardware is now DVD or BluRay. So these types of drives are ok, as long as their ability & performance to download from a CD disc remains high in terms of sound quality. Speed also is not a primary issue, unless you belive this is important and helpful.

I also prefer firewire for an external drive (vs. USB), and a wall-wart/battery ps.

Thanks,

David.

[lcrim]

EAC is free and excellent.  dbPoweramp is excellent but no longer free.
BTW, the process is known as "ripping" CDs and is subject to RIAA regulation.

[Vincent Kars]

A lot of rippers today support a secure mode.
However the 2 big names, EAC and dbPoweramp support AccurateRip.
This allows you to compare the results of your rips with those done by others.
My feeling is that the sentiment on audio forums at the moment is in favor of dbPoweramp. This is not a matter of ‘better’ rips but a matter of speed and ease of use.
dbPoweramp uses AMG, a paid database.
Recommended if you have to tag classical music.

Audio format
1 Lossless of course.
You needs might change in the future. Any lossless format allows you to convert to any other format without generation loss.
2 Supports tagging
For me, tagging is the great fun of computer based audio. It allows you to browse and search your collection in all kind of ways. You can even include cover art. Tagging makes an audio file self documenting.
As there is no standard for tagging WAV, you will hit all kind of problems the moment you migrated to another system or even another media player.
FLAC fulfils both criteria and as a bonus, has a checksum enabling you to detect data corruption.
http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/Intro/SQ/audio_formats.html

However WMP doesn’t support FLAC natively.
You might decide to use MS own lossless format WMAL
My personal preference is
- a media player supporting almost all audio formats
- has a flexible GUI
- allows you to use the WASAPI audio driver in WIN7.
J River Media Center is my personal favorite.
However it is a bit down on tagging (Freedb)
I expect better result using dbPoweramp

Maybe this starter guide is of use: http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/Intro/Starter.htm

[davidrs]

A lot of rippers today support a secure mode.
However the 2 big names, EAC and dbPoweramp support AccurateRip.
This allows you to compare the results of your rips with those done by others.
My feeling is that the sentiment on audio forums at the moment is in favor of dbPoweramp. This is not a matter of ‘better’ rips but a matter of speed and ease of use.
dbPoweramp uses AMG, a paid database.
Recommended if you have to tag classical music.

Audio format
1 Lossless of course.
You needs might change in the future. Any lossless format allows you to convert to any other format without generation loss.
2 Supports tagging
For me, tagging is the great fun of computer based audio. It allows you to browse and search your collection in all kind of ways. You can even include cover art. Tagging makes an audio file self documenting.
As there is no standard for tagging WAV, you will hit all kind of problems the moment you migrated to another system or even another media player.
FLAC fulfils both criteria and as a bonus, has a checksum enabling you to detect data corruption.
http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/Intro/SQ/audio_formats.html

However WMP doesn’t support FLAC natively.
You might decide to use MS own lossless format WMAL
My personal preference is
- a media player supporting almost all audio formats
- has a flexible GUI
- allows you to use the WASAPI audio driver in WIN7.
J River Media Center is my personal favorite.
However it is a bit down on tagging (Freedb)
I expect better result using dbPoweramp

Maybe this starter guide is of use: http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/Intro/Starter.htm

Vincent,

Thanks for the thorough direction.

I was planning on looking into both EAC and dbPoweramp, since both are consistently recommended on a number of forums as well as posts.

I do not have much classical music in cd format (wasted youth  ) so the AMG tagging may not be a major give.

Media Monkey has been my primary media player/interface. I will look into J River.

And will do some exploring on the link to well tempered computer.

Thanks again for the tremendous assist.

Delta Wave and Icrim - thank you as well.

- David.