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    CD Music Storage on Computer?

    I have some music CD's that I have purchased, and I would like to load the music onto my Windows 2000 computer so I can access them from Homeseer via the Media Player Plug-In. I was wondering the best way to get them onto the computer. Can the CD be copied directly to like the Windows 2000 "My Music" Folder or any other folder of my choosing? How is everybody else managing there music files, etc. I won't be using a separate sever for music, just the Windows 2000 computer that Homeseer is installed on. There won't be alot of files either. Also, is it possible to just copy a couple songs over from the CD or do you have to copy the whole CD over? Thanks in advance for all the help !!!!!!!

    #2
    If you want them stored as MP3's or a similar format you need to "rip" them. Which means that you need to use a program like WinAmp or MusicMatch, (I'm not sure if Windows Media Player does this), which will take the music off of the CD and encode it. Using programs like this you can rip one song, multiple songs or the whole CD. If you are connected to the Internet while you do so, they will even grab the CD info from on-line databases so that you don't have to type in the title or names of songs, etc. I would recommend that you rip them at the highest bit rate possible if you are going to MP3.

    You will probably want to do some research into the format you want to encode to as they have different advantages/disadvantages. For example, MP3 is a lossy format, this means that the music is compressed and you lose some sound quality. Normally I can't tell a difference, but if you have a really good ear then you might.

    Mick

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      #3
      What I did was to convert my CDs to MP3s. There are programs that will allow you to select which songs you want to copy.
      Also they will add the Artist, Track, Album info to the file for you. Some will even download cover art as well.

      I used the one that came with my sound card but there are many programs out there.
      You can even use Media Player itself to copy your CDs.
      --
      Jeff Farmer
      HS 3, HSPhone
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        #4
        I use a program called Media Center 9 from J. River to rip, store and play music. It's a great program. Here is a link to their web site:

        http://www.musicex.com/mediacenter/

        (I see they just released Media Center 10. I'll have to check that out).

        I control Media Center from any computer on my network with a program called MusicLobby from Cinemar.

        http://www.webpromotion.com/cinemar/musiclobby.html

        I don't have my music server integrated with HS but I haven't really seen any need to do that because the MusicLobby interface is so good. It can be done with a program called Girder though.

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          #5
          Youv'e got to see the movie at this link for the Auto Ripper:

          http://www.remoteyou.com/index.html

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            #6
            ExactAudioCopy

            It's a free (actually, CardWare) Audio grabber from http://www.ExactAudioCopy.de

            As soon as I insert an Audio CD, it starts up and copies each track to a .wav file, being very meticulous in it's error recovery. If it doesn't read the track perfectly, it reports why. Because of this, it is often vvveeerrryyyy ssslllooowwwwwwwwwwww.

            After reading the track into a .wav, it will then invoke the compressor of your choice (I use LAME, which converts to MP3). It will also automatically access FreeDB.org to get Artist/Album/Track information. It allows you to configure the directory paths it creates (I use "\\Bacon\Music\<artist>\<album>\<track&gt ;"), and allows you to configure the format of the track titles. The only thing it doesn't do for me is fetch the album-cover art.

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              #7
              Rick,
              Why not simply use WMP to rip your CD's to to WMA format as you play them. It's as simple as checking one checkbox.
              💁‍♂️ Support & Customer Service 🙋‍♂️ Sales Questions 🛒 Shop HomeSeer Products

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                #8
                Question about ripping to MP3's:

                When you rip CD's to MP3's, the program you use (WinAmp, MusicMatch, J. River, etc.) creates a file(s) with album name, track, artist, cover art, etc. Are these files completely compatible between programs? In other words, if I rip in Music Match - are the files, song information and cover art totally usable by J. River, WinAmp or whatever else?

                Mark
                Mark

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                  #9
                  Yes, they are all compatible. An MP3 is an MP3 regardless of where it came from or what its played on.
                  Think of your VCR. It doesn't matter what bran of tape you use in it, it doesn't matter what brand of deck you record on, you can still play them on any VCR out there. Its the same with MP3's.
                  One further note, I'd say go for LAME, chose variable bit rate, and stick on its highest setting for quality.

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                    #10
                    Thanks Fireball, I realize that the music file itself will actually play. I was referring to all the other stuff that gets stored with it - the artist, track, album name, genre, year, cover art, etc. (i.e., all the stuff that you download from CDDB, or other on-line databases).

                    I don't know how this information is stored in the MP3 file/directory, but is it always "readable" by any other program?

                    Mark
                    Mark

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                      #11
                      The tags in an mp3 are standardized. Most things can read them without problems. However, people always seem to find small quirks and bugs where they aren't read correctly in one or two files.

                      There are two main versions of tags in mp3s. ID3v1 and ID3v2. There are others that aren't as common. Not all programs will read both tag types (and some seem to get confused if both are present). v2 contains more data than v1.

                      All my mp3s (unless I missed a few) have both v1 and v2 tags.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Rick

                        I'm already doing exactly what you are proposing.

                        Can the CD be copied directly to like the Windows 2000 "My Music" Folder or any other folder of my choosing?
                        Actually it's easier that that, put the CD in, media player should start, and select "copy from CD" (I'm using media player version 9). You can copy to the default location or select tools/options/Copy Music and change the "copy music to this location" section.

                        I won't be using a separate sever for music, just the Windows 2000 computer that Homeseer is installed on.
                        I'm using my Homeseer which is on XP, but essentially the same.

                        access them from Homeseer via the Media Player Plug-In
                        Yes. Use the default interfaces available with Homeseer or create your own asp page.

                        Also, is it possible to just copy a couple songs over from the CD or do you have to copy the whole CD over?
                        You can select the ones you want to copy.

                        I use the standard WMA settings at 128Kbps (default) which is perfectly good enough for me. Allthough if you are an Audiophile then maybe you would want to experiment with the compression. Alternatively / Addionally, if you get hold of some MP3's, then just drop them in your music library, rescan for music and they will work too.

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                          #13
                          I have an Audiotron and it came with Audiostation which does what you want, including an automatic traverse to CDDB on the net to get all of the data to build the tags and properly file it. If you are interested go to turtlebeach (www.tbeach.com) and look it over. I play back the music using the audiotron for whole house audio which I control through the house touchscreens, or in the thetaer I use the Roku HD1000 which handles HD video and audio.

                          I rip DTS encoded disks to wave fills and all others to mp3. Hope that helps.

                          What I have been looking for is a unit for the car that would take a USB memory stick and play MP3 or a CF memory device in the same way. I am surprised no car audio guys have gone from CD to memory sticks.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Hi,
                            Time for my 2 cents.
                            Be very wary of variable bit rate. Some players can't handle it some can and others try but fall over. My portable player can't, in case you are wondering what it is, its a GP32 (plays Divx movies and games as well).
                            On the PC I use musicmatch to rip to MP3 and winamp to play.

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