I no longer have a CD reader or writer. None of my laptops have them. My Clarion CMD6 on the boat has a single CD player that I actually use, I love the audio quality of a CD. If I upgrade the head unit I lose the CD player.

What are my options to:

• Copy all of my CDs to something
• Then plug that something into a head unit to play them

Nothing Apple please.


Thanks

Right up my alley. Try https://www.doubletwist.com/ for Android. Rip all of your CD's to the Double twist app on your computer, install the app on your phone and then sync the two. Quite simple. Oh, and it has the available album artwork to boot.

 

Rip the CDs to your computer. That way you have all the files. You can rip at audiophile quality to keep the "CD sound."

You can then use just about anything to transport them. Most use their phones. Or you can keep a USB drive on the boat -- will depend on what your new radio can handle.

 

Cool, thanks, I looked at Sync. What do I use to get the CDs to a source this can copy from? Do I have to purchase a CD player of some sort, and do them 1 by 1? I am trying to avoid buying an external CD player for this one time event.

EDIT: I just checked, looks like I can pick up an external one for ~$20, not too bad

https://www.amazon.com/External-CD-DVD-Drive-Compatible/dp/B07MJW5BXZ/ref=sr_1_3?hvadid=177318321105&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9008457&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=4895937826627409151&hvtargid=kwd-4868209412&hydadcr=18062_9813221&keywords=external+cd+drives+for+laptops&qid=1687466542&sr=8-3&th=1

Someone should start a service where I can mail in 200 CDs, they burn/rip them for me to a source, then mail them back.

 

Cool, thanks, I looked at Sync. What do I use to get the CDs to a source this can copy from? Do I have to purchase a CD player of some sort, and do them 1 by 1? I am trying to avoid buying an external CD player for this one time event.

EDIT: I just checked, looks like I can pick up an external one for ~$20, not too bad

https://www.amazon.com/External-CD-DVD-Drive-Compatible/dp/B07MJW5BXZ/ref=sr_1_3?hvadid=177318321105&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9008457&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=4895937826627409151&hvtargid=kwd-4868209412&hydadcr=18062_9813221&keywords=external+cd+drives+for+laptops&qid=1687466542&sr=8-3&th=1

Someone should start a service where I can mail in 200 CDs, they burn/rip them for me to a source, then mail them back.

It takes maybe 10-15 seconds per cd.

 

I use an external CD-RW drive that plugs into a USB port on my laptop. Although I bought it a couple of years ago, I don’t remember it being very expensive.

EDIT: just checked Best Buy’s website and they appear to cost $20-$50.

 

So I will say that Windows Media Player does the best job and it's a no brainer to setup and use. Only for ripping, but still, it's like an assembly line to rip music. It gets all the album art and song info fast and just works.

I've ripped a couple hundred gig of music this way. At the best audio quality it's ~150MB per CD.

You can then put albums of MP3's or single MP3's on a thumb drive and be done. Even make play list's with MP and just launch the Play list's. Truly a no brainer and just works.

I took it a step further and use a Sono's connect and have a tablet just for that with all of my MP3's on an SD card (256GB), so it's always there to play.

 

I no longer have a CD reader or writer. None of my laptops have them. My Clarion CMD6 on the boat has a single CD player that I actually use, I love the audio quality of a CD. If I upgrade the head unit I lose the CD player.

What are my options to:

• Copy all of my CDs to something
• Then plug that something into a head unit to play them

Nothing Apple please.


Thanks

Nobody sells a CD player? Really?
My boat came with a stereo that has the tiny chiclet buttons and no owners manual. I cant get much to work and was thinking about replacing next winter but i got to have a cd player.

 

Many, just not JL Audio or Fusion ...

https://www.google.com/search?q=mar...+player&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30l5j0i390i650.7840j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

Back when I first got CDs, I was very disappointed in the 'sound'... while many were touting the 'digital quality', I was hearing the imaging artifacts of the digitization and conversion back to analog, that took away the clarity of crash cymbals and tight low-end attack... and the quantization taking away dynamic range. Of course, when one rips an LP or other analog source to 33,100, the 15,050hz clarity is the first thing to go... but if you're driving around in a car, having a turntable mounted in the glovebox didn't become a 'popular' option, you had to pick 8-track or cassette (for disco, or rock, respectively) and if you were a hard-core audiophile or a deadhead, you had an Akai GX-280D in the back seat, so you could listen to either Wagner's Flight of the Valkyries, or the GD's Playing In The Band (which you drove your Microbus to Seattle to record live)...

Did I digress? Yeah... back to boats...

Most 'low quality' digital complaints are the result of someone taking a sound source and rastering it down to a digital format that is LESS than 44.1khz sample rate, and a very poor data bitrate... and most people don't know WHAT to listen for to hear it.

I have all my CD collection (and all my LPs, 45's, 8-tracks and cassettes... and some wax tubes...) ripped to MP3 format. I run 192kbps bitrate, which is significantly HIGHER in data density than an average audio CD, so the imaging errors are VERY hard to hear. If I'm in the boat, Burt Bacharach sounds just as good from a thumb-drive, as it did on the 8-track. but without the nasty BUZZ-CaChunk as the tape player shifted track and direction mid-song (yeah, I edited that out).

As for MrsRobinson's collection... do this- PM me a list of some the CD artist/albums that you HAVE... I'll send you a sample of what they sound like in a good-quality rendering. As others have noted, it is not difficult to get several hundred ALBUMS on a thumb drive nowdays, and once in that format, modern marine stereos handle that quantity of music, without requiring the physical space (or fragility) of a suitcase full of plastic disks.

Ripping them all to files onto a thumb-drive takes a little time, but as everyone has noted, a laptop computer nowdays will hammer that out fast, we can find a way to get it done.

 

Back when I first got CDs, I was very disappointed in the 'sound'... while many were touting the 'digital quality', I was hearing the imaging artifacts of the digitization and conversion back to analog, that took away the clarity of crash cymbals and tight low-end attack... and the quantization taking away dynamic range. Of course, when one rips an LP or other analog source to 33,100, the 15,050hz clarity is the first thing to go... but if you're driving around in a car, having a turntable mounted in the glovebox didn't become a 'popular' option, you had to pick 8-track or cassette (for disco, or rock, respectively) and if you were a hard-core audiophile or a deadhead, you had an Akai GX-280D in the back seat, so you could listen to either Wagner's Flight of the Valkyries, or the GD's Playing In The Band (which you drove your Microbus to Seattle to record live)...

Did I digress? Yeah... back to boats...

Most 'low quality' digital complaints are the result of someone taking a sound source and rastering it down to a digital format that is LESS than 44.1khz sample rate, and a very poor data bitrate... and most people don't know WHAT to listen for to hear it.

I have all my CD collection (and all my LPs, 45's, 8-tracks and cassettes... and some wax tubes...) ripped to MP3 format. I run 192kbps bitrate, which is significantly HIGHER in data density than an average audio CD, so the imaging errors are VERY hard to hear. If I'm in the boat, Burt Bacharach sounds just as good from a thumb-drive, as it did on the 8-track. but without the nasty BUZZ-CaChunk as the tape player shifted track and direction mid-song (yeah, I edited that out).

As for MrsRobinson's collection... do this- PM me a list of some the CD artist/albums that you HAVE... I'll send you a sample of what they sound like in a good-quality rendering. As others have noted, it is not difficult to get several hundred ALBUMS on a thumb drive nowdays, and once in that format, modern marine stereos handle that quantity of music, without requiring the physical space (or fragility) of a suitcase full of plastic disks.

Ripping them all to files onto a thumb-drive takes a little time, but as everyone has noted, a laptop computer nowdays will hammer that out fast, we can find a way to get it done.

I have no idea what you said here, but it sounds fancy and technical

 

I have 100s of Cds and songs ripped and loaded on my computer. At one time, had it all integrated with the home system. But along came the online services, that I can control thru my phone and integrate with the home system, the car system, the boat system, and I haven't played the computer songs in years. Just opened them up tonight and listened to a few.

 

When dad's old XP computer crashed, the new ones didn't have the cd/dvd drives. We picked him up the external dvd drive. He can still listen to his music but now can watch a movie, right from the comfort of his desk chair. It's almost hilarious to come in and see him watching a movie or listening to music on the computer when Fox news is blaring on the TV behind it. Best Buy was the lowest cost we found. And it was just plug and play.

And as for dad and the phone apps for music? Those wireless headphones and music from a phone is a young mans voodoo, that an ol man need not dive into.

 

In my F150 I have a USB thumb drive with most of my ripped CDs on it. Now that I don’t drive it all the time, I no longer have Sirrus/XM and will access it from time to time.

Once you rip your CDs, and as others have mentioned, you can put those MP3s or AACs on that drive, plug it into the USB port on your head unit, and just leave it there for eternity. 200 CDs wouldn’t require a very large USB thumb drive.