Time to Rip Experiences

[gsteffens]

Okay, I am a new convert to the Mac and was looking to go digital karaoke as a hobby for quite a while now when I stumbled on the kjams site. From all of the posts and the short time I've played with the kjams trial version I could tell that this was the right purchase for me. I searched the forums to see if others had posted their experiences on the time it takes to rip a single cdg but couldn't find one so I decided to post my own and see what responses will follow. I just ripped my first full cdg with 17 songs on my new 13" MBP with a SuperDrive GS23N and it took 25 minutes. I have about 200 CDGs to go so my future doesn't look too bright so far as what I'll be doing for the next for the next ~80 straight hours so I'm wondering if there is a faster or better way. Any suggestions?

[aantix]

I'd definitely record an Automator http://macapper.com/2007/05/28/tutorial ... or-basics/ script that would start the process and eject the disk when done. Streamline the process to the point that if you walk by and see a disk popped out of the CD tray, you just take it out, put the next one on and have your script start the process over again.

Or maybe this service will rip CD+G's for you?
http://www.musicshifter.com/

Or if you're really tech savy, this guy built his own CD changing system.
http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/tech/changer.html

[gsteffens]

Thanks for the suggestions and I'll look into them. I just realized that I wasn't getting the right meta data on the first five discs (Hot Stuff Paks) so I've had to start all over and make sure that the disk name lookup is correct. I have a license for KJPro so it was cool to see that kJams can pull from that database and I'm using the KJPro lookup to pull the correct disk info down. Due to this manual intervention I'm guessing that it's not something that can be automated nor is it something that I can expect a company who will rip CDs for you as a service to do. So it appears that I'm going to be stuck behind my computer for a few days/weeks. I noticed that there are LAME encoding configs that might make the rip faster but I'm not sure I want to change those unless someone has a recommendation that won't cause display or quality issues later.

[dave]

well, there was no real need to re-rip your discs, you can set meta on a disc's worth of songs even after they've been ripped.
http://karaoke.kjams.com/wiki/KJ_Pro
see section 5

yes the name of the disc is not on the disc itself, and has no way to "look it up", so you have to paste the disc name in

LAME won't make the rip faster, but it will make your song files more "standard", what encoder are you using now? and it does not affect the display or quality.

[gsteffens]

I have been reading the instructions as I go and saw that bit about adding the meta data to playlists but figured if I did it right from the start I wouldn't have to update after the rip. It was probably overkill to start over but I was only 5 discs so I didn't think about it for too long. What I have found is that KJPro has some errors in their database for a few of my discs which I've worked around. These were some of my first discs purchased and after some time I realized that price and quality go hand in hand. As I move through ripping my collection and get to the Chartbuster discs I've been buying for the past 3 years I think things will go a lot smoother and after reading your site I'm considering Sound Choice from here on out. BTW, I am using the LAME encoder with the default settings and playing it on my laptop sounds and looks fine but I need to hook it up to my TV and amp to know for sure. I'm confident it will work and since you recommend this standard format I'm heads down and ripping away...

Thanks again for taking time to respond and educate a novice!

[dave]

i definitely recommend "MP3 - Best", not sure if that's what you mean.

to connect to the TV:
http://karaoke.kjams.com/wiki/FAQ#How_d ... on_a_TV.3F

[gsteffens]

Yep, I'm using LAME MP3 - Best for the encoding so thanks for the confirmation on the best and most standard format. I'm only on disc 14 of 200 so it's going to be a fun few days...

[dave]

but then you'll be all converted

BE SURE TO MAKE A BACKUP of the "kJams Library" folder

[gsteffens]

but then you'll be all converted

I am a convert in so many ways: Mac, kJams, digital karaoke....so much conversion that I don't even recognize myself anymore. I can't wait to run my first home party without having to mess with my JVC CDG multi-disc boom box that took forever to swap discs.

[dave]