Multiple Installations and PCs

[Quartet-man]

I was wondering how databases are handled if I purchase a family pack or second installation. What I mean is if I enter an unknown disc in one, or make corrections, are those only tied on the PC I ripped on, and won't be reflected on the other PC?

I really don't want to be tied to one PC, nor to have to enter or edit each one. There may be a need of re-ripping on another device someday.

[garym]

Not sure what you mean. There is no "database" created by ripping or converting. The ripper does have a cache that keeps track of a limited number of recently ripped CDs. Are you referring to your music library that you perhaps keep a copy of on different PCs. If so, changing a file on one PC won't automatically change files on different PCs.

But for example, I keep my music library on different PCs and on backup HDDs. I use the program "freefilesync" to keep my music folder containing my library synched so that the files are the same on every PC/HDD.

[Quartet-man]

So, changes made to the CD information results before ripping (inaccurate results or adding an unknown CD info in) do not get saved somehow within the program so that I won't have to re-enter or re-edit
if I want to re-rip on that same CD on that same PC 3 years from now or want to right away on another PC?

Some programs used to at least update the Gracenote / CDDB or others (which of course was always subject to someone else going behind you and messing it up again)

[garym]

So, changes made to the CD information results before ripping (inaccurate results or adding an unknown CD info in) do not get saved somehow within the program so that I won't have to re-enter or re-edit
if I want to re-rip on that same CD on that same PC 3 years from now or want to right away on another PC?

Some programs used to at least update the Gracenote / CDDB or others (which of course was always subject to someone else going behind you and messing it up again)

No. Any changes you make to the metadata (tag) info for the CD when you are ripping is saved only in the dbpoweramp cache on the PC you rip the CD on. And even then, it only saves the last few CDs you rip. The cache is not permanent. Of course all your changes did get used for the metadata/tagging of the files you ripped. I rip once and then move copies of these files to various PCs and various backup HDDs, but I never rip more than once.

Edit, I think a relatively recent addition to dbpoweramp is the option to tick the use of "Accuraterip Meta" in the metadata providers section. This is new but growing fast (> 1 million disks). This takes the metadata information entered by dbpa users, also comparing with other online providers of metadata, and tries to come up with the "best" metadata for a particular disk. Essentially crowd sourcing metadata from dbpa users. Great idea by the way.

[Spoon]

If you rip to lossless, you will never have to re-rip. Any changes to metadata are written to the ID tags in the files.

[Quartet-man]

I do lossless (and then convert if I want smaller files elsewhere), but digital files can get corrupted, drives fail (I realize backups can help with some of this) or in my haste to rip may not catch entry mistakes if only glancing. Sometimes I might want to fix or change without having to re-enter everything.

Another instance is entering a CD that has trouble rippong, and want to try on another PC and get to do the long, slow read trying to get an accurate read while continuing with others on the laptop where I am.

I guess I'll just have to track changes on entries in a document.
Editing tags helps some of the times.

[garym]

or in my haste to rip may not catch entry mistakes if only glancing. Sometimes I might want to fix or change without having to re-enter everything.

In this case you don't need to re-rip to fix mistakes. You can simply use dbpa "EDIT ID TAGS" to change/edit the existing metadata tag info. You would only need to fix the mistakes, not re-do all the tagging. Then you could use the ARRANGE AUDIO INFO utility DSP to rename files/folders based on updated tags. I've ripped over 5,000 CDs and never had to rerip. But I find that fixing my tags is practically a part time job. ;-) I was careful when I ripped, but occasionally notice things that I want to fix. I actually use mp3tag to do post rip tag editing and file renaming, rather than the dbpoweramp versions, but this is mostly just habit.