To those with Digital Libraries - Some Questions...

I have a Melco NAS, and purchased one of their accessory Hard Drives so my current capacity is 5TB.  I’ve ripped about 1300 CDs and have approximately 100 downloads.  I also have a few older HDs that contain many MP3’s that I don’t currently play and don’t have tethered to the system but I play them occasionally just to make sure they haven’t become corrupted.

  I rip CDs with the Melco Optical Ripper and their software.

My biggest learning curve was ripping the MP3’s as iTunes.  I had actually ripped most of them as Apple Lossless and then one day I received an email from Apple asking if they could convert them to MP3’s as a “service “ for me.  I refused but they did it anyway.  I subsequently used dbPoweramp to rip them again when I bought the NAS and eventually added the Melco optical ripper.  dbPoweramp worked well but I haven’t used it for years 

Firstly you need to decide if you want to rip downloads or physical media. You will get a better sound with physical media but it's expensive. 

Alternatively stream but the quality in my opinion is not so good, but it's convenience cannot be denied. 

Do you already have a large collection of physical media? 

To those who have digital libraries (defined as non-physical media in the digital format that you own, store and play), what can you tell me about these things?

How do you like get your media? Purchase/Rip

Yes, both. Ripping is done on an old Macbook when they made them with built in CD drives. These redbook files I remaster using PGGB to DSD files. Purchasing from Qobuz, HD Tracks, Pro Studio masters, Prestomusic, HDTT, NativeDSD etc. Some music is not available for download, so I buy the CD and rip it, or just play it in the CD player. 

How do you store them and access them? 

I store them on a 4TB internal drive on a Macbook Pro. I also store some on the internal (removable) SSD in my Antipodes server/streamer. The Antipodes can hold 12 TB but I just have the one SSD and move files on and off it from the Mac Pro. 

What have you learned that you wish you learned sooner? 

A really, really good CD player sounds just as good as streaming/files, maybe better = High res can be overrated. I could say more about this if you are interested. And if I knew how much the SSD drives would cost these days I would have bought more of them 5 years ago!

What type of things make maintaining and using the library better? 

I am no expert here, but there are software programs that can double-check that one’s backup is identical to the primary drive. 

Do you see advantages to dealing with a certain format, vendor? 

It is amazing to me how easy and intuitive it is to download files from places such as Prestomusic and NativeDSD. As far as format one needs to be aware of the preferred format for their DAC, their streamer or the connection used; depends how the components were designed and which connection was focussed on from the designer/engineer. AES is limited and doesn’t do as high-res as USB of course, but that doesn’t mean USB is universally "better" than AES: *AES can still kick USB to the curb for musicality in many systems. Use your own ears, and a quick A/B session may lead to the wrong decision, only long term listening will lead you to the truth. 

Backups? I’ve notice Qobuz (maybe others) allow you to always redownload purchased works in case of a crash. "Anti-crash guarantee". 

Yes, along with the nice user experience when downloading the music most provide the means to re-download them if a catastrophe occurs. 

How do you like get your media? Purchase/Rip

Both. I prefer having some physical media, but some releases are digital-only, so digital it is. For purchased physical media with a digital download, I use the FLAC files provided, I do not re-rip a CD, or digitized vinyl.

How do you store them and access them? 

Mac mini, Roon/Audirvana. FLAC files

What have you learned that you wish you learned sooner? 

Synchronizing libraries between computer and phone (for on the go) can be tricky. Still don't have a good system except brute force.

What type of things make maintaining and using the library better? 

Consistent labelling of directories, Making sure that same artist is labeled EXACTLY the same on all directories.

Do you see advantages to dealing with a certain format, vendor? 

FLAC is reasonably space efficient, still lossless. Processing power is negligible on today's computers/phones. -- Bandcamp, as more of my money goes to the artist, particularly on BC Fridays, where 100% of my money goes to artist.

Backups? I’ve notice Qobuz (maybe others) allow you to always redownload purchased works in case of a crash. "Anti-crash guarantee". 

External hard-drive. Existing CDs, Bandcamp website [can re-download at any time].

@jbhiller 

Research and decide what ripping software you should use.  My limited research says a good choice for Mac is XLD for free secure ripping, or dBpoweramp if you want the easiest polished paid option. XLD is widely recommended by audio users for accurate, lossless ripping on macOS, while dBpoweramp is praised for its metadata handling and smoother workflow.  There may be other better ripping options (I do not know). THIS DECISION IS VERY IMPORTANT.  

I suggest you test ripping 3-5 albums to ensure your ripping software works before you start with your entire catalog. Verify ripped content is okay and remove any sub folders, if any.  Test to ensue these test albums play and sound okay on your equipment.  

Verify that the album cover art image is included in the album’s folder as cover.jpg or folder.jpg if you want the cover art to be included with the music files more reliably (very important).  

From the above test, review the average album file size to ensure you have enough disk space to store your albums. Also determine the average time it takes to rip a CD so you can estimate how long the ripping process takes.  After this test, verify the album cover art is displayed correctly. 

I initially ripped (FLAC Format) CDs to a large capacity hard drive. Once finished, I copied all the albums to a second hard drive as a backup. All ripped Albums were then copied to the local drive on my Infigo Audio IS-1 streamer. 

Ripping CD’s takes time and is not fun.  I recommend you do 15-20 CDs per day. If your collection is large, rip as many CD’s per day as possible.  

VERIFY everything works and sounds correct before you start coping your full Album catalog.  You only want to DO this ripping process once. Test, verify and do not rush the ripping process.