Transferring all my CD’s to USB stick etc - Solutions?
Discussion
Hi all,
Need some help or suggestions with this issue please.
My parents listen to quite a lot of music in their house, mostly from a large CD collection.
They have owned the same Technics hifi with some decent speakers since about 1986. My Dad, being of the ‘baby boomer’ generation, thinks that when you buy something expensive or premium, it should ‘last a lifetime’ and gets irritated by the suggestion that it might not. Hence why he still has a 34 year old hifi system.
About 3 years ago, I added a Bluetooth receiver to the Technics, and put Apple Music on their ancient old iPad, and they use it a fair bit for playing new music, but find Apple Music fiddly at times on their old iPad as it lags and is slow to respond.
I have told them they need a new iPad, but again, there is resistance because “it was expensive and should still work”.
The CD player recently failed on the Technics, and I’ve tried cleaning it etc, but I think the repair may be more involved than that.
My Dad has now asked that I source him a new hifi or media player unit that will:
1) Rip all his CD’s to an internal hard drive so he can search through them and play them all without having to use physical CD’s.
2) Save the ripped tracks onto a USB stick so he can play all his CD’s in his cars (his cars are all sub 3 or 4 years old so have USB ports for playing music off USB)
Does anyone have any ideas?
I’ve told him just to shelve all his CD’s and use Apple Music for everything, but he doesn’t want to, because his CD’s cost him money and he wants to use them.
I’m losing the will to live
Need some help or suggestions with this issue please.
My parents listen to quite a lot of music in their house, mostly from a large CD collection.
They have owned the same Technics hifi with some decent speakers since about 1986. My Dad, being of the ‘baby boomer’ generation, thinks that when you buy something expensive or premium, it should ‘last a lifetime’ and gets irritated by the suggestion that it might not. Hence why he still has a 34 year old hifi system.
About 3 years ago, I added a Bluetooth receiver to the Technics, and put Apple Music on their ancient old iPad, and they use it a fair bit for playing new music, but find Apple Music fiddly at times on their old iPad as it lags and is slow to respond.
I have told them they need a new iPad, but again, there is resistance because “it was expensive and should still work”.
The CD player recently failed on the Technics, and I’ve tried cleaning it etc, but I think the repair may be more involved than that.
My Dad has now asked that I source him a new hifi or media player unit that will:
1) Rip all his CD’s to an internal hard drive so he can search through them and play them all without having to use physical CD’s.
2) Save the ripped tracks onto a USB stick so he can play all his CD’s in his cars (his cars are all sub 3 or 4 years old so have USB ports for playing music off USB)
Does anyone have any ideas?
I’ve told him just to shelve all his CD’s and use Apple Music for everything, but he doesn’t want to, because his CD’s cost him money and he wants to use them.
I’m losing the will to live
Narcisus said:
Windows Media Player does a decent job. Just stick the disk in and select the format and bit rate. Takes hardly any time per cd.
Thanks, but unfortunately I don't know anyone who has a Windows PC/laptop.I was also hoping for a suggestion of some kind of standalone hifi unit with hard drive in it that can act as a library for all the CD's once ripped.
Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 18th December 13:02
I found something called the Brennan B2 which is advertised as a CD ripper, internal hard drive, and hifi/amp all in one. But I have no idea is this device is any good?
I also don't know if it can export the ripped tracks to external hard drive, but this is a less pressing matter than just getting all my Dad's CD's onto some kind of stand alone media library.
I also don't know if it can export the ripped tracks to external hard drive, but this is a less pressing matter than just getting all my Dad's CD's onto some kind of stand alone media library.
Lord Marylebone said:
I found something called the Brennan B2 which is advertised as a CD ripper, internal hard drive, and hifi/amp all in one. But I have no idea is this device is any good?
I also don't know if it can export the ripped tracks to external hard drive, but this is a less pressing matter than just getting all my Dad's CD's onto some kind of stand alone media library.
in principle it does what you asked. for hoekm useI also don't know if it can export the ripped tracks to external hard drive, but this is a less pressing matter than just getting all my Dad's CD's onto some kind of stand alone media library.
not sure how easy it is tro transfer to USB for car use
how many CDs are we talking about?
markiii said:
in principle it does what you asked. for hoekm use
not sure how easy it is tro transfer to USB for car use
how many CDs are we talking about?
I would say around 100-150, so not thousands or anything.not sure how easy it is tro transfer to USB for car use
how many CDs are we talking about?
He has thinned the collection down to stuff he actually like to listen to.
markiii said:
is he still going to buy new cds that need to go through this process or is the ripping a one off exercise?
He hasn't bought any new CD's recently.He has around 150 that he actually listens to. Stuff from the 80's to the last few years.
Years ago he bought all his favourite LP's/vinyl albums on CD, and packed the vinyl copies away.
So essentially he pretty much has all the CD albums he wants now.
There is this: https://blog.audiot.co.uk/blog/category/CD+Ripper
However, as I am your father (Luke), I would guess it would possibly be cheaper to buy a Windows PC.
I have ripped all my CDs to my HDD via Windows Media Player which is obviously free (an SSD would be better and faster) and I can play stuff through a reasonable set of PC speakers (as my 40-odd year old hi-fi isn't that interested and runs on more traditional lines).
The bonus is that a PC does other stuff as well.
I have a 64k memory stick and I can then copy and delete music to the suit what I want, for the car, it doesn't take long.
Some slightly older cars don't like big memory sticks - my 2013 Fiesta ST didn't and I had to slim down the number of albums though the 2015 ST was fine.
However, as I am your father (Luke), I would guess it would possibly be cheaper to buy a Windows PC.
I have ripped all my CDs to my HDD via Windows Media Player which is obviously free (an SSD would be better and faster) and I can play stuff through a reasonable set of PC speakers (as my 40-odd year old hi-fi isn't that interested and runs on more traditional lines).
The bonus is that a PC does other stuff as well.
I have a 64k memory stick and I can then copy and delete music to the suit what I want, for the car, it doesn't take long.
Some slightly older cars don't like big memory sticks - my 2013 Fiesta ST didn't and I had to slim down the number of albums though the 2015 ST was fine.
I would treat home and car as mutually exclusive.
For home I after you have ripped (I understand that is a problem) I would put on a NAS. Most WD MyClouds come with Twonky DLNA server installed. Buy something like a chromecast audio and once set up use something like Mediahouse on their IPAD to browse the server and send play to the Hifi.
For the car I would have a phone with a memory card (150 CD's is going to be small) then connect via bluetooth. You can also (with Android) then voice control while driving.
Back to the original issue of ripping, is there no computer in either of your lives with a cd drive ? if not, external usb drive. Must have a feature on non windows pc's to rip.
For home I after you have ripped (I understand that is a problem) I would put on a NAS. Most WD MyClouds come with Twonky DLNA server installed. Buy something like a chromecast audio and once set up use something like Mediahouse on their IPAD to browse the server and send play to the Hifi.
For the car I would have a phone with a memory card (150 CD's is going to be small) then connect via bluetooth. You can also (with Android) then voice control while driving.
Back to the original issue of ripping, is there no computer in either of your lives with a cd drive ? if not, external usb drive. Must have a feature on non windows pc's to rip.
I would say get a cheap laptop too.
I taught my neighbour how to rip CDs and put a simple batch file on his desktop that when run just copies any new files from where WMP stores them to his USB drive, which he then uses in his car - its a simple & easy way to sync that doesn't confuse him - put the cd in, it auto rips it, double click the batch script and wait for the prompt to close, job done.
Personally I use Media Monkey as it has features that let you control the storage directory hierarchy and can populate ID3 tags. It does podcasts as well.
I taught my neighbour how to rip CDs and put a simple batch file on his desktop that when run just copies any new files from where WMP stores them to his USB drive, which he then uses in his car - its a simple & easy way to sync that doesn't confuse him - put the cd in, it auto rips it, double click the batch script and wait for the prompt to close, job done.
Personally I use Media Monkey as it has features that let you control the storage directory hierarchy and can populate ID3 tags. It does podcasts as well.
If he can stretch to it
https://www.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk/p-41631-...
with a pair of decent speakers
A subscription to Tidal, not Spotify (no high res on Spotify)
And bluetooth from his phone to the car
https://www.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk/p-41631-...
with a pair of decent speakers
A subscription to Tidal, not Spotify (no high res on Spotify)
And bluetooth from his phone to the car
You don’t mention budget but as you’re a Lord, why not treat him to a Naim Uniti Star?
https://www.whathifi.com/naim/uniti-star/review
It should last a lifetime and the upgrade in sound would be a treat.
I’d echo the Tidal master subscription mentioned above.
https://www.whathifi.com/naim/uniti-star/review
It should last a lifetime and the upgrade in sound would be a treat.
I’d echo the Tidal master subscription mentioned above.
150 CDs should take up about 15-20GB if he rips them at a decent mp3 bitrate of 320kbps.
I think the easiest and cheapest method would be to get hold of some sort of computer to do the ripping. Pretty much any PC, even an ancient one (and presumably Macs/Chromebooks as well) should be able to do it. Use a USB CD drive if it doesn't have one built in.
Use the aux input on his Technics hifi to play the music directly from a smart phone or tablet or laptop using a headphone cable preferably or the bluetooth adapter you already have.
A tablet on a nice stand sitting next to the Technics hifi would be a good upgrade as it could also be used to play music for free from Youtube, internet radio stations and podcasts.
His old iPad should have suitable capacity to do this if it isn't the lowest spec 16GB model. It's a shame iPads don't have SD card slots.
I think the easiest and cheapest method would be to get hold of some sort of computer to do the ripping. Pretty much any PC, even an ancient one (and presumably Macs/Chromebooks as well) should be able to do it. Use a USB CD drive if it doesn't have one built in.
Use the aux input on his Technics hifi to play the music directly from a smart phone or tablet or laptop using a headphone cable preferably or the bluetooth adapter you already have.
A tablet on a nice stand sitting next to the Technics hifi would be a good upgrade as it could also be used to play music for free from Youtube, internet radio stations and podcasts.
His old iPad should have suitable capacity to do this if it isn't the lowest spec 16GB model. It's a shame iPads don't have SD card slots.
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