Batch ripper encoding questions

[wackychimp]

A few friends and I are thinking of getting an autoloader (maybe Kodak Kiosk) and dBpoweramp Reference edition to rip our individual collections.

I have a few questions about how batch ripper works:

1) Do encoding and online metadata look-ups happen at the same time as the ripping? Or is the whole CD ripped, then I'd have to separately run the metadata look-ups on my (presumably) folders of ripped MP3s? It is unclear to me how tightly the two (dBpa and batch encoder) are integrated.

2) Does the process stop if an error occurs with one disk or does the process continue with errors noted in a log somewhere? (Or something else?)

3) Similar to #2 what if just one song on a CD is unreadable - is the whole CD passed over or is the one song skipped? (Or something else?)

4) Can CDs be ripped across my network (gigabit ethernet)? I have a storage machine with a lot more space on it but it's only 800Mhz. Or am I better off to just rip them to my local machine and then copy them over for longer term storage when I'm done.

Bonus Kodak Kiosk question: Does anyone know if a DVD drive can be swapped into this unit? One of us wants to rip his DVD collection too.

Thanks for any answers and thoughts.

[bhoar]

Re: Batch ripper encoding questions

1. Metadata and art lookup happens before ripping and ripping, encoding and tagging happen in parallel. One stop shop.

2. The batch ripper notes all rejects in a separate column. In addition, my current driver for the kodak units puts up a dialog asking if you want to pause on rejects or not.

3. Depends upon your custom-set secure settings. That is, up to you.

4. Yes, but if you do, be sure to use the [Encode Local] utility codec to prevent serious slowdowns/stoppages.

Bonus Q: I have personally swapped Samsung DVD drives into Kodak units. It takes about an hour using a dremel and a nib tool. It requires physically modifying the drives (tray side cutting, front bezel removal and metal case cutting).

Note that dbpoweramp does not support DVD ripping.

---------

I've recently acquired a ton of these units: almost literally. I'll be reselling them with my kodak driver (updated beyond what is available for download from the dbpoweramp.com site currently), itunes driver and imgburn driver. They'll be available directly from me as well as via ebay, but the direct price should be slightly lower. New In Box CD-only units with Teac drives and Refurbished units upgraded with Samsung DVDs should run approximately the same price. Due to the labor involved, I charge $100 for a CD to DVD upgrade and that's also about my price difference between the NIB and refurbished units.

It has taking me a bit longer than I wanted to ramp up to advertise selling these (ebay support, I am shaking my fist at you) but if you contact me via PM, we can talki pricing and perhaps make arrangements. I've shipped one out before the holidays and have another one shipping out tomorrow afternoon (after I complete burn in testing tonight and after I find some reasonable resealing tape).

Also note that new forum user sha215 also appears to have some new CD-only kodak units for sale (here: http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=18082 ), and that registered users of dbpoweramp reference can use my final publicly downloadable version of the driver available from this website. So, an alternate plan would be to get a basic CD-only unit (w/ no software) from sha215 and add just enough of my software to get the ripping deed done.

Just remember that the components of the publicly downloadable driver can only legally be used with dbpoweramp. If you want to use the units with other software (dbpoweramp, itunes, imgburn and others as I find novel applications) and acquire a Kodak device elsewhere, I will be selling the software bundle separately (should be $100 or so, and that price includes all future modules I come up with for both CD and DVD kodak units).

-brendan

[wackychimp]

Re: Batch ripper encoding questions

@bhoar - Many thanks! This is all good info and exactly the answers I was hoping for. Yes, I was aware that DVD ripping is not supported.

I may be interested in one of your Kodak units and will PM you.

Another question: I've seen posts around here about rejects being sorted from the rest of the stack by the robot arm... is that also the case with the Kodak units? Or is the only way to know to look in the logs to see what didn't rip? Looks like other autoloaders have a more "mobile" arm that can sort.

[bhoar]

Re: Batch ripper encoding questions

Right. The Kodak units do not sort rejects. The most recent version of my driver can be configured to pause and notify on rejects if the operator wishes. If not, sort them out at the end. Since each batch is only 50 discs, it only takes a minute to sort through the on-screen reject list and pull the rejected discs out after the batch.

If reject sorting is a must, there are some other options vs. the kodak (in terms of small robots):

1. You could go with the 25-disc baxter/minicubis/pico/etc. unit using spoon's free drivers for those.
2. You could pick up a 100-disc Aleratec Roboracer (or dexpreso, etc.) and purchase a driver from me for that.
3. You could find a used amtren/discmakers single-drive 60 to 75-disc robot (elite-micro, micro-ultra) and download and use my (currently free) driver for those.

Options 1 and 2 would almost certainly be more expensive but you gain the flexibility of a reject pile, DVD drive and duplication software (I like that the aleratec/dexpreso units have lightscribe). #3 is hit and miss since you might end up buying a broken unit.

With 1 and 2 you probably will get a DVD drive that is not a great ripping drive (unlike the Kodak's Teac). With #3, the older units out there typically come with real Plextor CD/DVD drives (which is good for ripping if the drives are still in good shape), but you can get unlucky and end up with a Pioneer DVD drive instead (not so good for audio CD ripping).

A separate reject pile is quite useful for people who do commercial (or commercial scale) ripping...though some prefer not to avail themselves of the reject location because they don't want to change the disc order. E.g. in "white glove" ripping situations where the services receive the CDs in cases, preventing resorting of the discs by performing FIFO ripping (the batch ripper does not support this, it's a high throughput implementation) and configuring for no physical rejects helps the operator put the CDs back in cases more easily.

For most people with, say, < 800 CDs, and ripping for personal reasons, the lack of the reject function is only a minor annoyance (IMO).

...but of course I would say the above, since I want to sell my Kodaks... And if you buy the kodak, you'll get scripts for more than just dbpoweramp (specifics still being worked on, but covering several applications).

-brendan

[Paperback920]

Re: Batch ripper encoding questions

Hi Brendan, from your answ.
"updated beyond what is available for download from the dbpoweramp.com site currently"

What is the "extra" in you Kodak driver, compared w. the one at the Dbpoweramp site?
-Frank

[bhoar]

Re: Batch ripper encoding questions

Hi Brendan, from your answ.
"updated beyond what is available for download from the dbpoweramp.com site currently"

What is the "extra" in you Kodak driver, compared w. the one at the Dbpoweramp site?
-Frank

The last public update I made was moving the option to enabled reject notifications from the configuration screen to a dialog at start of batch.

I then noticed, however, the reject notification itself was coming up too early, so that when you clicked OK, you still had to wait a bit for the disc to go through the process of being grabbed, lifted, the tray closed and the disc dropped.

I've changed the reject handling notification a little bit so that if you ask it to notify you before dropping, it now drops immediately when you say Ok instead of making you wait a bit while it finishes.

Beyond that, though, the for-sale versions will also include scripts for ripping CDs with itunes and burning queues of images with imgburn.

-brendan

[defib]

Re: Batch ripper encoding questions

Any idea when you will be ready to sell the kodak units along with your driver? Also do you have a rough idea of what you would be looking to get for it? I don't need the DVD modification it would just be the stock unit.

Thanks

[bhoar]

Re: Batch ripper encoding questions

Any idea when you will be ready to sell the kodak units along with your driver? Also do you have a rough idea of what you would be looking to get for it? I don't need the DVD modification it would just be the stock unit.

Pricing is $300+$30 S/H to lower 48 for a new in box unit. Includes updated kodak driver, itunes automation and imgburn automation, as well as future updates.

If interested, PM me your email address.

-brendan