Which product and process to use?

[MikeShugar]

Hi

Having trouble figuring out which product i need and which process suits my needs.

I want to

1. Rip my collection (500) on a new 6-core server running WinServer 2003 64-bit to a gold reference rip in the most lossless, most complete (tags, art, etc) format.
2. sample down to MP3 for smaller size and no art for MP3 player, and preserve the option to convert from the gold reference rip to other formats without needing to re-rip.
3. then move the DBPA installation off the server (because i will use it as a server for work) on to a laptop (Win7 64bit) with one drive for ripping new cds as they are purchased.

I have 3 internal CD drives in the server and I can buy 3 more external USB dvd ($20) drives.

So my questions:

1. Which products do I need?
2. Does DBPA work with USB DVD drive readers?
3. What settings and format should I use for the gold reference rip?
4. Is there any license activation that will thwart me from moving the installation from Server to laptop?
5. Can DBPA run on a virtual machine or only on a physical machine?
6. Will DBPA run on Win Server 2003 64bit or do I need to use a different OS for the initial mass rip?
7. Is DBPA compatible with Win7 64bit (on the laptop)?

Thanks in advance. I imagine a lot of people have a very similar situation. Perhaps a recipe page to follow would be helpful for this and other common use cases.

Mike

[Spoon]

Re: Which product and process to use?

1. dBpoweramp Reference
2. Yes
3. Follow this guide: http://dbpoweramp.com/cd-ripper-setup-guide.htm
4. No
5. Only if dbpoweramp has access to the physical CD drive, not a virtualized one
6. Yes
7. Yes