CD Ripper to NAS - AIFF/MP3/iTunes

[Maverick911]

I am ripping my CD collection to NAS. Two formats at once, AIFF (home listening) and MP3 for iTunes/iPod use. Sending the AIFF and MP3 files to separate folders on NAS. Need help here. A couple questions.
1. Is there a way to have the MP3 folder files automatically ADD to iTunes? XL Encoder will do this for you.
2. I have ripped a few CDs to test and when looking at the files I noticed the first ripped CD was placed in an individual FOLDER. Example "REM" then "Out of Time" with the audio file inside. After this first rip no other individual "Artist" "Album" folders have been created and the audio files from 4-5 CDs are all in one in one folder not organized by Artist then Album. QUESTION - Does this matter in the long run that the files are not organized within folders?? Thanks for the help.

[Spoon]

Re: CD Ripper to NAS - AIFF/MP3/iTunes

If you rip to the automatically add to itunes folder:

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/7739/itunes-10-automatically-add-new-media-to-your-itunes-library/

2. Where are the other discs being written to? What naming string are you using? If you are using multi encoder, select FLAC as the encoder on the main ripping page, click the naming button, and copy the default naming value to the clipboard, now reselect multi encoder and change the naming value to this.

[Maverick911]

Re: CD Ripper to NAS - AIFF/MP3/iTunes

Thanks for the link and will set up the Automatically add to iTunes folder and test it.

The discs have all been written to the same location on my NAS HD and to two separate folders. One folder "music" (aiff to stream to high end system) and the other is Automatically add to iTunes (MP3 for iTunes/iPod) XL encoder created this folder when I tried XL before going to DB and it worked and added the files to iTunes. I will have to look at iTunes per the link and check the setup.

Yes using multi encoder to rip to two files as above at once. So right now the last 5 discs have put the files in the correct folders however have just dumped them all in there together. The first disc I only ripped it aiff and it was organized as above - artist folder, album name, and all tracks in order inside. Very nice. Since going to multi encoder the tracks began to be put in the correct folders but no more artist and album folders. Look like the naming strings may need to be updated now with the multi encoder being used. Can I organize the files with artist folder, album folder, and then tracks in order inside with the correct string? Is it the Flac string you recommend? Thanks.

[BrodyBoy]

Re: CD Ripper to NAS - AIFF/MP3/iTunes

Thanks for the link and will set up the Automatically add to iTunes folder and test it.

The discs have all been written to the same location on my NAS HD and to two separate folders. One folder "music" (aiff to stream to high end system) and the other is Automatically add to iTunes (MP3 for iTunes/iPod) XL encoder created this folder when I tried XL before going to DB and it worked and added the files to iTunes. I will have to look at iTunes per the link and check the setup.

The only caveat about using the "Automatically add to iTunes" folder: iTunes re-organizes and renames your music into its own filing "system," which is rather sloppy. If you really don't care that much about how the folders and tracks are organized, so long as it works okay in iTunes, that shouldn't be a problem. For anyone who is particular about organizing things their own way, it's better to go ahead and create your preferred folder structure with dBp and then add them to iTunes manually.

Yes using multi encoder to rip to two files as above at once. So right now the last 5 discs have put the files in the correct folders however have just dumped them all in there together. The first disc I only ripped it aiff and it was organized as above - artist folder, album name, and all tracks in order inside. Very nice. Since going to multi encoder the tracks began to be put in the correct folders but no more artist and album folders. Look like the naming strings may need to be updated now with the multi encoder being used. Can I organize the files with artist folder, album folder, and then tracks in order inside with the correct string? Is it the Flac string you recommend? Thanks.

Yeah, you just need to change the naming string in the multi-encoder: Simply go back to the single encoder that organized things the way you liked. Click the "Set" button next to the little Naming window, and copy the naming string. Close that, go to the multi-encoder, and open the settings for the AIFF encoder. Paste that naming string into the dynamic naming field. (I'm assuming the PATH is already the same.)

[BrodyBoy]

Re: CD Ripper to NAS - AIFF/MP3/iTunes

One more point, Maverick, since you appear to be early in the ripping process. I'd urge you to re-consider whether you really want to use AIFF. Much like WAV (the other well-known "PCM-type" format), it's not nearly as metadata-friendly as the other common lossless codecs. Metadata is key to library usability, so having maximal control & flexibility of the tag data is really important for most users.

In the Apple universe, ALAC is the much more metadata-friendly lossless codec. (Since they are both lossless, AIFF and ALAC are the same in terms of audio data and quality. ALAC files are also smaller, though that's not much of an issue now that storage space is so inexpensive.)

[Maverick911]

Re: CD Ripper to NAS - AIFF/MP3/iTunes

Thanks Brody for the replies. Much appreciated. Plan to rip more CDs soon and fix the strings. A good friend of mine and fellow and fellow audiophile has highly recommended AIFF for high end home listening do to the great sound quality. My NAS is 4TB so plenty of space. Plan to use JRiver eventually for the music server SW. Do you believe the AIFF files contain sufficient metadata for a SW such as JRiver to operate very efficiently? Thanks.

[BrodyBoy]

Re: CD Ripper to NAS - AIFF/MP3/iTunes

Thanks Brody for the replies. Much appreciated. Plan to rip more CDs soon and fix the strings. A good friend of mine and fellow and fellow audiophile has highly recommended AIFF for high end home listening do to the great sound quality. My NAS is 4TB so plenty of space. Plan to use JRiver eventually for the music server SW. Do you believe the AIFF files contain sufficient metadata for a SW such as JRiver to operate very efficiently? Thanks.

Since lossless = lossless and all the lossless formats contain the exact same audio data, they all have the same, great audio quality. So any lossless codec will satisfy the "audiophile" requirement.* But beyond that, principle considerations should be compatibility with all current & potential players, and suitability for sophisticated library management, i.e., accommodating extensive metadata control, flexibility, and compatibility. (File size used to be a concern, but cheap storage has made that a non-issue for most of us. Still matters for portable players, but that's another discussion.)

I wouldn't use AIFF or WAV for my digital music library. They both have lossless audio quality, of course, and they can generally be played by most players, but neither satisfies that third requirement. They weren't designed "from the ground up" to incorporate metadata the way modern consumer devices use it, and while their evolving standards now support data chunks, support is just too sketchy. The metadata added or used by one system can't be assumed to be universally compatible outside that system, leading to "works in this player but not that one" type problems. I just can't see any reason to take on that kind of headache when lossless codecs like FLAC and ALAC have all the benefits and none of the drawbacks. (Just spend a few minutes googling WAV and/or AIFF metadata issues and you'll see what I mean....)

Your digital music library is something that should serve you for a very long time. No matter how much you like the playback system you have/use right now, assume you will be using something else at some point. Equipment becomes obsolete, fancy-schmancy new stuff comes out. I've learned this the hard way over the years....it makes sense to construct your music library to be as future-proof as possible. For me (recognizing it doesn't apply to everybody), that means using codecs that any new player is likely to support, and being so obsessively thorough and accurate with the metadata that I never have to go back and redo it when new players come into the mix.


* There's a lot of confusion and misconception, I think, around the "audiophilia" of different formats. (Yes I made that word up! ) Think of it like this: A lossless rip grabs all the audio data of the original CD....all the bits, as it were. Then all those bits have to be stored in some kind of container, and there are lots of different containers (codecs) available. Player support means a that player knows how to open that particular container, take out the bits, and feed them into a DAC (digital-to-audio converter). For any lossless format, that bit stream is identical when it arrives at the DAC....the container they were in before that is irrelevant. That's the audio side of it.