Hi all.
Sorry, because I swear I saw this come up recently, but I'm not finding anything with search.
What are good options to rip CDs to mp3 or the like on Mac? Obviously if I can get data like artist and tracks filled in automatically that would be awesome. I could probably download the couple of CDs I'm planning on buying, but I want the liner notes, assuming they have any, and sadly downloads rarely include them.
I've got an external USB drive, and I assume Mac will detect that just fine. I just don't what good programs are for ripping.
Comments
Music app
The music app does the job fine.
I rip to Apple Lossless.
You can have other formats such as mp3 or AAC different bitrates. But I don’t like compressed formats.
Music app.
Every time I open it, it just sits there trying, and I presume failing, to load my "cloud library", which I don't think actually exists. Can you use it without being subscribed to Apple Music? I guess I could try VLC, I'll bet that does it too. I keep forgetting about it because all of that stuff was inaccessible on Windows, but probably works on Mac.
Music works
I don't have an Apple Music subscription. I have a local library consisting of music I've purchased from Amazon and Apple, CDs that I ripped with Music (formerly iTunes), and cassettes, albums, and singles that I ripped using Audacity back when I had the eyesight to use Audacity. The Music app manages this library for me fairly well and allows me to sync various playlists to my phone.
I don't know about the problem you're running into with it not finding something in iCloud. Try doing a web search for the exact error you're seeing. Let us know how it goes.
Delete your music library folder
If you press command plus shift plus H, this will open up your home folder. From there, find your music folder. Inside there should be a folder for iTunes and/or music library. Just delete that, and then open music again. It should open just fine, and ask you to choose a location, or choose default, for a new library folder.
HTH.
I'll try deleting it.
Thanks! Yeah it's not really an error, it just sits there saying it's loading the cloud library and does nothing much, I'm not even sure if menus work offhand, and it's pointless to go and check if I'm going to try deleting the library folder anyway.
Does it copy stuff into its library, or can you point it at music? I have an albums directory on the external drive, but it's larger than the Mini's internal drive, even if it was nothing but free space.
I mean I probably don't want to use the Music app to manage stuff, although transferring to the phone easily sounds nice. Do you have to hook up a cable to do that or will it do it over WIFi? I assume it's also easy to delete from the phone and add new music?
Uses its own library
Though if I recall correctly, you can choose where that library is located. By default, I believe it is in the following:
~/Music/(name of your music library)
How to change location of music library
Change where your music files are stored. I referred to that article recently when I moved my Music library off my external HDD and onto my internal SSD.
Thanks. Adding files, sending files to phone.
How do you add files? Actually I'd like to just point it at a couple of directories and let it recurse subdirs to add everything, if possible.
Assuming I do that, how do I send songs to the phone for the Music app? I'll try googling too but I'm going to be out tomorrow, so I'm trying to find out because it would be pretty handy to send some things to the phone for that.
In days past, there was a…
In days past, there was a folder with a type of batch function attached to it, inside your music library folder. Any songs added to that folder, would automagically add to your music library. That folder, should, still exist ...