Going lossless

My suggestion is to play a few seconds of a track from each rip. My old laptop had a bug and about 1 out of every 100 rips I did, the files were silent. They would rip as accurate with AccurateRip, and the file sizes were correct, but when I played them back, no sound. No sound also if I transferred them to another computer. I got into the habit of playing a track until I heard something. I'm still doing it even though I've ripped a couple thousand disc on my current laptop without the problem happening.

 

Ok. I do listen to my FLAC and MP3 audio files by randomly choosing tracks to listen to. No problems so far to report. I also noticed that the FLAC level 8 audio files are at least 25 percent bigger in file sizes compared to the MP3 versions. Thank goodness I bought the Seagate Backup Plus FAST 4.0 TB USB 3.0 RAID-0 portable hard disk drive and I use Microsoft Bitlocker to encrypt it.

 

I've hit the 1,000.00 CD album mark. The problem is that I still have several thousands of CDs left to go. I'm ripping and encoding 100.00 CDs per day and it's taking me roughly 9 hours with breaks for meals. It feels like a full-time job except I don't get paid and there's no healthcare benefits or a 401K or pension plan. I think that I'll need new Blu-Ray USB 3.0 optical burner drives once I finish this massive job. I'm listening to my FLAC audio files randomly and there's no problems so far. I try to listen to every 10th CD album for a couple of tracks to make sure nothing went bad. I'm hoping that I'll be done by the end of this year.

As for my large MP3 collection, it's still growing quickly. I spend most of my time listening to it after I'm done ripping and encoding to FLAC level 8 compression.

SpiderOak isn't working for me right now. I think my account needs to be investigated by SpiderOak. I'm disconnected from their servers. I sent an e-mail with a SOS ticket number and they should reply with some information and solutions today. We shall see.

My FLAC music library is roughly 425 GB for 1,000.00 music albums so far. I'm guessing it will be 2.2 - 2.5 TB once I'm done. This does not include my high resolution FLAC lossless music album purchases which totals an additional 97 GB. I'm glad I got the Seagate Backup Plus FAST 4.0 TB USB 3.0 portable hard disk drive. Knock on wood and it's still working. It does get warm though through the ripping and encoding processes.

I'm using my Etymotic ER-4S to listen to music. These optical disk drives are pretty quiet, but they do make quite a bit of noise while spinning discs rapidly.

 

FLAC does sound a little bit better than MP3, but it's not a night and day difference to my ears. Maybe my CEntrance HiFi-M8 LX XL4 is not good enough to tell the differences. I plan to get the Chord Hugo and I'm hoping that I can tell the differences between FLAC and MP3s more clearly by then. Fingers crossed. I should have it by early January 2015. This will be the last audio component that I plan to purchase for the next several years until I get the upgrade itch again.

 

I'm hoping that I'll reach the 2,000.00 CD album mark by mid October 2014. We shall see. I'd like to be done with this project by Christmas 2014.

I got a long way to go. I use Microsoft Sync Toy to sync my FLAC music library to my best friend's Western Digital My Book 4.0 TB USB 3.0 external desktop hard disk drive. He's my off-site backup for my media libraries.

 

Amazing progress. You'll find that rock music compresses a different average amount than classical. And jazz will compress to a different average degree as well. Early classical CDs were also often quite short compared to modern classical CDs. So early classical CDs (like early Telarc) will take less space than a classical CD released more recently.

One thing you might want to keep track of while ripping is the catalog number or some other way to identify particular releases. That will help avoid confusion for CDs where you have multiple versions of the same album (like different masterings). I usually manually type the label or catalog number in the comments field when ripping a CD that I have multiple versions of.

 

So far, I don't have that many duplicate CDs. One thing that I tried to avoid was repurchasing the same music so I never wound up buying different mastering versions of the same album twice. Once I'm done ripping and encoding everything to FLAC level 8 compression, I plan to give my entire CD collection to my friend. He has a much larger apartment and he requested my CD collection. He plans to rent a U Haul truck and both of us will load it up and he'll drive away with it.

I want to go all in with digital copies of my music. This will clear up a lot of physical space in my large apartment so that I can furnish it. I have a spare bedroom with a spare bed that I plan to use as an office. I also have plans to clear out my closet full of CDs so that I can store more clothes and shoes.

I'm thinking about giving away my Resolution Audio Opus 21 music system and my Ray Samuels Audio Emmeline HR-2 headphone amplifier for free of charge. The recipient will pay for one way shipping via UPS shipping. I got to clear out more closet space in my bedroom.

 

Several thousand CDs do take a lot of space. Even when boxed and stored in the back of a closet and anywhere else there is spare storage room.

Just make sure you've got all the metadata that you want from the CDs before sending them away. Catalog numbers, album art, info about performers or conductors or orchestra, and things like that. Granted much of that info is also available online at places like discogs or musicbrainz or allmusic and other sites.

I like to scan and edit album art for albums I have and like but don't have good album art available online. That's one reason why I have a difficult time selling or getting rid of CDs. What if I want to scan it later?

 

The guys over on the Hydrogen Audio Forum insist that lossless is lossless, and the compression level does not matter. It did 10-12 years ago when computers were slower and processors were punier. Now, I'd say the default level is fine.

Be sure to pace yourself and not try to burden yourself with too many CDs. I find that an AccurateRip ripping engine, like dBPowerAmp, is mandatory for making sure you're getting a bit-accurate copy of the CD. dBP will also give you a textfile log showing you if there were any problems with the CD and any files that you need to audibly check.

I can usually rip 150 discs in about 5-6 hours, but the real problem is finding the cover art and making sure all the metadata is right. That's what takes the real time. Once you have the files ripped, be sure to back up. Don't wait for the project to be finished -- back up every few days, or whenever you complete a lot of rips in one day. Two backup copies are not too many.

I find encryption programs to be too intrusive. If you have a disk crash, the encryption can interfere with the recovery program's ability to bring the files back. My take is, I'm not trying to hide anything from anybody, and if somebody really wants to dig into your files when you're not home, an expert will be able to undo any encryption most mortals have access to.

 

I have found that weekly backups of my FLAC music library to be sufficient. I have learned that full-disk encryption is mandatory since I live with a roommate and I really don't know him too well; he moved in less than two weeks ago. He doesn't have a computer, but I don't want him or other tenants in my apartment building to start lifting stuff from my bedroom. If I push myself, then I can usually do 100 CDs in about five hours without breaks which is a long stretch of time. I use Perfect Tunes to get my metadata and it works just fine. It fetches CD artwork and metadata for me that might be missing for a rare CD or so.

I already decided to clear out space in my bedroom and apartment over the next couple of weeks. I'm hoping that I'll be done with this massive job by early November 2014. Thereafter, I am going to give away my CD collection to my friend. I'm also trying to give away my RA Opus 21 and RSA Emmeline HR-2 to another friend that I met here on SHMF in the next few weeks.

 

There's a level 9 now? I need to update my software, the best option in mine is level 8.

The compression differences may not be huge between 8 & 9 (haven't checked yet) but when dealing with upwards of 4,000 discs worth of material, a few mg per disc can sure add up fast.

 

No, I was mistaken. FLAC level 8 compression is the maximum. That's what I use now.

 

I think you will hear a major difference between the two with the Hugo DAC. That is a very nice piece of equipment from everything I have read. I can tell a major difference between the two with my far inferior OPPO BDP-105 USB DAC.