There are plenty of ripping service companies out there that will take your entire collection and rip them to hard drive storage. You should start by Googling "CD ripping service." The tricky part is getting the data about each CD to match up with the music files so you can do easy searching, create play lists, etc. This can get quite complicated, particularly with respect to classical music (e.g., the many variations of spelling "Tchaikowsky"), CDs that are compilations, or CDs that are not identified in the ripping process.
Ripping services vary in how good they are at doing manual corrections and searching for associated data for CDs that are not in certain databases.
When doing a search for a company, look for ones that specialize in the kind of music that is the bulk of your collection. For example, the company Ready To Play specializes in ripping classical CDs.
Other factors to study up on include the kind of server you are buying/building and the type of file you plan to rip the CDs to (e.g., FLAC, WAV, MP3). Most companies will only rip to certain kinds of files.
A few turnkey server manufacturers offer (for a price), a service for ripping your collection (Olive, for example).
Even using an outside service is a bit of a hassle. Typically, they will send you all the packing material and detailed instructions on how to package your CDs for sending out to the ripping service. Typically, this involves removing all your CDs from jewel cases and putting them on a spindle or in some other kind of compact means of packing up your collection. When returned, you will still have the task of putting all your CDs back in their original packaging. I don't know of ripping services that would take CDs in their original packaging.
If you want to get an idea about how flexible, and elaborate the use of data about your collection can be, look at the manuals that are available on line for servers such as the Sooloos.
Anyway, start by looking at what is described on the internet. That is what I did, and I've come to the sad conclusion that I have to do the ripping myself. The server I am getting rips to WAV files (optimal quality) and most companies do not support WAV. Much of my collection is classical, so I am expecting to have to do a lot of manual data entry and correction.
Ripping services vary in how good they are at doing manual corrections and searching for associated data for CDs that are not in certain databases.
When doing a search for a company, look for ones that specialize in the kind of music that is the bulk of your collection. For example, the company Ready To Play specializes in ripping classical CDs.
Other factors to study up on include the kind of server you are buying/building and the type of file you plan to rip the CDs to (e.g., FLAC, WAV, MP3). Most companies will only rip to certain kinds of files.
A few turnkey server manufacturers offer (for a price), a service for ripping your collection (Olive, for example).
Even using an outside service is a bit of a hassle. Typically, they will send you all the packing material and detailed instructions on how to package your CDs for sending out to the ripping service. Typically, this involves removing all your CDs from jewel cases and putting them on a spindle or in some other kind of compact means of packing up your collection. When returned, you will still have the task of putting all your CDs back in their original packaging. I don't know of ripping services that would take CDs in their original packaging.
If you want to get an idea about how flexible, and elaborate the use of data about your collection can be, look at the manuals that are available on line for servers such as the Sooloos.
Anyway, start by looking at what is described on the internet. That is what I did, and I've come to the sad conclusion that I have to do the ripping myself. The server I am getting rips to WAV files (optimal quality) and most companies do not support WAV. Much of my collection is classical, so I am expecting to have to do a lot of manual data entry and correction.