Recommend a good music CD ripping drive

[Kung Lau]

I remember when the Kenwood had a crazy ripping cd burner.

I need one that will reliably burn my whole collection to HD for backup/ mp3/lossless use.

Thanks

 

[Steve]

Try to find a Yamaha CRW-F1.

 

[Peter]

The CRW-F1 certainly is "the force" if it comes to audio ripping and burning (and I own one, the ultra-rare external SCSI model ), but save that one for the tough few "special" cases. Exposing this irreplaceable drive to the considerable wear in importing hundreds of CDs isn't quite necessary, given how good this cheap DVD drive gets 99% of the job done.

If you want lossless backup or media center import, I recommend using 'flac' file format and a large HDD. File compression factor is about 2:1, you'll need about 40GB for 100 CDs.

For ripping the CDs to HDD, I've been using old SCSI CDROM drives, using mainly Pioneer drives from 12x generation forward. They aren't fast rippers, but consistent in their results, entirely free, and robust - which is important because you will find that CDROM drives don't actually last /that/ long under continuous operation.

If you want to use new stuff, I found that the Samsung DVD-ROM drives do a pretty good job, even with scratched or damaged CDs. Their "tilt actuator" mechanism appears to be helpful with those hopeless wobbly almost-dead disks. Just make sure you install the "Magic Speed" utility for the Samsung drives, else they run CDs in quiet mode, not in fastest possible. (Some web reviewers also missed this simple step, and the drives got downrated for slow ripping speed. They can go fast, but they need to be told to do so.)

 

[Kung Lau]

Thanks guys.


ROFL. I just checked my wife's computer and that's the CD-R in it! But it's CRW-F1E

I guess I'll have to buy her a new DVD writer now

 

[Zepper]

I've still got an old Plextor 4220 SCSI, does a great job on CD copies or ripping to disk if you are patient...

.bh.