Advice on digitising large CD collection

cjp


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Hi there,
I'm moving house and don't want to drag my CD collection up 3 flights of stairs again and also want to generally declutter. So I'm thinking about digitising it using iTunes, to listen to via my Macbook Pro. when I'm at home. I'm currently using OS 10.9.4, and am going to buy a new Macbook in the next few months.
BUT I'm very discerning about sound quality and do not want to compress the **** out of my music collection.
in addition to this I'm obviously concerned about space. AND I'm a ludite with tech stuff. For example I don't even know how to use iCloud.
So I'm asking for your advice on what would be the best and most efficient way to consolidate my collection so I can listen to it via my amp at home, without bitcrushing it all horribly.
Advice much appreciated. Thanks very much for your time.
Charlie
 
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Hi there,
I'm moving house and don't want to drag my CD collection up 3 flights of stairs again and also want to generally declutter. So I'm thinking about digitising it using iTunes, to listen to via my Macbook Pro. when I'm at home. I'm currently using OS 10.9.4, and am going to buy a new Macbook in the next few months.
BUT I'm very discerning about sound quality and do not want to compress the **** out of my music collection. .............

Hi Charlie - you first need to tell us 'how many' CDs do you own, and if some will be 'culled out' in your move, what total number do you want to rip? I'd love to do the same but have over 5K CDs (been collecting since 1984)!

Quoted below is a list of the main audio codecs which I put together a while ago for some other posts - if you want an 'exact' copy of your CDs, a 'lossless' codec would be needed, but are as bulky in size as the original discs (FLAC will save a little space) - now w/ today's cheap multi-TB HDs, this really is not a major consideration.

The 'lossy' codecs will of course save space but their quality will depend on the codec used and the degree of compression chosen - for putting music onto my iPod, I rip to MP3 at 192 kbps or 256 kbps - the quality of the sound at those bit rates is pretty much indistinguishable from the original CD-A - NOW, some would argue but there have been plenty of studies done in the past, like THIS ONE.

As to the software chosen for your CD ripping, I've only used iTunes on my Apple computers, but others may be more efficient and offer more options - others will have to chime in w/ suggestions.

For myself, I would rip my collection (BTW - not going to happen - ;)) to a 'lossless' codec, probably FLAC and store on an external HD (w/ plenty of BU drives) - these files then can be easily converted to a 'lossy' codec if storage on a small capacity player is needed.

Well, I'll let you ponder my post - please ask further questions, if needed. Dave :)

Audio Codecs

Lossless: non-compressed (NC) & compressed (C)
WAV (Windows NC) - duplicates CD-A - LARGE files (10 MB/min)
AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) - Apple’s WAV version
FLAC (Free Lostless Audio Codec) - C file & saves space

Lossy: information lost but to a variable extent
MP3 - popular; bit rate affects quality; 1MB/min average
AAC (Advanced Audio Codec) - Apple’s MP3 equivalent; better?
WMA (Windows Media Audio) - similar to the others
 

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