“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination
and life to everything.”
― Plato
All of the software described below (including Ubuntu) is free and available form the Ubuntu Software Center.
Step 1 - Find a good music ripper.
This was actually a little harder than I thought. I use Ubuntu which has a large number of music programs for virtually every need. The default (as of 12.04) is Rhythm Box which has some good features but, at times, is very slow when it comes to ripping CDs.
I tried several different tools but finally settled on Banshee. It pulls the music at a faster clip and has some other interesting features like its ability to download album art. It also links to the Amazon MP3 player. One word of warning, however: Banshee is no longer supported under the current Ubuntu and I had one really odd windows manager glitch after installing. It hasn't happened since but, for a brief moment, I remembered what it was like being a Microsoft Windows user.
Step 2 - Install Google Music Manger
If you want to listen to your CDs on your phone or tablet, I recommend using the Google Music Manager. It automatically uploads files in your music directory to the Google Cloud almost instantly. Why would you want do have music stored in the cloud rather than on your desktop?
The big advantage to storing your music (or other files for that matter) in the cloud is that you are protected from data loss due to a hard drive failure. True you can always restore your files from backup but the cloud keeps you from ever losing any of your precious music.
The other big advantage to the Google Cloud is that your music is available to you anywhere you have Google Play installed. Thus my CDs are now right there on my phone. You can then listen to any of your music from anywhere you have cell phone coverage. Now I just need my car to sync with Google and life will be wonderful.
Step 3 - Update the Music Database
Both Rhythm Box and Banshee use Music Brainz to download album titles and song names. Music Brainz is a community-maintained open source encyclopedia of music information. This means that anyone - including you - can help contribute to the project by adding information about your favorite artists and their related works.
If you have obscure CDs, please create an account and upload your album info. You can upload information without an account but you lose many of the automagic features of Music Brainz. This is a great resource even if you aren't uploading content. It's music catalog is nothing short of amazing.
You'll want to find a program that performs mass tagging for your music. I discovered Puddle Tag which allows me to select a bunch of music at once and apply the same tagging actions to it. It has a lot of features but, as usual, I use it only for one - marking the genre of my music so I can separate country, from rock, from pop, from whatever else I dig out of my collection.
Step 5 - Prepare for the Long Haul
Regardless of how fast your CD drive is, some CDs just take forever. It seems that the older ones are the slowest only reading at 2x speed. Others get all the way up to 20x speed. This may be because of my drive or formatting. I'm not sure.
In a way the speed doesn't matter. You can import your CDs as you work at the computer performing other, less useful tasks like reading email or your favorite news site. You'll find the time well spent the first time you crank up a beloved tune at work without doing anything other than backing up your CDs.
“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent”
― Victor Hugo
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