Megachanger/High capacity CD changers

iRONic

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2006
7,810
3,097
136
After 20 plus years of faithful service my 200 disc Sony CDP CX-200 is on it's last legs. Random skips on random discs... Ohwell, time to replace it with a newer unit.

What are you all using?

Happy Holidays!
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,562
9
81
Those things looked cool back in the day, but with media streaming now just rip it and play it over the network through a streaming device or put it on a portable player and pipe it to the stereo through a dock. IMO
 

sivart

Golden Member
Oct 20, 2000
1,786
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Wow, can you imagine how long it would take to manually rip all 200 CD's. Plus, you would then have to set up playlists to cover all 200 CD's. (If I remember correctly, the Sony's have "groups" that you can put different types of music and then shuffle within that group).

I guess that explains why my older music is still on CD's and has never been ripped. 200+ CD's would take a lot of time.
 

Ronstang

Lifer
Jul 8, 2000
12,493
18
81
My dad loved his 200 disc Sony CD disc player. He used it every night. A couple of years ago when he got his 56" HDTV I built he an my mother a media center PC to hook up to it. I loaded it with more music than he even had in the disc changer.

My mom was really the person who wanted the media center, my dad was happy with his 200 CD disc changer. He kept telling me he was going to keep his disc changer in place and use it along with the media center....he did not want to be left without his evening music.

The day I finally worked out all the bugs in the media center I drove to their house to install it and teach them how to use it. Once I had it up and running I handed my dad the remote and showed him how to use it and what features it had. Within minutes he had albums queued and was playing music.

My mom and I went upstairs because she wanted me to show her how to add music from her PC in the office over the network. A little while later I went downstairs to do something and my dad was fiddling with his 200 CD changer. I asked him what he was doing and his reply was "I don't need this thing anymore so there is no reason it should take up any space in my cabinet." I had converted him in less than 10 minutes.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
98,125
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Wow, can you imagine how long it would take to manually rip all 200 CD's. Plus, you would then have to set up playlists to cover all 200 CD's. (If I remember correctly, the Sony's have "groups" that you can put different types of music and then shuffle within that group).

I guess that explains why my older music is still on CD's and has never been ripped. 200+ CD's would take a lot of time.

200cd doesn't really take that long, just don't do it in one session.
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,562
9
81
Ripping doesn't really take all that long. I ripped 500, just do it a handful at a time over a period of a month.

Just be sure to back them up. /cry
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
98,125
16,831
126
Ripping doesn't really take all that long. I ripped 500, just do it a handful at a time over a period of a month.

Just be sure to back them up. /cry

I lost 300GB of music when my brand new (2 month) Seagate pos decided to forget the partition table and I had to install a new os (that being the boot drive) and fucking win7 overwrote the part where the data partition was, causing total loss of my music collection...
 

sivart

Golden Member
Oct 20, 2000
1,786
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I have about 25GB of music that is only about 10 of my 200 CD's. I'm just too lazy for the frequency that I listen to those now.

I did lose mine once on a bad hard drive, but my weekly backup was standing by :)
 

newnameman

Platinum Member
Nov 20, 2002
2,219
0
0
I have about 25GB of music that is only about 10 of my 200 CD's. I'm just too lazy for the frequency that I listen to those now.

I did lose mine once on a bad hard drive, but my weekly backup was standing by :)

Errrr, you're using 2.5 GB per CD?
 

jtvang125

Diamond Member
Nov 10, 2004
5,399
51
91
I use to have one of those sony 400 disc dvd changers. It was slow, clunky and the UI was horrible but it did the job. I'm sure all those flaws have been improved with these newer versions though.
 

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
62,484
8,344
126

Wow. I never even thought about pricing out BR changers because I thought costs would be too prohibitive. But that's under $600 shipped. Not bad! When it comes to movies, I don't think I could store 400 DVD & BR rips for that cheap. Plus it is likely going to be a lot more reliable* than trying to stream and would have full chapter skipping that most streaming formats don't support.

*By reliable I mean the ability to continuously stream without any transcoder processes blowing up in the middle of a movie.
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
15,613
11,254
136
I'm still using my 301 disc RCa and my brother still uses his 200 disc JVC :).

How did you keep track of what CDs were where?
 

thomsbrain

Lifer
Dec 4, 2001
18,148
1
0
I have some old Pioneer 100-disc unit that I bought used on eBay 10 years ago. Still going strong, and it has optical out. I don't see the point of spending a bunch of money and time to listen to the exact same music on a media streamer or the PS3.
 

iRONic

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2006
7,810
3,097
136
I'm still using my 301 disc RCa and my brother still uses his 200 disc JVC :).

How did you keep track of what CDs were where?
This text file:

1 - Stones - Exile On Main St. - 1972
2 - Stones - Sticky Fingers - 1971
3 - Stones - Black And Blue - 1976
4 - Stones - Some Girls - 1978
5 - Stones - Tattoo You - 1981
6 - Stones - Steel Wheels - 1989
7 - Stones - Voodoo Lounge - 1994
8 - Stones - Stripped - 1995
9 - Stones - Forty Licks Disc 1 - 2002
10 - Stones - Forty Licks Disc 2 - 2002
11 - Ronnie Wood - Slide on This
12 - Keef - Talk Is Cheap
13 - Led Zeppelin - IV - 1971
14 - Led Zeppelin - Houses Of The Holy - 1973
15 - Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti Disc 1 - 1975
16 - Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti Disc 2 - 1975
17 - Led Zeppelin - In Through The Out Door - 1979
18 - Led Zeppelin - 1990 Box Set Disc 1
19 - Led Zeppelin - 1990 Box Set Disc 2
20 - Led Zeppelin - 1990 Box Set Disc 3
21 - Led Zeppelin - 1990 Box Set Disc 4
22 - Robert Plant - Manic Nirvana - 1990
23 - Robert Plant - Fate of Nations - 1993
24 - Dylan - Love and Theft - 2001
25 - Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited - 1965
26 - Dylan - Blonde on Blonde - 1966
27 - Dylan - New Morning - 1970
28 - Dylan - Blood on the Tracks - 1975
29 - Dylan - Planet Waves - 1974
30 - Dylan - Desire - 1976
31 - Dylan - Hard Rain - 1976
32 - Dylan - Infidels - 1983
33 - Dylan - Empire Burlesque - 1985
34 - Dylan - Dylan & the Dead - 1989
35 - Dylan - 30th Anniversary Concert Disc 1 - 1993
36 - Dylan - 30th Anniversary Concert Disc 2 - 1993
37 - Dylan - Time Out Of Mind - 1997
38 - John Mellencamp - John Cougar - 1979
39 - John Mellencamp - Nothing Matters and What If It Did? - 1980
40 - John Mellencamp - American Fool - 1982
41 - John Mellencamp - Uh-Huh - 1983
42 - John Mellencamp - Scarecrow - 1985
43 - John Mellencamp - The Lonesome Jubilee - 1987
44 - John Mellencamp - Big Daddy - 1989
45 - John Mellencamp - The Best That I Could Do 1978-1988 - 1997
46 - John Mellencamp - Whenever We Wanted - 1991
47 - John Mellencamp - Human Wheels - 1993
48 - John Mellencamp - Dance Naked - 1994
49 - John Mellencamp - Mr Happy Go Lucky - 1996
50 - John Mellencamp - Eponymous - 1998
51 - John Mellencamp - Rough Harvest - 1999
52 - Talking Heads - Fear of Music
53 - Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues
54 - Talking Heads - Little Creatures
55 - Little Feat - Dixie Chicken
56 - Little Feat - Let It Roll
57 - The Clash - Combat Rock
58 - Matchbox 20 - Yourself Or Someone Like You
59 - Toad The Wet Sprocket - In Light Syrup
60 - Toad The Wet Sprocket - Dulcinea
61 - Toad The Wet Sprocket - Pale
62 - Toad The Wet Sprocket - Fear
63 - Third Eye Blind - Eponymous
64 - Liz Phair - Whip-Smart
65 - Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
66 - Empty
67 - Phunk Junkeez - Injected
68 - Patti Smith - Easter - 1978
69 - Patti Smith - Dream Of Life - 1988
70 - Patti Smith - Horses - 1975
71 - Patti Smith - Gone Again - 1996
72 - Boston - Eponymous
73 - Alanis Morrisette - Jagged Little Pill
74 - Natalie Merchant - Tigerlily
75 - The Cranberries - Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?
76 - The Cranberries - No Need to Argue
77 - Lisa Germano - Happiness
78 - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits
79 - Tom Petty - Wildflowers
80 - Meredith Brooks - Blurring the Edges
81 - AC/DC - Highway to Hell
82 - AC/DC - Back in Black
83 - Van Halen - 1984
84 - Fleetwood Mac - Live
85 - Hole - Live Through This
86 - Neil Young - Harvest
87 - Neil Young - Zuma
88 - Nural - Weight Of The World
89 - Sophie B Hawkins - Tongues and Tails
90 - Candlebox - Eponymous
91 - Bush - Sixteen Stone
92 - Bush - Razorblade Suitcase
93 - Concrete Blonde - Mexican Moon
94 - Gin Blossoms - New Miserable Experience
95 - Better Than Ezra- Deluxe
96 - Kid Rock - Devil Without A Cause
97 - Big Head Todd & The Monsters - Live
98 - Sponge - Wax Ecstatic
99 - Aerosmith - Pump
100 - Aerosmith - Get a Grip
101 - Springsteen - Born to Run - 1975
102 - Springsteen - Greatest Hits - 1995
103 - Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A. - 1984
104 - Springsteen - Tunnel of Love - 1987
105 - Springsteen - Human Touch - 1992
106 - Springsteen - Lucky Town - 1992
107 - The Cult - Live at The Avalon Disc 1
108 - The Cult - Live at The Avalon Disc 2
109 - The Cult - Born Into This
110 - The Cult - Beyond Good and Evil
111 - The Cult - High Octane Cult
112 - Three Doors Down - The Better Life
113 - Pearl Jam - Ten
114 - Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
115 - Pearl Jam - Vs.
116 - Pearl Jam - Yield
117 - The Why Store - Eponymous
118 - Stone Temple Pilots - Purple
119 - The Knack - Get The Knack
120 - Seven Mary Three - American Standard
121 - Incubus - S.C.I.E.N.C.E.
122 - Incubus - Live In Japan
123 - Incubus - Live In Japan
124 - Incubus - A Crow Left of the Murder...
125 - Bad Company - Anthology Disc 1
126 - Bad Company - Anthology Disc 2
127 - Crosby, Stills, and Nash - Eponymous
128 - Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill
129 - Steely Dan - The Royal Scam
130 - Steely Dan - A Decade of Steely Dan
131 - Steely Dan - Aja
132 - The Who - It's Hard
133 - The Who - Quadrophenia Disc 1
134 - The Who - Quadrophenia Disc 2
135 - The Who - Who's Next
136 - Triumph - Allied Forces
137 - Triumph - The Sport of Kings
138 - The Radiators - Law of the Fish
139 - Supertramp - Crime Of The Century
140 - Peter Gabriel - So
141 - Peter Gabriel - Shaking the Tree
142 - The Pretenders - Last Of The Independents
143 - The Beatles - Revolver - 1966
144 - The Beatles - Rubber Soul - 1965
145 - The Beatles - Let It Be - 1970
146 - The Beatles - Abbey Road - 1969
147 - The Killers - Hot Fuss
148 - The Mahavishnu Orchestra - Visions of the Emerald Beyond
149 - The Mahavishnu Orchestra - Apocolypse
150 - Elton John - Assorted
151 - The Doors - The Best of The Doors Disc 1
152 - The Doors - The Best of The Doors Disc 1
153 - Warren Zevon - A Quiet Normal Life
154 - Collective Soul - Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid
155 - Collective Soul - Eponymous
156 - R.E.M. - Monster
157 - R.E.M. - Automatic for the People
158 - The Black Crowes - The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion
159 - The Black Crowes - Hotel Illness EP
160 - The Black Crowes - Shake Your Money Maker
161 - The Black Crowes - Amorica
162 - The Police - Outlandos d'Amour
163 - Neds Atomic Dustbin - Are You Normal?
164 - Izzy Stradlin - Izzy Stradlin & the Ju Ju Hounds
165 - Temple Of The Dog - Eponymous
166 - Buffalo Tom - Big Red Ltter Day
167 - Dire Straits - Eponymous
168 - Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
169 - Dire Straits - Making Movies
170 - Urge Overkill - Saturation
171 - Frank Zappa - Apostrophe' / Overnite Sensation
172 - David Bromberg - How Late'll Ya Play 'Til?, Vol. 1
173 - David Bromberg - How Late'll Ya Play 'Til?, Vol. 2
174 - David Bromberg - Out of the Blues
175 - Hall & Oates - The Essential Daryl Hall & John Oates Disc 1
176 - Hall & Oates - The Essential Daryl Hall & John Oates Disc 2
177 - Lou Reed - New York
178 - Lou Reed - Rock n Roll Animal
179 - The Jeff Healey Band - See the Light
180 - Jonny Lang - Lie to Me
181 - The Offspring - Smash
182 - The Offspring - Ixnay on the Hombre
183 - Creed - My Own Prison
184 - Arc Angels - Eponymous
185 - Joe Satriani - Eponymous
186 - Joe Satriani - Surfin With The Alien
187 - Joe Satriani - Not Of This Earth
188 - Monster Magnet - Powertrip
189 - Monster Magnet - Superjudge
190 - Andy Pratt - Resolution
191 - U2 - Achtung Baby
192 - U2 - Boy(skips)
193 - U2 - October
194 - U2 - War
195 - U2 - Under a Blood Red Sky
196 - U2 - The Unforgettable Fire(skips)
197 - U2 - The Joshua Tree(skips)
198 - Los Lonely Boys - Forgiven
199 - Los Lonely Boys - Eponymous
200 - Los Lonely Boys - Live
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,562
9
81
I lost 300GB of music when my brand new (2 month) Seagate pos decided to forget the partition table and I had to install a new os (that being the boot drive) and fucking win7 overwrote the part where the data partition was, causing total loss of my music collection...

I had a 500GB WD take a dump on me. I lost 160GB of FLAC files, including all of the album covers I had painstakingly set up for them. :(

Now I'm looking at getting a WHS setup, along with a big USB drive for backing up periodically and storing off site.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
98,125
16,831
126
I had a 500GB WD take a dump on me. I lost 160GB of FLAC files, including all of the album covers I had painstakingly set up for them. :(

Now I'm looking at getting a WHS setup, along with a big USB drive for backing up periodically and storing off site.

I have 10TB of drive space... I don't think I am backing that up.
 

Ronstang

Lifer
Jul 8, 2000
12,493
18
81
I have 10TB of drive space... I don't think I am backing that up.

Then you are a fool, and one who will lose more important data sometime in the future. You should at least back up extremely critical stuff. These days HDs are so cheap I always buy 2 of the same size and keep one as a backup on the shelf with all the data backed up whenever I make important changes or additions.
 

frostedflakes

Diamond Member
Mar 1, 2005
7,925
1
81
I'd probably just rip and steam the CDs as well, but I could understand not wanting to bother with that, especially if your old 200 disc changer did everything you needed it to.

Maybe look into a device like the Squeezebox Classic, though.

edit: Also I'd assume you already have, but have you tried cleaning the laser lens on your current changer? Maybe it's just gotten dirty and that's what's causing the skipping.
 
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sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
98,125
16,831
126
Then you are a fool, and one who will lose more important data sometime in the future. You should at least back up extremely critical stuff. These days HDs are so cheap I always buy 2 of the same size and keep one as a backup on the shelf with all the data backed up whenever I make important changes or additions.

I back up my important info... the rest is not really important.
 

Chapbass

Diamond Member
May 31, 2004
3,145
93
91
I always wanted to try hooking up a 400 disc DVD changer to a Slingbox and see if I could control it somehow. Having all my movies on the go would be awesome. :)
 

Thump553

Lifer
Jun 2, 2000
12,824
2,613
136
Step 1- I bought a Slimserver Squeezebox

Step 2 - Rip all CDs to FLAC using EAC and proper settings

Step 3 - Bought an external hard drive to house the FLAC files because my computer hard drive wasn't big enough (and bought another one to make a backup).

I no longer touch any of my CDs after they have been ripped, unless it's to play in the car. I'm really happy with my setup and wouldn't go back to CDs and a megachanger voluntarily ever again.
 

Deinonych

Senior member
Apr 26, 2003
633
0
76
Step 1- I bought a Slimserver Squeezebox

Step 2 - Rip all CDs to FLAC using EAC and proper settings

Step 3 - Bought an external hard drive to house the FLAC files because my computer hard drive wasn't big enough (and bought another one to make a backup).

I have done the same thing. I still keep my CDs in two megachangers, because it's more convenient to store them there (instead of in jewel cases). Only time I take them out is for use in the wife's car occasionally.