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pc vs mac, eac vs itunes

Multi part question: (1) Thinking of going to a musicserver rather than a wall full of cds. I have not been a mac user and would lean toward a pc based system. However, I have not completely closed off the mac option. Main concern is not degrading or changing the data. I have heard that EAC is the best option to insure this and I am wondering if the mac options will ensure the same integrity. I am not concerned with cost of external drives, my plan is to store on a number of external drives and make backups to a spare set of external drives. Looking for feedback on comparison of EAC with a mac option (or is it possible to use EAC with a mac?). (2) Goal is to be able to access everything from sitting on the couch. Any suggestions - both pc and mac based - would be appreciated.
musicnoise
seditious3
184 posts
 
I prefer dbpoweramp over EAC. AFAIK, they're the only two to use accuraterip. I find EACs interface easier. Make sure you use the correct offset for your drive.
sufentanil's avatar
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sufentanil
782 posts
 
Hmm... If you're planning on having it as a dedicated system, you could either go with a Mac Mini ($600) or an iMac (which I feel is the best bang-for-the-buck in the Mac lineup, and extremely versatile), or you could get a relatively low-powered PC. Either way, I recommend two external hard drives of at least 1TB: One for music file storage, the other to serve as a backup. Depending on how much music you have, you may need two external RAID boxes for ganging multiple drives together; you can choose RAID level 0 or 5 depending on whether or not you want redundancy. None of the Mac's currently have eSATA interfaces, which would theoretically yield a higher data transfer rate to the drives, but Firewire 800 or USB 2.0 should be more than sufficient for most uses.

Music servers don't generally require a lot of CPU power, so you can get a relatively inexpensive computer from a CPU, RAM, and graphics standpoint and put the money in your drives and backup system. The other way of looking at this is that you don't have to dedicate an entire machine to this purpose, and can use it as a general-purpose computer with the music server function in the background. Whichever system you go (Mac or PC), it will likely work just fine for you.

Michael
mr_man
72 posts
 
Seditious3, How does one determine what the correct offset is, and why does it matter?
seditious3
184 posts
 
You can determine the offset via a database of cd/dvd drives (via accuraterip website), or by using a known cd in accordance with EAC/dbpoweramp instructions.

As to why,
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/en/index.php/support/faq/offset-questions/

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/cd-ripper-setup-guide.htm

Most people who rip for archival purposes use the proper offset, which is one of the main advantages of EAC/dbpoweramp.
musicnoise OP
377 posts
 
How much memory required per CD (or per 1000 CDs if that is easier) to store in WAV or AIFF? How much to store in a lossless compressed format?
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