Have only ever ripped CDs using my Innuos Zen Mk3, which I am phasing out and will sell since I installed B4M, am using Roon and Maestro.
I have never ripped CDs to a Mac and don’t even have a CD player so was hoping to get some direction:
Do I need software for the Mac Mini M4? Suggestions?
What brand/type of CD ‘player’ would work? Can a used PSA (or other brand) transport be used to rip? My Esoteric DV50 from the 90s does not work…as far as I know and as far as my tech skills are concerned. Although it still sounds amazing - no surprise.
I did that, but for some reason I get a ton of ‘corrupted’ files according to Roon, multiple copies of each, and some are even breeding (up to 8 copies of various albums at his point)!
I do have a backup (will try this weekend), but am also thinking about future rips and although the Innuos makes it super easy, might be a waste to use only for ripping…
My SACD rip protocol from hifihaven might work as well for regular CDs but have yet to experiment - having too much fun with my new B4M listening to EVERYTHING again and alot of new music and am simply blown away.
At this point I really want to learn what I need to learn to feel comfortable in this brave new world (for me) of digital music.
Remove all unnecessary software from the MAC, assuming it will be dedicated to music storage and playback. I’ve used an LG CD/DVD drive. The ASUS Zen is a strong candidate as well. Note I do not rip SACDs so can’t real be of any assistance. As far as software I used Exact copy. I have not been down this road for over six years, so my recommendations are a bit musty. It took me over two years to do it loading images, song lists, etc, a royal PITA. Last count it was upwards of 3750 CDs. I downloaded them to my INNuos ZENith Mk3 via an SSD. If I had to do it again, I’d just purchase LP equivalents and ditch the CDs, seriously.
Mahalos - still feel like I need the training wheels of a physical copy somewhere despite my efforts to digitize… am actually comfortable with SACD rips via an old Bluray and using software as per the HiFiHaven thread… those guys were almost as helpful as this forum.
I use an Apple Super drive and the Mac software to rip CDs. I’ve ripped and burned CD’s that were starting to skip, and the burned copies sound just as good minus the skips.
I’ve been ripping CDs on Apple hardware for decades.
Currently, I use an external and very inexpensive ASUS CD/DVD drive connected to a Mac Mini.
Software I’ve used include Apple Music (AIFF or ALAC), dBpoweramp, and XLD.
I’ve never heard a difference between FLAC files ripped via dBP or XLD; they sound identical to my ears.
I buy a lot of used CDs and, after cleaning them, I rip and then meticulously tag the files in either Picard or an app just called “Tag” before importing them into whatever server or NAS I’m using.
This works great and has been fairly accurate with tagging obscure albums. It’s quick and can double check the accuracy of the rip. One button tagging and ripping most of the time!
Dug through the closet (as per wife’s hard suggestion), pulled out an old bluray ripper from who even remembers when, immediately hooked it up to my mac mini, downloaded 21 day trial dBpoweramp, and am ripping a newly arrived used otis taylor Clovis People Vol 3 CD as i type - super mahalos to everyone for the help!
