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First toe dip into the digital stream

The kids gave me an iPod Touch on Father's Day and I have a 5 year old Mac G5 with a new hard drive waiting to be turned on.
I have been putting off the moment of my first CD rip because I do NOT want to do it twice and I know it will be a serious time suck.
I am also a Mac virgin.

I have a $500 budget and want to make sure that I have high quality rips that last a lifetime.

For my $500 I would like to be able to rip at high quality, wirelessly stream to my Linn AV5103 DAC and a Yamaha receiver (for 2 other less important listening areas) and control music selection with the iPod Touch.

Possible for a low tech like me?
Recommendations and directions to good threads would be great. Simple is truly better!
clarets2
hellofidelity
77 posts
 
Congratulations! Welcome to digital music!

Use iTunes to rip, archive and access your music. It's a great program that offers high quality, yet simple to use. Make sure you turn off the "Sound Check" and "Sound Enhancer" options....and use either Apple Lossless or AIFF as your codec. I prefer Apple Lossless, but that can be controversial. ;)

Use the built in AirTunes feature to stream your music to your 5103 (which is a great processor) using an Apple AirPort Express. You can add as many as AirPort Express units as needed. They will automatically access iTunes and the AirPort Setup Assistant it easy. The AirPort Express has both analog and digital out. The digital out is the same "3.5mm" audio Jack, but it has a special "toslink mini" plug. I use glass toslink cables from VanDenHul and WireWorld. You can also use any toslink cable that has a "mini toslink" on one end and a regular toslink on the other.

Download the Apple Remote app from the App Store to allow you to control your iTunes library and what rooms (systems) to be streamed to. It's a very easy and reliable app.

I have been using and designing iTunes music systems for several years, and I am a big supporter of "less is more" when it comes to iTunes. Don't get too distracted by third party software and hardware.

Let me know if you have any questions, and keep me posted as to your progress.
hellofidelity
77 posts
 
http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/features/airtunes.html

Here is Apple's AirTunes and Remote app page. The AirPort Express is $99 each, and the Remote app is free. The AirPort Express can be wireless or wired. Wireless is much easier and sounds great. It works better (and sounds better) if you have a 802.11n router.
reubent
3,587 posts
 
I agree with Hellofidelity. Keep it simple with iTunes. In addition to choosing a lossless codec (I prefer AIFF), also be sure to turn on error correction in the "import settings" of iTunes. The codec setting and error correction can be found by opening iTunes, click on iTunes on the top banner (next to the apple), click on preferences from the drop down menu, look on the general tab and where you see "When I insert a CD", choose what you want the MAC to do (I select "ask to import CD"), then finally click on "import settings". On the import settings tab, select your codec (apple lossless or AIFF), then click on the box to turn on error correction.

That's it! Now whenever you insert a CD, iTunes will launch and ask if you want to import the CD. It will use your chosen codec and use error correction.

Simple as pie! Now you'll need to decide how you want to manage a library of all of your CDs! Some folks just rip everything to the music folder, which is fine. Some folks create a new playlist for every CD. Your choice, but you can always create new playlist from your previously ripped CDs in the music folder at a future time.

Enjoy,

TIC
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