The start of my downfall was being convinced by Mrs Mugsy to throw all my cd cases. I Put all my cd’s in a wallet. And stopped listening to music juat because it was a pain to search through all the cd’s.

I thought by ripping all my music to mp3 CBR 192kbit/s was the answer to this, but now it has posed more questions and not solved any….

Twenty seconds into reading about all this other stuff and my eyes just glazed over…

Honestly, once it is setup the combination of all your music stored on the computer and operated from an ipad* is great. Being able to sort your music in different ways (artist, album, title etc) meant that I did actually discover music that I liked but didn’t know that I owned as it was hidden away on an otherwise dire compilation album that i would never have taken off of the shelf.

The real task is going to be transferring a few thousand vinyl recording into a digital format, I’ve been intending to make a start on that for about a year now but the enormity of the task has me not wanting to start it. Should really set it up and aim to do one or two every morning before work. It would take a while but it would eventually be done.

* Other equally good if not better methods of achieving the same thing are also available but this one works well for me.

i havent used my cd player since about 2004, its in a cupboard.
i rip all cds onto an external hdd which plays through an old ish pc fitted with decent sound card into my amp.
i use lossless encoding, and i keep all my cds in the loft.
however, as others have stated, i spend a lot less time ‘listening’ to music as it tends to be on as a background noise instead.
unless its on vinyl, obviously.

Nah. Too busy listening to my CD’s… 😉

I ripped all my CDs to iMac starting with the ones I hardly ever played. Done the first 300 and then give them all away to my mates. Still have 100s to go…
I have an old apple tv and an airport express which means I can have music controlled from my iPhone on in 3 rooms in the house. Looking forward to the new music share with apple iCloud, will be able to have my collection available anywhere I have an Internet connection!

^^ This all seems so wrong 😐

I just don’t get it, says she in dinosaur mode.

C_g, I know where you’re coming from, but, like any emerging tech, nobody forces anyone to adopt it. I’ve got a lot of music on my Mac, and I can access it easily now I don’t have to boot up a laptop which has to be tethered to a HDD, but I still get CDs out and stuff them into my player, because I like listening to music in the dark, and I need to have my 40″ tv on to use the computer, as I haven’t sorted out using the phone as a remote for the MacMini. Plus, even though there’s over 90Gb of music on the Mac, there’s still lots that isn’t…

I think I’m a convert…but need to archive 150 or so vinyl.

I reckon I could clear enough from TD160, dnm start 3a and cd52 to get a Pugsley 😎

What do I lose?

Sound quality!

A CD recording will beat any compressed music format.

The difference between my TEAC VRDS-7 playing a CD and streaming 320kbps lossless MP3 via my Squeezebox is marked.

The compressed format looses a lot of detail and is flat by comparison.

Perhaps it’s not the MP3 file, but the rubbish wallwart power supply or 20p DAC in the Squeezebox that ruins the sound. Either way, CD as a source beats the convenient modern alternative, hands down!

Most people have “stereos” and will never hear the difference. In view of this, MP3 streaming will eventually become the norm.

At least the situation is a million times better than a couple of decades ago when people were buying pre-recorded cassette tapes instead of vinyl.

Humans like convenience and so this comes way above sound quality in the priority list.

320kbps lossless MP3

Isn’t that a contradiction? MP3 is compressed by virtue of being MP3?

With true losseless or ‘bit perfect’ copies there is no reason why ripped files from a PC can’t sound every bit as good as a top end CD spinner (but you’d have to be plugging the PC into a very high end DAC).

Richpenny – 800gb or music 😯 That’s about 1600 albums even at a conservative estimate!

I still have my hi fi in my office and still enjoy playing albums , I also have a 63 wulitzer jukebox in the front room

So to the point what is the best way to get my records into a digital format

So to the point what is the best way to get my records into a digital format

It depends on how you want to use them. Apple Lossless is very convenient; it’s easy to set up the ripping process and access your music subsequently. But a lot of high end streaming devices won’t integrate with iTunes.

FLAC is an alternative lossless format but you’ll need an alternative to iTunes to store and access your music. I don’t think the file format is any better than Apple Lossless, but high end streamers are more likely to be able to access the music.

If you want your music to be portable and you have a lot of it or don’t want an iPod classic to store it on, then you need some form of compression.

Again, iTunes will compress in a proprietary Apple format called AAC, which is sort of equivalent to MP3. Quality is fine if all your doing is listening to it on an iPod.

Given that y’all seem to have consigned the CD to history, has anyone got an olive Naim XPS they need taking off their hands? Packet of jelly beans waiting.
Just asking.

Nope, will be plugging mine into the HDX ta 🙂

Probably will continue to play CDs until a better quality streamer is available though.

Sound quality!

A CD recording will beat any compressed music format.

The difference between my TEAC VRDS-7 playing a CD and streaming 320kbps lossless MP3 via my Squeezebox is marked.

The compressed format looses a lot of detail and is flat by comparison.

Perhaps it’s not the MP3 file, but the rubbish wallwart power supply or 20p DAC in the Squeezebox that ruins the sound. Either way, CD as a source beats the convenient modern alternative, hands down!

Most people have “stereos” and will never hear the difference. In view of this, MP3 streaming will eventually become the norm.

At least the situation is a million times better than a couple of decades ago when people were buying pre-recorded cassette tapes instead of vinyl.

Humans like convenience and so this comes way above sound quality in the priority list.

I think I agree with this, and I’m guessing it’s down to how the digital information is converted into sound. FWIW, I have a Cambridge Audio Azur 640R AV Receiver and Kef iQ5 floorstanders. Music comes from tv via optical out, which in turn is fed via HDMI from the PS3.
If I play mp3s direct from USB via the PS3, it sounds horrendous. The exact same files, streamed to the PS3 via TVersity on the laptop sound miles better. Plug my phone direct into the AV Receiver and do 320kbps Spotify and it’s magic.

Nope, will be plugging mine into the HDX ta

RichP what’s the HDX like in comparison to say a CDX2/XPS?

Everyone needs a Sonos

Just use apples wireless system much cheaper

skinnysteel – Member
Given that y’all seem to have consigned the CD to history, has anyone got an olive Naim XPS they need taking off their hands?

has anyone got an olive Naim XPS yes thanks

they need taking off their hands? you are funny...

As long as people still see me as an ideal recipient for their redundant LP/CD collections I will remain in dinosaur mode 🙂

Does the digital switch over next year? mean that my AM/FM tuners will be no use anymore?

All these people chucking out CDs and LPs can send them my way!

Don’t think they are doing radio yet Dickyboy, just the TV.

geetee1972, never had a CDX2. My CDS3 is better though, but you’d expect that. A third option which a friend has and rates is a Serve into a DAC.

http://us.marantz.com/us/Products/Pages/ProductDetails.aspx?CatId=HiFiComponents&SubCatId=&ProductId=MCR603

Interweb radio, direct stream from hard drives, mp3 inputs, DAB, CD player, etc, etc, etc.

Brilliant piece of kit.

geetee1972, never had a CDX2. My CDS3 is better though, but you’d expect that. A third option which a friend has and rates is a Serve into a DAC.

Yes you would expect that; the CDS3 is sublime and at the moment it looks possible to pick one up second hand for around £1600-1800, just the head unit obviously, but I already have the XPS on my CDX2.

The scary thing is that the CDX2 is likely worth around £1000 on eBay so the cost of acquiring a CDS3 is crazily within reach.

If only the two units looked the same, ‘she’ would never have to know!

Anyone chucking out/selling hifi separates, please post in the Classifieds. 🙂

Investigated cost of putting speakers in another room/wiring involved/electrician and would seem to be cheaper to buy another system. Not wanting Naim or anything high-end though.