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When did you digitize your CDs and LPs? I still haven’t...

I’m a 46 year old guy who came up on LPs and cassettes, got into CDs and then stumbled into the world of online music where I’m still trying to figure out what to do.

20 years or so ago when people started getting excited about digitizing their CD collections, I never bothered. I have maybe 900-1000 CDs and the idea of having to “rip” them never appealed to me. Heck, I never even liked the word “rip” and the action seemed time consuming and boring as heck to me. Same for LPs.

These days, I still have all my obsolete media but I’m a Tidal HiFi subscriber and have come to love streaming. Still, there’s a lot I have on CD and LP that Tidal doesn’t have and I’m wondering if it’s time to step into the present and get something like an Innuos Zen Mk III so I can stream, rip, and store at least all of my CDs.

Is it time to step into the present, or will I be fine rocking my Nakamichi CDP-2A until it dies and then just buying another CD player or transport? That certainly seems less expensive these days than a fancy streamer/server/“ripper”.
pip_helix

Showing 2 responses by pip_helix

pip_helix OP
30 posts
 
I’m using a Bluesound Node 2i right now. It gets the streaming job done yet I can’t help but wonder why I had to pay $550 just to get a box that’ll let me stream Tidal from my phone to my amplifier. Seems like there should be something even simpler..

Streaming.....sometimes it’s just overwhelming having access to millions of albums all at once. The nice thing about a CD collection is you have to get up and look around at it and then you rediscover things. Then, I look at some of my shelves and feel like I’m in my college apartment with CDs everywhere. Yikes.

Is it a drag to have to back up the back up of the stored CDs? I guess it’s a quiet procedure but then with the cost of, say, an Innuous Zen Mini Mk III, the upgraded power supply and then two external drives, I’m creeping up on $3k just so I don’t have to change the CD when it’s done?

I guess I’m stuck between thinking “yeah, just jump all the way into streaming” and “bah, why bother.” Maybe I can be the last man standing with a buggy whip.
pip_helix OP
30 posts
 
Re:   Your comments about the Node2 .  You didn’t need to buy it.
You can stream direct from a computer to a DAC that accepts USB
(you do have a DAC, right?  Check for inputs on your CDP if you don’t).

Well, I don’t have a desktop but I have a MacBook from 2011 and a new iPad. I guess I could repurpose the seldom used MacBook as a streamer for it’s end of life phase. I have a DAC coming in the next week or 2, my first standalone one and it has USB input. My CDP only has analog outs, no inputs. At least the Node is cheaper than a new laptop. 

The IT issues are what made me strongly reconsider something like the Allo USBridge or any other component that requires any degree of computer networking competence. 

It’s been almost three weeks and the Node just sits there and does its thing without issue so far. 
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