Squeezebox ripping question

fjross

I'll be the first to tell you that I am not the savvy with computer technology. I just purchased a SB and I was going to use DB Power Amp to start ripping my cd's to flac files. My plan was to purchase a 2T external hard drive just for my music files. My question is can I load DB Power Amp to the external hard drive as well as all my ripped cd's and use it for streaming the files to the squeeze box or do I need to have room on my PC's "C" drive to do this (which my son has loaded up with Lego construction plans). I would like to have access to my music files at any time without having to go up change the setting on my PC. I guess what I am trying to say is that is the external hard drive just a backup storage device or can it be used to rip and stream the files at any given time without changing the settings on my PC?

Dave

falconcry72

The actual DB Poweramp program will go on your C drive, but you can put all the FLACs that it creates on the external 2TB drive. The external will need to be plugged in to a computer that has internet access in order to stream to the SB.

Just make sure that all your music falls under (1) parent folder on that external, and when you setup the SB software tell it to look for music there.

Congrats on the new toy!

steveinaz

You'll need the squeezebox server application running on your PC as well. (LMS)

codyc1ark

steveinaz wrote: »

You'll need the squeezebox server application running on your PC as well. (LMS)

Err... Sorry to hijack, but this may help him as well. Would an older laptop with wifi be suitable for a SB server? I've got a decent work area in my basement and would like to set it up down there, out of the way when I do this. I could run cat5 to it, but wifi is easier.

steveinaz

Sure Cody, LMS doesn't require a powerful computer. Sometimes making 2 wireless jumps (laptop-->modem-->SQB) can cause drop-out issues, however. I hard-wire my laptop to the modem, then go wireless from the modem to the Touch. My external HDD that contains my library is connected to my laptop via USB, and has only music and playlists on it.

I've often considered buying one of those cheapy $289 laptops at Wally world to use as my server, just never got around to it.

fjross

Thanks for the replies. I think my first step is going to be upgrading my pc tower and purchasing the external hard drive before I start ripping music.

Thanks Dave

Jetmaker737

You should get on it as soon as you can. You will be glad you did. Hooking up SB to my rig and ripping my CD's was the biggest improvement I've made to my listening experience since... I don't know... discovering tubes?

fjross

Once I get my computer set up, do I need anything else besides the DB power amp and SB software to start archieving/listening to my collection. Is the Media Monkey and Jriver just a way to file the music away after ripping?

steveinaz

Logitec Media Server (LMS) organizes the music for you. I use mediamonkey to edit tags when needed.

fjross

steveinaz wrote: »

Logitec Media Server (LMS) organizes the music for you. I use mediamonkey to edit tags when needed.

Can DB power amp do the same editing if needed?

steveinaz

Yes.

steveinaz

Dave
The big thing will be how you want albums/songs tagged for operation with LMS. It's important to iron this out before beginning, as it easiest to correct from the start, then to go back and correct 2-300 cd's. For instance, do you want artists: Hagar, Sammy; or Sammy Hagar to appear on the Touch? I've found that doing the lastname first is just a silly throw-back to the days of record stores, and much prefer doing Firstname-lastname. You can tell LMS to ignore "The" in artist titles such as 'The Police" and it would appear under the "P" heading, but still retain 'The Police" title when playing songs.

Having said that, I use EAC for ripping/mediamonkey for tag corrections, not DBpoweramp---so maybe Brock can chime in on how this is done. Mediamonkey you simply right click the album or song and select properties to edit the tagging info.

I know it sounds a little overwhelming, but changing tag info is actually a pretty rare chore, and fairly easy once you get the hang of it.

Another thing you may or may not bother with is categories. I like to keep things simple, so I only use the following:

Pop
Rock
Soul
Country
Comedy
Christmas
Classical
Jazz
Misc

Where the confusion comes in, is some databases (will for instance) call Rush "progressive rock" and some call them "rock" or "heavy rock" and it changes album to album; so for uniformity reasons, I make all Rush albums "Rock." Of course this can be easily changed later with a tagging tool.

And, PLEASE use flac as your codec---for a million different reasons. Ripping CD's is NO FUN, do not waste your time with MP3 or any other "lossy" codec---do it right the first time. It just makes ZERO sense with hard drive space being so cheap.

steveinaz

Directory structure on your HDD:

again optional, but I do this;

d:\Music
Journey - Infinity (*all songs; sub-directory of d:)
Journey - Evolution (*all songs; sub directory of d:)
Kenny Chesney - Greatest Hits ("") [Note: it's not Chesney, Kenny]

...and so on.

You'll have the least complications by dedicating a drive entirely to your music/playlists. I use "d:\music" and "d:\playlists" on my ext HDD.