The Ripserver may make your CD collection history

Gigantic, festering CD collection got you down? Need some solution to get all of that music onto a hard drive, but simply don't have the patience or skill to use iTunes and an external hard drive? Well you're in luck, because the Ripserver is here. Acting as a completely stand-alone solution, this handsome black or white box lets you rip and store your music without any additional hardware or software. The RAID 1 device comes in 500GB or 1TB configurations, rips as FLAC files or MP3s (with adjustable bit rates), functions as a NAS device with UPnP support, supports connectivity with additional USB drives, and is DNLA compliant. The Ripserver runs a Linux build atop an Epia 1GHZ CPU, with 512MB of RAM, and boasts VGA, USB, and PS2 ports. The 500GB will run you £599 (or around $1,189), and the 1TB £699 ($1,388) -- both are shipping now.

[johnnychipface @ Mar 5th 2008 7:51AM]

White with rounded corners and it uses electricity; blatantly some sort of apple product rip-off.

[TRAFFICBLOWS @ Mar 5th 2008 7:52AM]

whatever dude.

I just wish it was ~$500 cheaper.

[AutoTom @ Mar 5th 2008 7:55AM]

you dont think the world needs more of that?

[bob sakamano @ Mar 5th 2008 8:05AM]

agreed, very apple-esque

and why wouldnt someone want to be a like a successful company?

capitalism woot woot!

[johnnychipface @ Mar 5th 2008 8:13AM]

@AutoTom
Personally, no.
I like Apple design but I don't want to see it everywhere, I would rather companies spend money on their own tasty designs. There are very few pc cases out there that are aesthetically pleasing (most look cheap). The Ripserver does look sweet though.

[superfresh @ Mar 5th 2008 8:26AM]

My CD collection was history 5 years ago.

[OneLove @ Mar 5th 2008 10:14AM]

at $1,189, why wouldn't I just use my computer/laptop I already own?

[skulldriveshaft @ Mar 6th 2008 2:59AM]

because this was actually made by PSILE

http://mini-itx.com/store/?c=30

It would help if they changed the logo on the case at least.

But, since they look like retail prices, closely matched to the pricing on http://www.mini-itx.com they don't appear to be making a bunch of money.

Maybe making NEW photos of the device could help.

Anyways, I'm more interested in their MediaGrabber, http://www.ripfactory.com/mediagrabber.html - but I guess that's not as great as this flamebait posting.

[johnnychipface @ Mar 6th 2008 3:27AM]

Not so much flamebait as an in telligence test and you failed.

[Bob @ Mar 19th 2008 12:24AM]

It is cheaper! Check out http://www.ripstyles.com they just introduced it in the USA today. $845.00

[Flashpoint @ Mar 5th 2008 7:52AM]

It looks like an Apple product.

[Homeboy @ Mar 5th 2008 8:18AM]

How?? I had a dish washer way before Apple began selling glossy shit products. So take you mask of Steve Jobs, we know it's you.

[Flashpoint @ Mar 5th 2008 9:12AM]

I meant that in a BAD WAY.

I hate apple and would never buy anything they make.

[tcc3 @ Mar 5th 2008 9:13AM]

You mean because it serves a function that has been available for 10 years, yet costs like its some amazing advance in technology?

oooo Burn. =)

[AutoTom @ Mar 5th 2008 7:55AM]

It's nice to see companies make really decent products, straight off the bat raid 1 for my music - brilliant.

[nxtiak @ Mar 5th 2008 7:57AM]

Holy expensive Batman!

[Shadowise @ Mar 5th 2008 8:28AM]

Well, the case by itself is ~£180 from the mini-itx store.

Mini-ITX Case: ~£180
Mini-ITX mobo: ~£90
1TB HDD: ~£160
512MB DDR: £20
Slot loading optical drive: ~£50

So you're probably paying about £200 to have it all built and setup for you...

[Sporkinum @ Mar 5th 2008 9:49AM]

It's RAID 1, so double the amount of disk drives.

[The Truth @ Mar 5th 2008 1:06PM]

[quote]Mini-ITX Case: ~£180
Mini-ITX mobo: ~£90
1TB HDD: ~£160
512MB DDR: £20
Slot loading optical drive: ~£50[/quote]


ummm look again, you can get it with a slot loading dvd BURNER for £169 right on their website.

and your other prices are extremely high as well.

mostly what you are paying for is their presetup linux distro, which since they have to GPL it, you should just be able to download and compile yourself.

[Anthony @ Mar 5th 2008 8:02AM]

Too bad this wasn't here 4 years ago when most of us made the switch & had to suffer through painful solutions & slow upload times.

[Dan Davis @ Mar 5th 2008 8:33AM]

AMEN.

[badenglishihave @ Mar 5th 2008 8:07AM]

I demand Vorbis before I purchase something like this.

[Carbonize @ Mar 5th 2008 8:15AM]

Why when FLAC is lossless and you can choose to rip to 320k MP3 which is as good as ogg.

[badenglishihave @ Mar 5th 2008 8:22AM]

1. FLAC is nice because it isn't lossy but it takes up too much space.
2. 320kbps MP3 as good as Vorbis? MP3 encoded with 256 VBR Lame comes close to a 160kbps VBR Vorbis in my eyes but Vorbis still takes up less space for the same quality.
3. Vorbis is free as it is open-source. Win!

[johnnychipface @ Mar 5th 2008 8:29AM]

FLAC definately doesn't take up too much space, I can't stand lossy compression.

[Jonathan @ Mar 5th 2008 8:10AM]

I'd put a handle on it and bring it to my cd-loving friends' places. Just sit-n-rip. They never like their cds leaving their houses.... this is perfect! (although a little expensive)

[Mike @ Mar 5th 2008 8:10AM]

This isn't any good without an autoloader for your CDs. Who wants to babysit this thing while they do the initial load?

I'd rather stack in 50 CDs and run it all night so I can stack in the next 50 before I head off to work.

[e_rocm @ Mar 5th 2008 12:18PM]

That's totally what I was thinking. Who wants to sit in front of this thing and change its disc every five minutes? Right now the only difference between this (as far as I know) and my computer is that I don't have to click the "Rip" button with the RipServer. There is no way that clicking one less button is worth $1,189.

[skulldriveshaft @ Mar 6th 2008 3:04AM]

Same company, your wish granted.

http://www.ripfactory.com/mediagrabber.html

[G @ Mar 5th 2008 8:31AM]

bah, build it yourself, it's a standard nexus psile case...

[Christian @ Mar 5th 2008 8:40AM]

"Acting as a completely stand-alone solution, this handsome black or white box lets you rip and store your music without any additional hardware or software."

So, how do actually play the music? Attaching a monitor and a mouse? Or from another PC? The've got to be joking. Any Apple/PC with iTunes does the exact same.

Love the case, though...

[booticon @ Mar 5th 2008 8:53AM]

You didn't even have to click on the Read link to read the post that says it's a NAS device w/ UPnP.

[Christian @ Mar 5th 2008 9:29AM]

My point exactly. You'll still need additional hardware for playback. This device is just a pricy NAS that rips CD's.

[booticon @ Mar 5th 2008 9:49AM]

I'm not disputing that it's pricey or useless, but playing dumb is kind of a silly way to get your point across.

[Matt @ Mar 5th 2008 4:13PM]

You call it dumb. Others call it valid pedagogical technique. Either way this product is silly. As is this conversation. Good bye.

[matthewmrussell @ Mar 5th 2008 9:05AM]

For half the price you could get a mac mini and an extra 500 gig drive that does the exact some thing with about 30 times more function. It looks pretty, but that doesn't mean it's worth it.

[evengrift @ Mar 5th 2008 4:05PM]

This is EXACTLY what I'm thinking.. What's the plan for this thing post-rip? Its a PC that's nothing more then a bad NAS after a month.

I went Mini+Drobo, and guess what? I have a safe backup of my music library AND Videos... And it plays back to my 42" HD LCD..

[Frank Furter @ Mar 5th 2008 9:22AM]

Please. I have over 1,000 CD's. A couple of LaCie TB HD's, a few agonizing weeks later, and I have bit-for-bit AIFF copies (plus 256Kbps MP3's) of everything I own (thank you, iTunes), as well as a backup copy (thus the two HD's). And this was a year ago, it'd probably only cost me $300 currently.

For the first time in my life, though, I'm seriously starting to wonder why I own so many CD's, and whether or not I'll keep buying them, or just be content with digital downloads like all you hip kids use. Hmph.

[Denver_80203 @ Mar 5th 2008 9:39AM]

Frank -yer profile is set private. I have a question for you.. email me?

[cduran01 @ Mar 5th 2008 9:35AM]

Or you can get a PS3 for $400 and it can rip away to either MP3 or ACC (all without DRM).

[+. @ Mar 5th 2008 9:37AM]

it doesn't say anything about whether it completes ID3 tags as well as ripping the music.... for me, adding this information takes at least as much time as just converting the CD in iTunes. since services like MusicBrainz have never worked all that well, i end up doing every tag by hand---i'd be more than willing to pay for a device like this, if it could reliably take care of that for me.

i wonder if Ripserver has access to this info at all, though? can it at least get to CDDB? or should i expect 5000-some songs all named "Track 1," "Track 2," etc...?

[qwan @ Mar 6th 2008 1:47AM]

That is a good question someone please answer that.
I know I had a friend who had ripped more than a 100 CDS 10 years ago on a 98 system. He would rip it to MP3 to make mixed cds and store it. He only had album names with track 1, track 2.
I remember this guy had some great collection which was useless.
We would have our entire group of friends come over play each cd and then rename it by looking at the covers. It took months.

[tyler @ Mar 5th 2008 5:34PM]

I was wondering the same thing about tags and CDDB access. I can't think of how many times I wanted to stick a fork in my eye trying to edit tags. Seems like the few people out there that still have CDs might find this useful. I agree, if something could take care of naming my library I'd pay up for that.

[BollockChops @ Mar 15th 2008 1:16PM]

It uses freeDB

http://www.freedb.org

[BollockChops @ Mar 15th 2008 1:16PM]

@tyler,

you might want to check out "Tag and Rename" and Music Brainz

[M @ Mar 5th 2008 10:30AM]

but you still need to have cd's to rip...

[The Aggie CEO @ Mar 5th 2008 11:09AM]

so umm yea......

sorry...I've paid less for my Se3rver which has 3TBs and rips DVDs.......

smh.........

[Barely breathing @ Mar 5th 2008 1:06PM]

"Need some solution to get all of that music onto a hard drive, but simply don't have the patience or skill to use iTunes and an external hard drive?"

If you don't have the patience or skills to use iTunes and a hard drive... would you have the patience and skills to use a credit card? I think not. A solution looking for a problem that just isn't there. Get back to me in 1980 and we'll talk.

[RichardBronosky @ Mar 5th 2008 11:30AM]

VGA? Boo! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVI-I#Connector

[Andrew @ Mar 5th 2008 1:54PM]

Doesn't my computer do the exact same thing?