Is it time to give up on CD?
Discussion
Currently all my music is on CD, I've totally resisted the ipod and mp3. I hate the compressed sound of mp3 and as such the revolution of ripping all your music to a hard disk is still something I'm not sure about.
I need a new hi-fi for my lounge(moved house - old lounge system relegated to bedroom and current lounge system a lash up of worn out 1990s kit and a 30 quid dvd player).
My gut instinct as a luddite in these matters is to go out any buy a damn good amp, speaker, cd and record player set up. However the arrival of supposedly lossless digital audio systems via network is making me wonder if I'll just be buying a dinosaur if I buy a cd, and whether I need to finally need to give up on CD as a format and move forward and learn what the new options are.
So what do the folks here think? Is buying a decent cd player now a waste of money that I'll regret in a couple of years?
If so - what are the painless ways of being able to move to lossless streaming, without having to personally rip all the music myself? I just don't have the time.
I need a new hi-fi for my lounge(moved house - old lounge system relegated to bedroom and current lounge system a lash up of worn out 1990s kit and a 30 quid dvd player).
My gut instinct as a luddite in these matters is to go out any buy a damn good amp, speaker, cd and record player set up. However the arrival of supposedly lossless digital audio systems via network is making me wonder if I'll just be buying a dinosaur if I buy a cd, and whether I need to finally need to give up on CD as a format and move forward and learn what the new options are.
So what do the folks here think? Is buying a decent cd player now a waste of money that I'll regret in a couple of years?
If so - what are the painless ways of being able to move to lossless streaming, without having to personally rip all the music myself? I just don't have the time.
Tony,
IMO, CD's sound way better than mp3. I can't listen to mp3 without getting irritated by it's pants-ness. However, I'm a bit of a hifi geek (but still shy of a fleece / bad beard combo the true hifi buffs seem to covet).
People will tell you that a decent DAC will output the same as CD - you could then run a digital feed from a squeezebox to a dac, or whatnot. I've not tried it myself.
IMO, CD's sound way better than mp3. I can't listen to mp3 without getting irritated by it's pants-ness. However, I'm a bit of a hifi geek (but still shy of a fleece / bad beard combo the true hifi buffs seem to covet).
People will tell you that a decent DAC will output the same as CD - you could then run a digital feed from a squeezebox to a dac, or whatnot. I've not tried it myself.
I was in a similar position about a year ago when I decided to bite the bullet and rip all my CDs to a NAS for streaming. I wish I had done it sooner.
I now have my entire music collection available at the press of a button and can generate playlists, see album artwork, browse by artist, title, year, genre, etc.
The DACs in wireless media players can be of the same quality as in CD players, therefore there should be no difference in sound quality (as long as they are ripped losslessly). A standard wireless (or wired) network will ensure the data is transmitted without errors.
I wouldn't be suprised if music CD players died a death (Linn have already stopped making them as most of their customers now want streaming players.) Most other high end audio manufacturers, eg Meridian, make them as well. There are also lower end (but still decent-sounding) offerings from, eg, Logitech and Sonos.
Plenty of info on avforums and hydrogen audio forums. search for 'setting up a digital music library'.
For info, I used EAC for ripping, mp3tag for tagging, foobar 2000 for conversion of flac to mp3 & album cover art downloader (all of which are free). I believe DBPoweramp will do everything, at a small cost.
Just make sure you back it all up as you rip it. (Or get somebody like www.ripcaster.co.uk to rip it for you)
(I still buy music on CD. It is ripped & tagged before being put un a box in the loft with the rest of the CDs)
Mike...
I now have my entire music collection available at the press of a button and can generate playlists, see album artwork, browse by artist, title, year, genre, etc.
The DACs in wireless media players can be of the same quality as in CD players, therefore there should be no difference in sound quality (as long as they are ripped losslessly). A standard wireless (or wired) network will ensure the data is transmitted without errors.
I wouldn't be suprised if music CD players died a death (Linn have already stopped making them as most of their customers now want streaming players.) Most other high end audio manufacturers, eg Meridian, make them as well. There are also lower end (but still decent-sounding) offerings from, eg, Logitech and Sonos.
Plenty of info on avforums and hydrogen audio forums. search for 'setting up a digital music library'.
For info, I used EAC for ripping, mp3tag for tagging, foobar 2000 for conversion of flac to mp3 & album cover art downloader (all of which are free). I believe DBPoweramp will do everything, at a small cost.
Just make sure you back it all up as you rip it. (Or get somebody like www.ripcaster.co.uk to rip it for you)
(I still buy music on CD. It is ripped & tagged before being put un a box in the loft with the rest of the CDs)
Mike...
FlossyThePig said:
mr_tony said:
If so - what are the painless ways of being able to move to lossless streaming, without having to personally rip all the music myself? I just don't have the time.
Have a look at the latest copy of PC Pro to see how Jon Honeyball ripped his 2000+ CD collection.We have this coversation from time to time. I personally struggle to hear artefacts in non classical music with VBR MP3 LAME encoding and the quality set to medium/high.
This may be because 99% of CDs are horribly produced with everything in the 90% percentile so it sounds "better" on radio.
This may be because 99% of CDs are horribly produced with everything in the 90% percentile so it sounds "better" on radio.
I have Squeezebox and I am ripping my CD's to lossless via dbpoweramp and it's pretty painless.
Put disc in, click rip (wait 5 minutes) done. And that rips, verifies, corrects errors, tags and adds artwork.
It just takes time to do, but you can leave it to work in the background and do other stuff at the same time.
People will rip your CD's for you (at a cost).
Playing back via my PC (bog basic sound-card) sounds better than the CD played from my separate CD player (£200 a few years back, so not the best but not a basic one) pre-amp and speakers the same.
The Squeezebox transporter is apparently the equal of many high end CD systems, I can't comment on that becasue I don't have one. But I'm very happy with the 3 units I do have.
Put disc in, click rip (wait 5 minutes) done. And that rips, verifies, corrects errors, tags and adds artwork.
It just takes time to do, but you can leave it to work in the background and do other stuff at the same time.
People will rip your CD's for you (at a cost).
Playing back via my PC (bog basic sound-card) sounds better than the CD played from my separate CD player (£200 a few years back, so not the best but not a basic one) pre-amp and speakers the same.
The Squeezebox transporter is apparently the equal of many high end CD systems, I can't comment on that becasue I don't have one. But I'm very happy with the 3 units I do have.
Bullett said:
Put disc in, click rip (wait 5 minutes) done.
and there is the rub.. Sure 5 mins isn't long, but if you work away from home as I do most of the time, the last thing you want to do when you're actually at home is spend time feeding discs into a machine.. I've got cars to drive and a better half to spend time with for starters!From the little information I've read I'm leaning towards the Linn route - everything else looks like a compromise. Perhaps I'm biased as I love my Klassic - it's a great machine and it's been 100% bulletproof for nearly 10 years now, so as a long term investment it feels like a better option than a cd player for the same sort of money....
Main concern is that there doesn't seem to be much in the way of a standard yet, so it could be the case that I'm putting my money on a format that won't pan out in the long run..
I've not played a CD at home for about 3 years.
The joy of scrolling through my library on my TV from the comfort of my sofa makes me listen to music much more than I did.
I use a combination of Apple systems, and music travels by WiFi over the whole house with the library on a NAS.
Ripping the CDs took time, but it was as simple as setting iTunes to automatically rip on CD insert, and eject afterwards.
So, I spent the evening watching TV, a pile of a few dozen CDs in front of me, putting a CD in, and when it was ejected putting in the next. It didn't even need the screen on.
The joy of scrolling through my library on my TV from the comfort of my sofa makes me listen to music much more than I did.
I use a combination of Apple systems, and music travels by WiFi over the whole house with the library on a NAS.
Ripping the CDs took time, but it was as simple as setting iTunes to automatically rip on CD insert, and eject afterwards.
So, I spent the evening watching TV, a pile of a few dozen CDs in front of me, putting a CD in, and when it was ejected putting in the next. It didn't even need the screen on.
headcase said:
Just get a Sonos and a Napster account, you will have to rip very little or even nothing depending on your music tastes.
Surely I have to pay for the music each time I listen to it then? Napster will be mp3 I would assume - which seems a bit pointless if I already have 1000 cds already recorded at a much higher bandwidth that I'm quite happy to listen to...
Looks like the smart money is getting someone else to rip the cd collection for me...
mr_tony said:
Bullett said:
Put disc in, click rip (wait 5 minutes) done.
and there is the rub.. Sure 5 mins isn't long, but if you work away from home as I do most of the time, the last thing you want to do when you're actually at home is spend time feeding discs into a machine.. I've got cars to drive and a better half to spend time with for starters!From the little information I've read I'm leaning towards the Linn route - everything else looks like a compromise. Perhaps I'm biased as I love my Klassic - it's a great machine and it's been 100% bulletproof for nearly 10 years now, so as a long term investment it feels like a better option than a cd player for the same sort of money....
Main concern is that there doesn't seem to be much in the way of a standard yet, so it could be the case that I'm putting my money on a format that won't pan out in the long run..
I wouldn't worry about the file format everything is pretty much standard these days. The SB and the Sonos will both play multiple different formats out of the box. Plus if you rip your own CD's you control what format is used.
I use FLAC.
I'm actually ripping stuff now whilst working on a 2nd machine.
I use FLAC.
I'm actually ripping stuff now whilst working on a 2nd machine.
I bought a Logitech SqueezeBox Duet with great intentions of ripping all my CDs to my NAS.
I too was put off by the time it takes to rip each CD.
However, the clincher for me was that my CD player still sounds better IMHO.
So I have a 1Tb NAS with about 40gb of music on it - but I prefer CD...
Not having the best eyesight also means I have to find glasses every time I want to use the Squeezbox - but most CDs are easily identifiable just by looking at the cover.
It must be said though - I find the Squeezebox excellent for internet radio stations. At least I have been able to remove my DAB and FM tuners from my rack.
So it's horses for courses. If you're happy with the CD format and it suits you, then I say stick with it. They'll be around for a while yet, as will decent CD players (which can be upgraded with a good DAC anyway).
I too was put off by the time it takes to rip each CD.
However, the clincher for me was that my CD player still sounds better IMHO.
So I have a 1Tb NAS with about 40gb of music on it - but I prefer CD...
Not having the best eyesight also means I have to find glasses every time I want to use the Squeezbox - but most CDs are easily identifiable just by looking at the cover.
It must be said though - I find the Squeezebox excellent for internet radio stations. At least I have been able to remove my DAB and FM tuners from my rack.
So it's horses for courses. If you're happy with the CD format and it suits you, then I say stick with it. They'll be around for a while yet, as will decent CD players (which can be upgraded with a good DAC anyway).
Thanks for all your input folks - you have helped me make up my mind. When you clarify things like this it's obvious for me. I can either
1. Buy speakers, amp, record player, nas device, streaming device and spend 1000 quid plus on converting my CD's.
2. Buy speakers, amp, record player and cd player (and just get out of my chair to change the CD).
It's a no brainer really - the cost of converting everything, or the time required in lieu of cost just rule out streaming for me right now.
1. Buy speakers, amp, record player, nas device, streaming device and spend 1000 quid plus on converting my CD's.
2. Buy speakers, amp, record player and cd player (and just get out of my chair to change the CD).
It's a no brainer really - the cost of converting everything, or the time required in lieu of cost just rule out streaming for me right now.
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