Hi all,

Apologies if this should be in the "Hot Stuff" section...BV can move it there if he thinks so...

I'm finding it increasingly harder to store my Stones bootlegs (500+) at home.
The amount of new "upgrades" you can download from DIME/megaupload/gigasize etc is getting way too out of hand...

One idea I have is to convert all my music cds onto a computer hard drive and sort them that way. It would be nice to play the music from my PC through my stereo....

Has anyone done this successfully?

it will certainly do away with my CDrs, jewel cases and storage space!

Any info would be much appreciated.

ER

Done that with most of my Cds.
It ain't no big deal. But you'll need lots of time to convert 500+ CDs and lots of HD-Space.
One thing you need to decide first is the file format you want to use (flac, wav, aiff, aac, mp3,...).
And you need to name each file properly.
Sounds like a nice project for the winter.

I have done this, and I'm so glad I did.
You can rip your disc and convert it to flac format, lossless compression at about 40% of the size.
I bought 2 1 tb hard drives, 1 for backup.
Ditched all my discs, tales up less space.
Plus you can listen easier at home, just hook your laptop to your stereo and no more switching discs.
Most of my listening is mp3 player these days anyway.

I've done it as well and love it that way!
you need a very big hard drive, bigger than 500GB - this is the most important part, don't buy anything too cheap.

next you need some time indeed to rip the CDs - use flac, it's the best format in my opinion. Lossless and the files are not that big, plus they can be played by very many applications.

that way your boots will erm survive much longer.. cheers

many thanks guys...

it would be nice to be able to sit back with a remote and sift thru your catalogue that way! Can this be done?

Have a closer look at Media Monkey. it's a great databased organizer for your music library.
[www.mediamonkey.com]

I'm so glad you posted this topic, I've been meaning to do the same. I tend to forget what I have because the discs are tucked away.

what do people recommend for hooking up the PC to the stereo? I have only a laptop with a poor soundcard. I'm not quite an audiophile, but I would definitely want to go around this soundcard.

M-audio makes good, not too expensive usb soundcards. Google search will find them. They are for musicians, I'm sure an audiophile would have another suggestion though

thanks for the tip, neylon. I'll check it out.

an added benefit of keeping a collection on a hard drive, it seems to me, is being able to create playlists without having to burn a CD compilation. So one could play the complete Aftermath sessions or rework the early albums ... endless possibilities!

buy a usb sata hd dock for $20. [www.amazon.com]

Then buy a sata 2TB drive for $92. [www.amazon.com]

buy more sata drives when you need them. buy some for backups.

covert only to FLAC or you will be sorry in the long run.

This saves a lot time, space and $$$ over burning CDs.

Quote
blakeeik
buy a usb sata hd dock for $20. [www.amazon.com]

Then buy a sata 2TB drive for $92. [www.amazon.com]

buy more sata drives when you need them. buy some for backups.

covert only to FLAC or you will be sorry in the long run.

This saves a lot time, space and $$$ over burning CDs.

yeah, but the issue is playback--most computer systems, especially laptops, have crap audio. So one needs a good way to play files through the stereo.

Quote
cc
yeah, but the issue is playback--most computer systems, especially laptops, have crap audio. So one needs a good way to play files through the stereo.

I agree many laptops skimp on audio, but there are good audio cards available. Then you can connect it to your stereo and blast your speakers.

Use winamp with the flac plug-in to seamlessly play my flac files.

Or buy this one for your laptop

Creative - Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! External USB Sound Card
Bring along this compact sound card and enhance your laptop's audio performance while you're on the go, or give your desktop's sound a boost while at home.


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