Music to hard drive - entire CD??

For you computer or digital controller guys. Do you import and entire CD to add to your VAST collection or only songs you get regularly asked for or you ise on a regular basis. OSme albums, asongs never get played, so why have taking up space on the hard drive.
I say not to waste the space on a hrad drive,

What say you?

I just did the cuts that were hits or I might play....With my PO discs I rip the whole disc....I have 13,000 or so tracks. I'm sure I could cut that down to 1/2 that...

I rip the whole CD since you never know when that one track you thought would never get played gets requested at the show when you can't get to the CD to rip it on the spot.

One thing I've heard people do is rip the entire CD but only import the ones that are hits or you think will be played... this way if for some reason that one track that wasn't a hit yet that suddenly now is, you wont have to take the time to search for the cd rip it and import it... you just import it.

Whole CD here but ripped into 320kps MP3 so I know I have good quality but plenty of room. And I have all songs from album. For me its win win.

I just saw an ad for a 750 Gig external hard drive for $130... $130!!! Is space really a premium for you? I rip them all, and archive them, by album on an external drive, while (pretty much what Rob said) taking the ones I know I'll need on my "playback" drives (plural because I believe in backups). If and when someone asks for a song or artist I don't have, I do a Windows search through my album archive drive and sometimes find that I have it, but didn't realize that I did.

I'm a cherry picker for stuff that goes on a working drive, but everything gets ripped to my WAV drives, so I never have to pull the original CD again (as Rob mentioned).

Everything gets ripped to WAV format, then only the ones I want are converted to MP3 320 CBR, and added to the working set.


I wouldn't mind having them all, but I know what the overhead is on the software, when you have too many tracks loaded into you library/record case/etc...

Once you get over 8-10k tracks in memory (no matter what software), your sort and search times increase exponentially, along with memory usage -- which slows everything way down, causes skipping, etc.

In the past out of habit I would pick and choose tracks, but as the others have suggested, storage has become so cheap that it is a non issue. Now for me, if it is worth owning, it is worth ripping.

Unless it's a CD I really like I just rip the tracks I need. I currently store around 7000 or so songs on my work machine

Wait! I just realized, this is the perfect opportunity to plug my software (something I haven't done in a while, so bear with me, while I get my ego fix)... :)


Rockit has the concept of multiple libraries, and I'm not sure anybody else has that. So, you can have say 1,000,000 tracks on your drive, but only have say 5,000 in a particular library.

You can switch libraries on the fly if needed, so you can setup separate libraries for only certain tracks you might use at a wedding, or a bar, etc., and not have to deal with the memory and CPU issues, of indexing the entire drive. But, the Advanced HDD search, can also search the entire drive in the background, without affecting what is playing, or the current working library.


So there you have it -- buy my software :)


Noticed how I worked that plug in seamlessly :sqcool: :sqlaugh:

I only rip the top hits. All the fillers and deadwood gets left behind.

I do like the play list. Rick I do have a question being totally new to the digtal/computer thing. I am using you truial version now. Getting to know it and I think it is great so far. But the question is, when I buy the full product, will everything I have been doing in the trial stay the same, list, etc?

Yes :)

Very cool.. I am going to bang it out!!

Very cool.. I am going to bang it out!!

Rick is celibate.

Not when I get done with him!!!

Not when I get done with him!!!

I don't know you may need utters.... and short stubby hairy legs... :sqwink:

Practice your "Na-aaa-aa-aaa's" too.

OK, new question. If you are using a computer to DJ from, why do you need or want to use an additional controller? I have seen a few advertised and heard people talking about them.
Does it save wear on the computer?

Daaa..aaaaddd

OK, new question. If you are using a computer to DJ from, why do you need or want to use an additional controller? I have seen a few advertised and heard people talking about them.
Does it save wear on the computer?

Depends on why you want a controller... are you one of those DJ's that likes to go "Wiki-Wiki" or just play music from start to finish?

If you like to "Wiki-Wiki" the Total Control from Nuemark is nice and so is the DJ Console from Hercules... but Rick's program wont be the one you want for this.... unless you are the second type that just plays from start to finish...

The controller can be used to browse and cue music faster than you can with a keyboard and mouse... in that respect you'd be speinding over $300 for a controller to save wear and tear on a $9 keyboard and $3 mouse.... you choose.

Thanks. I definitely am the second type!!!

Thanks. I definitely am the second type!!!

Now don't get me wrong I'm not trying to steer you away from controllers.... just pointing out what I think of them... some folks do find using them easier than using a keyboard and mouse... call it a tactile need.

No I agree. I think I am much bteer with the computer, just need to practice!!!

I used to rip just the bullets. But now, with hard drives selling 500 GB for $99 at Best Buys, I rip the whole album. In fact, I am slowly going back and ripping each and every album I own. It becomes the perfect archive.

... are you one of those DJ's that likes to go "Wiki-Wiki" ......



I love it when you talk technical.....:sqlaugh:


I would also agree with Rob regarding ripping the whole disc, and for the same reasons. You never know when "filler" music is going to end up being a favorite...

Scott I chose my HD2500 and am preparing to use it with Ricks Rockit Program as my arthritic hands dont do as well with keyboards and mice. Plus if I want to wiki wiki it allows me to as if it were a CD controller.

Now do you all maintain CD's for back up's just in case. If so, would you not have the CD for the fuiller?

Now do you all maintain CD's for back up's just in case. If so, would you not have the CD for the fuiller?

Yes, even the stuff I get from iTunes is on CD as backup to my backup drive that backs up my performance drive.... so basically...

I rip everything to my performance drive and then back that up to an external drive.... and since I have to convert my iTunes to CDDA then back to mp3 I keep all my purchased discs and burned iTune discs as a backup to the backup hard drive....

Better safe than sorry I say...

OK, new question. If you are using a computer to DJ from, why do you need or want to use an additional controller? I have seen a few advertised and heard people talking about them.
Does it save wear on the computer?


I like the Dac 2 controller because I can do things faster.
I like the hands on thing too because I don't have to watch the screen as much, with my fingers on buttons.
I do a lot of trivia and I go thru about 50 questions in 10 minutes.
I can do it quite quickly, other than that, I just like the hands on stuff.

Here's a related tip that I use:

Fresh off my mind, from last weekend's weddings. In preparation for a wedding, for example: I search out all of the requested songs for the wedding, and place copies of them in a folder with the clients' name and wedding date on it. I then copy that folder to a jump drive which is always with me, and I burn two copies of it to mp3 data discs. As backup, I have a cd player that will read mp3 discs, and if, for some reason, I have massive computer problems at the event, all the essential songs are both in my pocket and in my cd backup unit. I've never had to use these backups, but for the price of a jump drive and a couple of 30 cent cdrs, isn't the peace of mind worth it?