Disconnected my CD players / transports today and stored them and my CDs

[Brian Hall]

All of my CDs have been ripped to flac and stored on a Plex server for quite a while. Most of the albums I have purchased lately have preferably been flac downloads from either Bandcamp or Qobuz when available.

I was looking for a particular CD* today and after several minutes realized there is no point in bothering with the physical CDs (except for buying them and ripping them to flac). It just adds more useless complication without any audible benefit. Not nearly as bad as records and a turntable, but those are next up to go into storage. Simple and uncluttered is better.

Screw nostalgia.

*I haven't re-sorted my CDs since my rambunctious dog (pit bull and bird dog mix) somehow managed to knock over the large cabinet which held several hundred CDs.

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

All of my CDs have been ripped to flac and stored on a Plex server for quite a while. Most of the albums I have purchased lately have preferably been flac downloads from either Bandcamp or Qobuz when available.

I was looking for a particular CD* today and after several minutes realized there is no point in bothering with the physical CDs (except for buying them and ripping them to flac). It just adds more useless complication without any audible benefit. Not nearly as bad as records and a turntable, but those are next up to go into storage. Simple and uncluttered is better.

Screw nostalgia.

*I haven't re-sorted my CDs since my rambunctious dog (pit bull and bird dog mix) somehow managed to knock over the large cabinet which held several hundred CDs.

It's hard. I did it when we moved 9 years ago. I had to make time between box packing sessions. I don't regret it. I've bought a couple of CDs because I couldn't find hi res downloads or streaming versions.

 

[dualazmak]

.....
*I haven't re-sorted my CDs since my rambunctious dog (pit bull and bird dog mix) somehow managed to knock over the large cabinet which held several hundred CDs.

I can well understand and feel sympathy on your present situation!

If you would be interested in my policy and actual practice of how to organize physical disks (CD, LP, SACD, etc.) and digital music library, please visit my post here:
- How to organize digital music library; sharing my policy and operation: #004(remote thread)

As for my backup policy and practice of digital music library, please visit here.
- My backup policy and practice of digital music library: #60(remote thread)

 

[Joe Smith]

I love my physical media and devices and can't give them up quite yet. Vinyl, CD, cassette, my old iTunes library... they all continue to get use, along with streaming.

CDs are in tubs by broad categories, alpha by musician - I'm in the habit of having 30-40 out at a time, then restore them and pull more as I'm filing those away to listen to. Cassettes are stored alpha by category in Napa crates. Vinyl alpha by category in various fruit (wood) or milk (plastic) crates.

Reshelving the CDs and cassettes takes some time but I don't do it very often, so it's manageable...

 

[JeremyFife]

It's hard to let go of old habits, even when they are pointless. My CDs are long gone but the records remain, for now.
I occasionally (very occasionally) rifle through them to see what I've forgotten about.
I have a hope that my Son will one day take an interest and play something he can't hear on the radio (or YT). I can't imagine him browsing my digital collection, but perhaps real album artwork will catch his eye.

 

[Mart68]

. It just adds more useless complication without any audible benefit. Not nearly as bad as records and a turntable, but those are next up to go into storage. Simple and uncluttered is better.

There's no audible benefit but I find using CDs to be less complicated than using a computer to play music.

I don't consider them clutter just like I don't consider books on shelves to be clutter.

 

[fatoldgit]

Welcome Brother Brian to discless nirvana.

I joined that club 10 years ago after giving up all black and silver disks (cd and dvd-v).

Firstly did a one for one match of a CD to my vinyl, then ripped all 5000 CD's (plus 400 music DVD's).

Bugger all that rummaging with physical media when you can browse it all on a 60" screen.

Sure ripping can be intensive BUT you actually learn a lot about your music collection during the process...I really enjoyed doing it.

You, like me, are a very wise man... you have broken the shackles of physical media and you can look forward to a glorious future, full for joy and happiness.

Peter

 

[Fleuch]

Welcome Brother Brian to discless nirvana.

I joined that club 10 years ago after giving up all black and silver disks (cd and dvd-v).

Firstly did a one for one match of a CD to my vinyl, then ripped all 5000 CD's (plus 400 music DVD's).

Bugger all that rummaging with physical media when you can browse it all on a 60" screen.

Sure ripping can be intensive BUT you actually learn a lot about your music collection during the process...I really enjoyed doing it.

You, like me, are a very wise man... you have broken the shackles of physical media and you can look forward to a glorious future, full for joy and happiness.

Peter

Interested to read you ripped 400 music DVD's. Can you suggest software for the task?

Also any recommendations for ripping SACDs, as my favourite software for ripping CDs is just for CDs?

By the way, listening to a CD is preferable to vinyl - simply because there are no pops and other extraneous noises. A turntable takes up a lot of space, usually is expensive and delicate, requiring much maintenance to keep it "in good order". There is also the wear on the vinyl itself.

Whether .wav or .flac or CD the resolution of digital compared to vinyl, the lack of static, dust and other imperfections makes digital "top notch".

 

[-Matt-]

Regarding software...

I was using linux a while back when I made digital backups of most of my CDs; I used SoundJuicer (not sure if it is still a good option). More recently I've used foobar2000 on Windows to do the same. (I use lossless flac as my archive format).

To embed album art, which makes it much nicer to browse through your collection, I used MiscBrainz Picard. (Although it can be a frustrating process, especially with compilation CDs).

For SACD, I decided not to bother. I only had a few and I either just used the CD layer, or repurchased the blu-ray. I think that the often recommended way is to use an expensive discontinued Oppo bluray player which has a built in ripping/network streaming function.

For dvd and bluray movies I used MakeMKV to make disc images (not transcoded) though this can also be frustrating.

It was a lot of effort to do in the first place and unfortunately the hassle involved is a slight disincentive to making new purchases, also I do occasionally miss putting a disc into a physical player. However, I appreciate the reduction of clutter (discs are in the loft now), simplification of my audio setup and the convenience of simply clicking to play any track from my collection. Obviously most people don't think it is worth the effort, but I'm glad it is done now.

I still prefer to buy physical media and make my own digital backup, rather than give up on media ownership altogether and simply subscribe to a media leasing scheme (streaming provider) like most others.

 

[Brian Hall]

You, like me, are a very wise man... you have broken the shackles of physical media and you can look forward to a glorious future, full for joy and happiness.

I broke the shackles of physical books when the very first Kindle was released. No regrets and Goodwill and the local libraries got some big piles of donated books.

I'm keeping my CDs, but they will remain neatly stored in storage boxes.

 

[Talisman]

I took exactly the opposite path. I abandoned CDs many years ago in favor of streaming or ripped files. Over the years, I realized I'd acquired a hysterical way of enjoying music, restlessly jumping around. Huge libraries and random modes had taken away some of the pleasure.
I started with the system I have in the garage where I do my mechanic work. A small CD player. I browse through my records, choose one, and then let it play from track one to the last while I do my thing. I find it more satisfying.
Now, gradually, the CD player is making a comeback in my systems, where before I only had streamers.

 

[JeffS7444]

I periodically downsize my collections, because I get bored of stuff, my interests change, or maybe I watched/listened to/read something once and never felt the urge to do so again. Give me 1000 pieces of anything, and odds are that I won't touch 95% of it in a given year, and that's being generous. Scaling back allows me to enjoy the items which remain. This includes digital goods as well as physical ones.

Books, magazines: I really like some of the more lavishly produced ones. But if I can borrow via my extended library system, I usually will.

CDs, LPs, DVD/B-D/4K disks: LPs are the smallest collection, well under 100. I don't think I've ever owned more than 500 albums in any format at any given time. Movies, maybe 200 max. I will sometimes repurchase movies in higher-res formats, but usually I don't, same as I didn't repurchase many LPs as CDs.

Digital collections: I declutter these too.

 

[sq225917]

My playback is file based or vinyl. I keep a cd player in the rack for those titles not available as lossless download, or for when a friend bring a cd around. Still useful.

 

[levimax]

Also any recommendations for ripping SACDs, as my favourite software for ripping CDs is just for CDs?

Ripping SACD's is completely different and more involved. The easiest way I have found is described here https://hifihaven.org/index.php?threads/rip-sacd-with-a-blu-ray-player.3652/ . You will need one of several specific older SACD players (available on ebay or if lucky your local thrift store) and a USB stick and the free software mentioned in the link and the process is then automatic and works well.

 

[suttondesign]

Ripped my CD's beginning in 1999, got most of the collection ripped by end of 2000, and bought only a few dozen CD's after that, all of which got ripped upon purchase. I now store 1500 CD's without jewel cases in file boxes in a warehouse. No idea what to do with them. Some are not available on the streaming services, but nearly all are. I so rarely listen to even the ripped ones that I'm not sure it's worth keeping a local server alongside the streaming services.

 

[Mnyb]

All of my CDs have been ripped to flac and stored on a Plex server for quite a while. Most of the albums I have purchased lately have preferably been flac downloads from either Bandcamp or Qobuz when available.

I was looking for a particular CD* today and after several minutes realized there is no point in bothering with the physical CDs (except for buying them and ripping them to flac). It just adds more useless complication without any audible benefit. Not nearly as bad as records and a turntable, but those are next up to go into storage. Simple and uncluttered is better.

Screw nostalgia.

*I haven't re-sorted my CDs since my rambunctious dog (pit bull and bird dog mix) somehow managed to knock over the large cabinet which held several hundred CDs.

I was never able to resort 1600 CD’s after one off my moves to another city . The guys who packed them did not put them in order .

It was somekind of organic order only known to me that had emerged over decades not exactly alphabetical nor exactly in genres.

Then I relied on algorithms in my server to come up with suggestions and it worked splendidly LMS combined with Spotify. Now Roon .

 

[Chris A]

Interested to read you ripped 400 music DVD's. Can you suggest software for the task?

I use MakeMKV to convert everything on video discs (including 4K) to *.mkv files, which play on my video disc players and on my laptop via USB external HDs.

If I need just the audio files without the added video (and I use these a lot), I use Audiomuxer to strip out the audio-only portions of the MKV files that I want. Works great.

Also any recommendations for ripping SACDs, as my favourite software for ripping CDs is just for CDs?

SACDs are a different story. I use Sonore, which requires you to use a SACD (native DSD file) capable disc player to act as a server for the PC-based "client". This process is a little slower than using MakeMKV and Audiomuxer for PCM files off the discs, but it creates the directories and track names for you, and all it takes is to press one button.

You have to have a SACD player with firmware that is supported by Sonore (i.e., the manufacturer hasn't yet tried to get you to "upgrade your firmware" in order to stop the player from being able to use Sonore). I use an Oppo BDP-103 to do that, and it works reasonably well. Once you crack the code on how to set up the Sonore server, and get your SACD player to accept the Sonore add-in software on its startup (when ripping), it's easy.

All of the above software is shareware (MakeMKV) or freeware (Audiomuxer and Sonore). I paid the few extra bucks for MakeMKV license, and also bought a "Libredrive" re-flashed Pioneer external disc drive so I can rip all discs (except SACD)--and this includes 4K movies. Wonderful thing to not have to use physical discs anymore. I lost too many physical discs to handling and disc tray issues, so I did something about it. (I keep all of my old physical discs on the shelf.).

Chris

 

[Mean & Green]

There's no audible benefit but I find using CDs to be less complicated than using a computer to play music.

I don't consider them clutter just like I don't consider books on shelves to be clutter.

Agreed, I find touchscreens, PCs and the user interfaces that go along with it to be much more of an effort than just plopping a CD in the CD player and also less of a pleasure.

Fine for playlists, but for albums I want it in my hands and I like to operate physical buttons etc… I don’t find physical media a clutter either. What else would I keep in my home? I like things, not files and hard drives. Although my collection is ripped and I do play the files as play lists, the thought of my network player being my only option does not appeal.

 

[olds1959special]

All of my CDs have been ripped to flac and stored on a Plex server for quite a while. Most of the albums I have purchased lately have preferably been flac downloads from either Bandcamp or Qobuz when available.

I was looking for a particular CD* today and after several minutes realized there is no point in bothering with the physical CDs (except for buying them and ripping them to flac). It just adds more useless complication without any audible benefit. Not nearly as bad as records and a turntable, but those are next up to go into storage. Simple and uncluttered is better.

Screw nostalgia.

*I haven't re-sorted my CDs since my rambunctious dog (pit bull and bird dog mix) somehow managed to knock over the large cabinet which held several hundred CDs.

I did this years ago and now basically use streaming exclusively. Sold my vinyl too. I had 300 records and 1000 CD's.

 

[Mart68]

Agreed, I find touchscreens, PCs and the user interfaces that go along with it to be much more of an effort than just plopping a CD in the CD player and also less of a pleasure.

Fine for playlists, but for albums I want it in my hands and I like to operate physical buttons etc… I don’t find physical media a clutter either. What else would I keep in my home? I like things, not files and hard drives. Although my collection is ripped and I do play the files as play lists, the thought of my network player being my only option does not appeal.

It's funny how things come full circle. When I was young homes (at least ours and most people we knew) were fairly barren as no-one had spare money to buy 'stuff' to put in them.

Then 'stuff' got a lot cheaper, relatively, people accumulated it, and now we're at the stage where a lot of people feel they want a home that's almost devoid of it again.

Whatever works for the individual concerned is what is best of course. I don't like junk all over the place but I have a friend who has stripped his place back so the lounge just has a couch, coffee table, and a TV on the wall - and nothing else. I find it a bit disconcerting. Like being in a waiting room.

I like to have books and CDs on display, and a few other bits and pieces. Otherwise it would feel like I was in someone else's house. Or no-one's house.