What do you use to rip?

[Tracy_Petit]

Media Center by JRiver.

https://jriver.com/

[DutchDuke]

Using an older version of EAC (newer had licensing issues) then musicbee for organising and tagging.
Not buying that many cds anymore so… sticking to what worked since… a few summers back

[Ray_Masters]

+1 to that.
I have just started using dbPoweramp on my Mac after having had enough with iTunes. (and most things Apple!)
It takes a few minutes to configure it to your liking, but there are many threads here that made the task so easy.
Accurip is worth the price of admission alone. The tagging engine is superb and i love the way you can look at several examples of the various tags to select the most appropriate. Cover art recovery is a joy to use too.
All in all. A great program that is totally worth the investment.

[Dan_Gravell]

I use abcde which does a pretty simple lookup, then bliss (disclaimer: my software) to complete, correct and clear things up.

[ChrisSU (Chris)]

When Roon scans your local library, it uses its own metadata by default, giving you the option to use the tags in the files if you prefer. It’s great that Roon now has a ripper, but if the ripping process includes an online metadata lookup, does this add tags to the files, just like iTunes, dbpa, etc? And is this the exact same metadata that is in your Roon database? Put there just in case you decide to leave Roon? How kind of them…but I may have misunderstood how this all works.

[Geoff_Coupe]

@ChrisSU

but if the ripping process includes an online metadata lookup, does this add tags to the files, just like iTunes, dbpa, etc?

The basic metadata tags are not added to the files at the time of ripping, all metadata (including the basic metadata) is held in the Roon database. Only if the library files are Exported to another location will the basic metadata get added to the exported files. The process is described more fully in this post:

What do you use to rip?

Actually, it’s not as bad as that. If you ever decide to leave Roon, then you can simply export all your albums to a location where a copy of all your albums will be made. The tracks will have the basic metadata written into them from the Roon database (if they did not already have them in place). If you have ripped CDs using a CD drive attached to a ROCK NUC, then indeed in the Roon storage location you end up having folders with a date, and track names that are generic. However, the metadata…

[ChrisSU (Chris)]

Thanks Geoff. I’m not sure I understand what constitutes the ‘export’ of a Roon rip? Say my library is stored on an attached USB drive, and I connect this to another device? Or if I copy and paste to add to a portable player, my car, or a UPnP server/store? Does Roon really intervene, and delay the process while it adds metadata in those situations?

[Geoff_Coupe]

I put a link to the Knowledge Base article for Roon’s Export function in my original reply. Here it is again: Export. Click on the link and the article should make it clear what the Export function does and what it is used for. If you use it, I don’t think you’ll see any “delay” in the process above a simple copying of files to another storage location.

[Geoff_Coupe]

@ChrisSU

Does Roon really intervene

And yes, Roon really does add the metadata and create an Artist/Album/Track title structure in the Export process. See my post on this in the same thread referred to earlier:

What do you use to rip?

Here’s an example… First, what I see in Roon’s InternalStorage folder: [Roon%201088] I chose 4 of these albums and exported them to a folder on my desktop PC: [Roon%201089] Now Artist folders have been created, and within them, folders for the albums (bearing the Album Title). And further down, in an album folder, the tracks have been given the track title names: [Roon%201090] I sometimes think that discussions around here are like listening to Greek Philosophers arguing about the numbe…

[Rugby (aka Daniel or Big Dan)]

@ChrisSU

Or if I copy and paste to add to a portable player, my car, or a UPnP server/store? Does Roon really intervene, and delay the process while it adds metadata in those situations?

If you are in the OS of choice’s file manager and using the file manager to drag and drop from one storage location to another then… No, Roon is not adding any metadata and you will be copying the raw rip with no metadata.

Exporting happens within the Roon software, you go to an album, click Edit and then Export. Using this function is where Roon then embeds all the metadata into the files and saves it as the appropriately named files structure.

If your goal is to get a finished file using Roon in Roon…

1. Rip the CD in Roon
2. Export the CD to another location that is NOT watched by Roon.

You could then…
3. Replace the original rip with the export

[Craig_Palmer]

Are credits supposed to get exported? I’m not seeing them when I tried this.

[ChrisSU (Chris)]

Thanks again Geoff and Daniel, seems like a decent setup, I may start using it when/if my current ripper dies.

[Geoff_Coupe]

Do you mean the Credit Roles? This is Roon Lab’s metadata, which doesn’t get added, I think. Only basic metadata is included. According to the Terms and Conditions, section 20.1, this is defined as Core Data:

“Core Data” shall mean the following elements from the AMG Data: Album Title, Performer Name, AMG Genre Description, Track Title, Composer, Performer.

[Craig_Palmer]

Yes, that’s what I meant. Thanks for the answer. That matches what I’m seeing. In your answer to @ChrisSU, you said export “embeds all the metadata” but it is really only a subset.

[Geoff_Coupe]

Erm, I don’t think I said “all” - I said “basic”…

[Craig_Palmer]

Well…

@Rugby

Exporting happens within the Roon software, you go to an album, click Edit and then Export. Using this function is where Roon then embeds all the metadata into the files and saves it as the appropriately named files structure.

[Geoff_Coupe]

Ah - not guilty yer honour - @Rugby said it, not me…

[Craig_Palmer]

My bad! Sorry.

[ChrisSU (Chris)]

@Geoff_Coupe

“Core Data” shall mean the following elements from the AMG Data: Album Title, Performer Name, AMG Genre Description, Track Title, Composer, Performer.

Presumably, Artwork is also included? What about any user edits/corrections, if such things are possible from within Roon?

By the way, I was under the impression that AMG no longer exist. Are they actually the online lookup source?

[ged_hickman1]

AMG is now owned by TiVo but same underneath.