March 11, 2007

CD ripping services

OK so there you are, ready to jump on the networked music bandwagon. You have been eying one of the many players we have reviewed and have been looking into wireless routers and some nice external hard disks. You are all ready to start enjoying you amazing collection of CDs when you realize that your amazing collection of CDs is just that...CDs. You have yet to put them all onto your computer.

The thought of ripping 400+ CDs makes your head spin and you scrap the whole idea of piping your music to every room in the house wirelessly. Well there is an alternative. If you don't mind parting with your entire collection and some of your hard earned cash you can send your CDs off to one of many CD ripping services. They will take your CDs ,rip them, and then send them all back to you.

This service doesn't come free though,many companies have a sliding scale of fees depending on how many CDs you ship them. Turn around time seems to be right around a a week or two. If you don't mind having your entire collection being sent around in the mail with the potential of getting lost and you don't mind spending a few hundred bucks this might be for you.

You will end up with your CDs back, plus some extra CDs of all your music in mp3 format. Most companies allow you to specify which bitrate you want your music ripped at, but this will increase time and money if you want a higher bitrate then what they offer as a default.

All and all it isn't a bad deal, the amount of time it would take you to rip your collection might just be probative and this is an easy way to jump into the game.
Now get out there and buy your dream networked solution and start enjoying music wherever you damn well please!

There is a nice write-up of some of the more popular services available over at digitaltrends.com