[memesuze]

Now that I'm at the end of my enforced vacation, I finally realized I would have had enough time to convert all my CDs to MP3s. However, given the warnings about copying CDs when doing other things on the computer, and being sure to turn off screensavers and other blips/spikes in processor usage to prevent worthless coasters, I'm wondering if the same warnings apply to the process of converting and dumping the converted file into my external hard drive. [In the interests of full disclosure, some of the CD copies I've created have moments where the sound completely drops out or the CD hangs and won't play when I play it in my car. I'm not sure if that is what is referred to as a "coaster" or if it's just my car CD player acting up. Hasn't seemed to make a difference how slow I record, and whether I've refrained from any other computer activity whilst copying.]

In other words, can I use my computer while I'm converting and filing? Go ahead, and tell me that I've just wasted almost three weeks of potential conversion time

[TheMatt]

memesuze, on Jun 29 2007, 08:24 AM, said:

Now that I'm at the end of my enforced vacation, I finally realized I would have had enough time to convert all my CDs to MP3s. However, given the warnings about copying CDs when doing other things on the computer, and being sure to turn off screensavers and other blips/spikes in processor usage to prevent worthless coasters, I'm wondering if the same warnings apply to the process of converting and dumping the converted file into my external hard drive. [In the interests of full disclosure, some of the CD copies I've created have moments where the sound completely drops out or the CD hangs and won't play when I play it in my car. I'm not sure if that is what is referred to as a "coaster" or if it's just my car CD player acting up. Hasn't seemedto make a difference how slow I record, and whether I've refrained from any other computer activity whilst copying.]

In other words, can I use my computer while I'm converting and filing? Go ahead, and tell me that I've just wasted almost three weeks of potential conversion time

If you made a coaster, you know it. The sucker won't do anything.

As for the multitasking, how new is your computer? If it's a Pentium 3, say, I wouldn't recommend it. But any modern Core2Duo-ish computer with a gig or more of RAM, you can rip CDs to your hearts content. In fact, even on an old computer, you can do work and rip/encode at the same time no problem. It's just that a lot of processing power will be sucked up by the encoding process, so it won't seem that fun to do anything else.

The "don't do anything" ethos is mainly for burning CDs and DVDs, and with this day's computers, CDs are so easy to rip, it probably doesn't matter with them. DVDs...maybe, but I've done quantum chemistry calculations while burning a DVD and didn't make a coaster.

[backstory]

What's a coaster please?

[memesuze]

A coaster is a burned CD that's worthless for anything but use as a drinking glass coaster.

My box is three to four years old, can't remember any of the processor specs at the moment, but, as I noted above, I suspect any of the anomalies I've had when in the car have been due to the car's player, not the cd.

Thanks, I'll go ahead and convert - and test some - what have I got to lose....

[TheMatt]

memesuze, on Jun 29 2007, 08:50 AM, said:

A coaster is a burned CD that's worthless for anything but use as a drinking glass coaster.

My box is three to four years old, can't remember any of the processor specs at the moment, but, as I noted above, I suspect any of the anomalies I've had when in the car have been due to the car's player, not the cd.

Thanks, I'll go ahead and convert - and test some - what have I got to lose....

If you are worried, many rip/encoders have a "paranoia" setting that makes sure the rip/encode is good. It does this at the expense of speed, though (usually by doing lots of error checking). This option was a popular one back in the day, when multitasking could screw up the process.

[memesuze]

TheMatt, on Jun 29 2007, 09:53 AM, said:

If you are worried, many rip/encoders have a "paranoia" setting that makes sure the rip/encode is good. It does this at the expense of speed, though (usually by doing lots of error checking). This option was a popular one back in the day, when multitasking could screw up the process.

I already had that setting engaged, so good.