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Archiving CDs to HD...suggestions?

i'm thinking of moving and wondering the best way to consolidate my 3k CD collection to a hard drive, which would be much easier to move.

clearly i'd go into PC/Mac-based audio in my new abode.

but a few questions first:
1) does the cd drive matter to the rip? or do i just need to use a good software like EAC or the like to ensure an accurate rip?

2) if i rip on a PC, do i have to use a PC in the future, or can i use a Mac against my external music store if it was created under a PC?

3) what sort of redundancy is in order? RAID 1? RAID 5? or just another HD the same as the one i plan on playing from, and simply use it as a backup?

4) which uncompressed file format should i use? AAC or something else?

5) any estimate of how much storage would be required for 3k CDs? or would it be feasible to split my music collection across 2 primary HDs...like A-L, M-Z...which is really asking if playback software can read across multiple drives in one virtual "library"

6) are rips sensitive to vibrations, power conditioning, etc?

thanks for any suggestions
RC
rhyno

Showing 1 response by mceljo

mceljo
1,357 posts
 
I have very limited knowledge about this, but I'll put in my two cents for a couple of your questions.

1) & 6) It is my understanding that CD players have some level of error correction that is used when playing music. Essentially, this is the what keeps things from skipping during a shock event. I believe that this applies to rips using certain software, but there is software that yields a bit for bit perfect rip. I'm not sure if it handles it as data rather than audio.

Assuming that you have software that always results in bit for bit perfection then vibrations, power conditioning and other audiophile concerns would not apply. If you're using software that can result in some error corrections, then I'd suspect that large vibrations would have a negative impact, but not much else.
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