Storing CDs etc on a home server

[ppppenguin]

I've got over 1000 CDs and they take up a fair bit of space. In theory the contents would fit on less than 1TB of hard drive, halve that if using lossless FLAC compression. They would also be instantly accessible on any computing device on my network and readily copied to MP3 or other compressed formats to use in the car or away from home.

The question: How to get there from here? i've never done anything like this before and don't want to devote half my life to it. So I'd like some guidance on the best way forward please.

1: Ripping the CDs
2: Choice of storage (NAS, a PC as server etc)
3: Replay device for use with hifi systems
4: Control method - perhaps using phone/tablet to select the music
5: Metadata. Are track listings, booklet contents etc available online? Or is it a question of tediously typing and scanning
5a: Database and search. So I can find all of Haydn's symphonies or all of Beecham's recordings that are in my collection
6: Extension to internet radio and other streamed sources of music.
7: Extension to video, including use with 405 line sets via an Aurora

FWIW, over half of my collection is classical, most of the rest is jazz and world music. Some of it is a bit obscure.

Beyond this, I could digitise LPs (I have a few hundred) and 78s (about 800) but that's a lot more work than ripping CDs.

From a moral POV, if I own a CD then I feel entitled to use the content on any medium I wish for my own enjoyment. In theory I shouldn't copy the content to a server and then sell the CDs. Or even give them away.

[Keithstv]

On the question of storage definitely a NAS. I have two drives on my network, 2TB and 3TB , both of which are DLNA meaning I can view photos and videos and play music on the TV or any PC/laptop on the network. I also have a media player which can play almost anything and can output HDMI for the TV plus PAL video for analogue TV/aurora.

Keith

[ppppenguin]

I googled DLNA, never having heard of it and this looks good: http://www.techradar.com/news/digital-ho...ow-1079015

[Craig]

I use dBpoweramp https://www.dbpoweramp.com/ . Absolutely superb - shove CD into computer, software opens. Point it at your NAS drive (I use a Synology 2 x 2TB, the second 2TB being an automatic back up.

Set up is basically desktop to router. NAS to router. Media player (Logitech Transporter; obsolete but NOS still available) to router. The Transporter is managed via software called iPeng http://penguinlovesmusic.de/ on an ipad which communicates wirelessly with the router. And the modem also goes to the router.

What that all means is that once the CD library is ripped, iPeng easily selects between the CD library, live streaming using a web service (I use Tidal HiFi) and internet radio.

But as Keith says, you can manage all sorts of media and signal sources

[Mark Hennessy]

For ripping, I recommend EAC: http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

I've set it to produce WAVs, though it will do other formats as required. It would be nice if it could do 2 at once (WAV and MP3, for example, as I have an MP3 player). Given the price of storage today, I see no advantage to FLACs. Not all devices will play them.

In terms of metadata, EAC can search for that, and it does it pretty well. It'll get album art as well.

As standard WAVs don't store much metadata, I use the folder structure and filename for that - you tell EAC how to name the folders and files. Though that does mean that some players will say "Unknown song, unknown artist" because they're not finding ID3 tags in the file header, but most will figure it out.

In terms of playback, that's the bit I haven't spent much time on yet. In the hi-fi room, I play the CDs - my CD player has better DACs than any PC soundcard that I've tested so far. I suspect the solution will eventually be my laptop plugged into a USB sound card. You'd have to be mad to buy a dedicated hi-fi box at hi-fi prices, given the pace of change right now. Same for internet radio. I've some sympathy with the complaints when the BBC changed their internet radio solution, but people need to realise that they are at the mercy of manufacturers (a) being willing to provide firmware updates when things change, and (b) putting enough horsepower in the box to cope with new CODECs, etc. Given that every consumer product is "cost engineered" - whatever the retail price - I wouldn't bet my pension on a dedicated box lasting more than a couple of years.

In the workshop, I just use VLC on the workshop PC. It's fine, but I wish it did gappless (that's surprisingly challenging, it seems). On portable devices, there are a variety of DNLA-compatible players - all much of a muchness (do the job, but clunky IMO). I've yet to find a good player that will index all the files and present a sensible user-friendly search interface, so I just browse the file structure.

While I've ripped most of my CDs, I haven't done the classical section yet because I'm not sure my file system based approach to metadata is sufficient.

[Nick]

Vortexbox. Free. Does it all.

We did over 500 CDs in 2 weeks. Unit was in kitchen - two big boxes, one "in", the other "out". Whenever someone saw the drawer out, they put the cd back in its case and in the "out" box. Then got a new cd from the "in" box, put it in the tray and shut it - this starts the ripping process etc. When finished (about two minutes), drawer opens and whomesoever is around starts the next iteration...

[ppppenguin]

This? https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distri...=vortexbox

I presume you don't mean the £385 device mentioned in this article: http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/news/article...;385/10326

So I need an old PC, instal this Linux distro and let it do the rest.

[Murphyv310]

Pity it doesn't work with 78's though Jeffrey!!! ?

[Nick]

You need 2.4 from http://wiki.vortexbox.org/available_images

[ppppenguin]

For initial trials, to get the feel of Vortexbox, presumably I could download the Vortexbox OVF template from here: http://wiki.vortexbox.org/available_images and run it under Virtualbox as a VM.

Looking online there are any number of free and paid for CD ripping programs. I'm just confused by this comparison chart which doesn't include Vortexbox: http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?tit...CD_rippers
Possibly because Vortexbox works as a server as well as a ripper.