I just install a NAS for a client so he could import all his CD's and enjoy his music thru his Sonos system. Well I went to show him how to import a CD and theirs no CD drive on his MAC! lol.

I'm wondering if there is a device that has multiple CD bays, where we can import more than one CD at a time. Any ideas?

Go purchase an Apple USB Superdrive and start loading.
Once setup its a simple process.


Choosing which format to encode to is the fun part.

And finding missing album art.

I want to import like 3 at a time thou

Question is... Will all the devices handle the throughput of importing 3 CDs? Will the Mac be able to handle it (I bet it can), will the software be able to handle it (I bet it can't.), will the NAS be able to handle it (Sure.)

Then the other question is, will it make a difference in time? Probably not. Besides, you do not want to import on a low quality setting. Which maybe the only option when trying to import 3 CDs at a time.

KOT

There are services to do this. A quick Google search for 'CD to digital' shows several that even allow you to send your NAS drive along w/ the CD's to be sent back fully loaded. There's no way it's worth the headache / tedium involved to do it yourself.

+1

There are services that charge less than 2 bucks per CD.
Hell, there is one that charges less than a buck.
No way that <$500 fee for 400 CD Megachanger is worth the price of CD drive and the 40+ hours it's going to take to babysit this operation.

I'll do it. Currently unemployed.

KOT

Just don't let him type anything. Typos, you know.

It does seem illogical to employ pretty much anybody to do this, but illogical situations exist. I've marveled for decades at what people on salary are asked to do, seemingly on the basis "I'm already paying this guy $20 an hour, so why not have HIM do the work? If I hired someone to do this at $5, then I'd have an additional invoice to pay. This way the company has no added costs."

It depends on how many CDs he has. I have well north of 2000 so $2 each would be costly!

Sure, but if it takes ~15 min to load, tag, rip, and unload a disc x 2000 discs = 500 hours of 'labor'.

If you've got a desk job and can do it in the background that might get done in the space of a few months?

I think the guys over at ready to play are still in business. Their sign was still up on the front of the building last time I drove through the parking lot.

ReadyToPlay
336 Portage Avenue
Palo Alto , CA 94306
http://www.readytoplay.com
Phone: 650-213-9300
Fax: 650-213-9301

One thing missing from your equation = 'shipping'
400 CDs is very heavy. It would cost around $90 at least.
For 2000 CDs?!?! That would almost certainly require Freight LTL costs and now your looking around $200+ shipping.

If you have any rare or hard-to-find collections, what do you do about insurance? What if something does happen in transit?
These shipping companies these days are horrible and damage everything.

If you can do 10 discs an hour, vs the $2 a disc rate = savings of $20 per hour.
I bill a lot more than that for MY time.

An early piece of advice I received is calculate what your time is worth to you.
(Our clients already know their number, which is why they hire people like us)

If there's something that needs to be done, how much are you willing to pay someone else to do it, so you can do something else that makes you more money, or something you enjoy?

If you were going to use the homeowner's Mac and the homeowner was going to do it, get him a high speed cd tray, do not use the Mac drive it is slow. He or she can burn them in a few at a time and you have no exposure and they will rediscover their old music they forgot they had. Now some homeowners will get their hand stuck in the CD tray, or accidentally put a sandwich in it instead of a CD, find them a service and hold their hand as they pay you for your time.

See you name and realize you're the last possible person to do this job.

I get that you're unemployed -- sorry to hear that.
Still, adding name, artist, track name (*15-20), cover art, genre, etc. for $1 -- no thanks.