What are My Options for Ripping My CD Collection ?

ALAC provides a 40-60% compressed ratio. I would stick to third party, FLAC or WAV if going lossless. ALAC was designed for Apple users and if storage space (a problem in 2004) is of issue to you now, then it is an option.

Software (like DbPower) can correct errors. However, in the thousands of rips I have done using MS Media Player, software such a as DbPower would have fixed only a handful of failed rips (maybe). Of course, those discs were damaged/scratched and I should not have bought them in the first place. Error correction is sales fluff and not a real time issue if you have done it thousands of times like I have.

Metadata is called up from the network in which it resides. Hence, it can change (ie varying info; different photos of artist or genre). Those who carry their music around and play in cars, etc are subject to ever changing metadata info. Meh, don't dwell on it.

Media Player (Microsoft) no longer (as of this year) downloads metadata. I have to type in tracks, etc. Since I have nearly maxed out on music, this manual aspect of ripping is not an issue for me. If I was starting new, I might change methodology for the sake of convenience.

I have backed it up to 4 different Hard Drives, one of which I keep in a large fireproof gun safe. If I lost those files I would have to call the suicide prevention hotline.

I feel you @8th-note!! One of the drawbacks with ripping music vs streaming is fear of losing your music. I have two external hard drives and when I backup every 6 months or so, I do it twice. I like your fireproof gun safe idea!! Probably better than hiring a security guard!

@goodlistening64 

ALAC provides a 40-60% compressed ratio. I would stick to third party, FLAC or WAV if going lossless.

alac's compression is lossless compression.  None of the PCM bits contained within the source (n this case, that would be the CD) are lost.  Every last PCM bit that is on the CD will be in the alac fle.

It is like using zip / 7zip.  When you later unzip the contents of the zipped file, you get the exact files back.

Audio has compression, such as used to brick sound quality (loudness wars).  alac does not do that.  You will hear nothing different from audio CDs ripped to alac, flac, or wav files.

goodlistening64

Software (like DbPower) can correct errors ... Error correction is sales fluff and not a real time issue if you have done it thousands of times like I have.

It isn't clear why you think error correction is "sales fluff." I found it a worthwhile feature when using EAC, where sometimes the software will read a specific disc sector multiple times to ensure bit-perfect accuracy. EAC can generate a log after each rip, identifying the troublesome sectors and the outcome of the attempted error correction. (It doesn't always work.)

Metadata is called up from the network in which it resides. Hence, it can change ... Those who carry their music around and play in cars, etc are subject to ever changing metadata info ...

The metadata for my files is stored in the files themselves - it never changes unless I go in and edit it. When streaming (such as Qobuz), the metadata is provided by the source. 

For those who are so quick to respond to queries such as this by saying just stream, keep in mind that many CDs are reissued in big box sets and then deleted when the run is over, with the CDs then being unavailable to stream 

@mahler123 

For those who are so quick to respond to queries such as this by saying just stream, keep in mind that many CDs are reissued in big box sets and then deleted when the run is over, with the CDs then being unavailable to stream 

Agreed.

Streaming is a great option.  But t leaves you at the mercy of the streaming service and your internet service.  If either one has an outage, then no digital music.  And streaming services might come and go, just as many huge chain stores have come and gone.  And there goes your playlists.

When you own CDs, and rip them, the songs are yours, forever.  You rely on no one and no service (other than the power company, which is unavoidable in any scenario).

And some songs on some CDs will likely sound better than what is streamed.

Two high-end store owners and their staff have told me that if you purchase the song from the streaming service, and play it from your local storage, it will sound better than coming from the streaming service.  I have not confirmed that for myself, because I subscribe to no streaming services.  But different personnel from stores, thousands of miles apart (New Jersey and Navada), told me the same thing.

I do not stream, because I do not want to rent my music.  But I am considering it, to discover more music, and to land better sounding versions of the songs that I love.

I have purchased a couple of thousand songs, and many of them have vanished from the seller’s site.  In one case, it was ponomusic, which went belly-up.  Numerous other songs I have purchased from 7digital, and many of my purchased songs are gone from that site.

But I downloaded all of my purchased music, so I lost nothing.  If I was purely renting, things would have turned out differently.