Get me started the right way

me too

I use dBpoweramp - around £30 for the software, I rip to FLAC, but dpoweramp will do both - ALAC for Mac I think, but sure someone who uses MAC will know more

best advice - RIP RIGHT - RIP ONCE - select a couple of CD's make sure you are happy - work it all works - libraries play etc

and don't forget to organise a Back up of your collection!

Hey!

Someone that isn't lazy!! How refreshing.

If only our new members weren't so!

(Welcome to the forum, but if you had it to do all over again, I am guessing that your first post would not be, 'tell me what I need to know because I'm too lazy to read it here myself.'  In the land of internet protocol, that's what my teenage daughter would call a "fail.")

What do you expect? You want everything laid out for you on a plate because you say you're too lazy to make an effort yourself. 

People will always help if you ask the questions in the right way.

If you wanted to stream, I'd say rip in FLAC to a NAS, and use a Naim streamer. 

Whoops, this did not go well Timmo! I think it was your remark about being lazy, although tounge in cheek, sometimes it's just the wrong time.

If you really are that lazy, then just buy Naim's super duper all in one, ripper, storer, server, multiroom client, I-radio, CD player for the slightly expensive price of £2000...job done.

Seriously, that way you will never need to ask the type of questions you asked in your first post. I mean honestly, why should you fret over whether you should rip to FLAC or ALAC, which ripping software to use, what settings to use and.......I mean really, who faffs with all this now days, especially with the new generation DAC's coming and kicking butts.......there's too much to worry about.

Let Naim Take The Strain.

Jason.

http://www.naimaudio.com/hifi-.../type/all-one-player

http://www.naimaudio.com/hifi-.../type/network-player

http://www.naimaudio.com/hifi-...d-disk-player-server

I've done it that way: everything on a USB-drive into a MacBook Air (audirvana plus) in to the DAC.  It's to complex (especially if you are the lazy type).

Now I make a back-up on a NAS and play it with a streamer (superuniti, Upnp) from the NAS.  You need a back-up anyway, so why not on a UPnP-compatible device?

I rip in ALAC, don't hear the difference with WAV and it allows more metadata....

Be nice!

1) connect your mac mini to the DAC using a toslink cable, you could test the USB, but consensus is that toslink is better

2) I don't think dbpoweramp works on a mac.  But, if you have a PC, absolutely use dbpoweramp. Its far better than the next best solution.  MAX works well on the MAC, however for free. If you deide to use JRiver for playback it can also rip. The standard is to rip to FLAC or WAV (a debate I don't want to go into) but iTunes requires ALAC. ALAC is lossless, so you can convert to FLAC in the future without losing any bits.

3) If you never want to use high res (above CD quality content) iTunes will work just fine. And, if you're only ever going to use CDs, you can rip to ALAC. However, I prefer JRiver Media Center for the Mac.

4) +100 on what others say about getting the metadata and ripping right the 1st time around.  Take your time doing it.  Rip a batch of maybe 25 CDs, including some odd ones like compilations, start using it and see what you want to change.

Buy a usb cd/DVD player (Apple will supply you their SuperDrive which matches the mini aesthetically  but is around twice the price of regular alternatives). Plug into mini.

Use XLD to rip all your CDs to AIFF (settings all over the web if you look) onto iTunes stored on the Mac.  

Connect mini to Dac via optical cable. 

Use Apple Remote (free app) to select music from iTunes library (assumes you also have iPhone, iPad, touch etc).

Simples.

Wat I think I am missing something here.  Why can't you connect a USB drive to a PC?

Big "THANK YOU" to a lot of people for a lot of suggestions. I now have a whole bunch of options to investigate and also to try out. I never expected to be handed a complete answer on a plate and the slution that suits you probably wouldn't suit me anyway. Now I have a a lot of guidelines from you lot to help me start some focused searching instead of just groping blindly into the world of computerising my CD collection.

I am now shutting down, probably for several weeks at least, while I stop being lazy and investigate all the options suggested, try out the best ones and (hopefully) conclude what to do. 

I'll be back.

I am the opposite. Use a PC all the time but have never used a Mac before. I know that you are correct in that the Mac hard drive uses a different format from a PC drive. The plan is to transfer files from PC to Mac over a wireless network. Speed isn't an issue because I will only be playing music stored on the Mac HD - plugged in to the USB port.

Buy Naim Uniti 2 with Speakers. Job done. Turn it on and listen. Very lazy indeed  

Just format the drive using FAT32

in all fairness approaching digital is mind boggling and it would be great if someone at naim wrote a how to guide with a few options to start people on the road……...

I think they have already done that but for a price. It is all covered in the manual for the UServe.

A mac will happily read a windows formatted drive but cannot write to it directly.

Over SMB it would be fine both ways.

Personally I would avoid fat32 if you don't need it, it has restrictions.

This is what i did if helpful...

1) got a Mac mini/ Teddy Dac with Asynchronous USB/ USB cable

2) got DBpoweramp with Accurate Rip installed on Windows PC

3) got 2 external USB hard drives and formatted to Fat32 so they can be read by PC and Mac

4) ripped all CDs using PC with DBpoweramp/ Accuraterip. You can rip to several formats at once. I also have HD setting switched on so those type of files are recognised and converted in the right way.

5) ripped ALAC to one USB external HDD. Ripped FLAC to another USB external HDD. Ripped MP3 to PC hard drive for IPod Classic.

5) HDD with FLAC files is my reference not to be used unless necessary, and stored away.

6) Plug HDD with ALAC into Mac Mini and point iTunes at it.

7) Also installed BitPerfect which sits in the background behind iTunes and recognising when music is HD.

8) job done and sounds great.

If I started again I would make sure the USB HDD with the ALAC files was WIFI enabled just to make ripping a little easier from now onwards. I will probably do this now that HDD are so cheap.

I also found that it is advantageous to turn off iCloud on the Mac Mini as it can scramble the iTunes files for some reason.

Regards,

Nick

DB Poweramp is by far the best program.  What I do is rip ALAC and FLAc simultaneously. I also rip them both to two different places (one on PC and one on NAS). 

i use the ALAC for my iPod/Pad and FLAC for streaming.  

If you are a pc guy skip that Mac Mini.  Get a Netgear ReadyNas Duo to stream your files and get a UnitiQute to use as a streamer or use the amp too.  If you have the coin get a ND5 XS streamer.  

Wat,

not sure what causes it but for some reason I lost 782 tracks and many more we're scrambled. I did some research on the Apple forum to see what it might be and the suggestion was that iCloud can act up, but if cannot remember exactly the reasoning.

Regards,

Nick