Going to rip 2000 cds. Which software?


At 63 years old I've decided it's finally time to make the move to a digital library.  I've spent hours and hours on this forum reading about servers, streamers, music servers, nas systems and modded Mac Minis.  I'm more than confused.  I'm pretty much ready to just buy a new transport and be done with it. 

But.... I play "cuts."  I hardly ever play an entire record or cd and would like the ability to choose what's playing from the couch.

I know that the first step is ripping cds.  I have a couple of questions;

1.  Which software should I use?  I am concerned about speed and indexing.  I'm a jazzhead and have quite a few recordings by the same artists that have recorded multiple versions of the same tune.  I want to make sure they are indexed properly.  I would also like a program that doesn't take all day to make a copy.

2.  I can use either Mac or PC.  I would prefer Mac but would use a PC if it is more future proof.  I have a Macbook Air and a PC laptop and both have dual 2 terrabyte external drives.

3. I would also consider a Music Server with a nas rig.

If I do a music server with nas I'd like to keep the price around $2000.

Thanks to all of you.

--Bob


jzzmusician

Showing 1 response by ejr1953

I made that transition about 18 months ago.

I decided on an Autonomic Controls MMS-5A "Mirage" music server, which has a 1tb internal hard drive, a decent iPad app to control it, an app that runs on my Windows10 laptop to sync from my iTunes library, the laptop is where I have iTunes configured to capture CDs in 44.1/16 bit AIFF files, with a 4tb external hard drive for the iTunes content.  The MMS-5A also connects to my streaming services (Tidal, Spotify & Tunein), and has an app to back up its hard drive "automagically" to my Google Drive account.  I have an external DAC, so I have no experience with the one built into the music server, I suspect it's not the best quality.  I use the coax output from the server to the DAC (I use the USB output from my Windows10 laptop to the DAC as well).

Autonomic's support staff are really good.