REVIEWS - Readytoplay.com

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REVIEWS
NEWEST
H EADP HO NE S
SPEAK E RS
MED IA
APPS GAMES
W
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RipDVDsto YouriPod
TurnYouriPodtouchinto
a Killere-BookReader
Service
a CD-Ripping
Choose
DISPLAYUNTIL3/24/09
Macthe
RIPPER
Countus amongthe manywho wereskeptical
serviceswhenwe f irst heard
aboutCD-ripping
of them.The ideaof payinga companyto do
somethingthat iTunesalreadydoesfor free
paysoff in
yourCD-ripping
Outsourcing
metadata.
timeandnear-perfect
&
fEo Shlpplng
r.co
m
www.m
usicshifte
pshark.com
\l]/ww.ri
at 69centsperCD
Price:Starts
perCD
at 99cents
Price:Starts
in
options
offers
themostflexible
MusicShifter
needs,
onyourparticular
Depending
termsof price.
lvlusicShifter
can
speed,
in bothformat
andshipping
ThePopular
each.
foraslittleasS.69
ripyourdiscs
package
AAC,
or
ripsin MP3,
includes
single-format
Lossless
WIVA
formats
at bitratesupto 320kbps.
Lossless,
or FLAC-are
WMA
Lossless,
rips-Apple
package,
at S.69.
alsostarting
available
in theArchive
forripping
copy-useful
lf you'dlikebotha lossless
having
to
without
formatinthefuture,
to another
f ilef ory ouriPod,
a s m aller
loa dd iscs-a nd
manu ally
youa
(starting
gives
package
at S.99/disc)
theDeluxe
"lossy"
version.
to a smaller
lossless
filein addition
although
withgreatmetadata,
Rlps
wereclean,
artists
werenot
different
containing
several
albums
proper
iTunes
withAlbum
Artistt0 ensure
tagged
trial,so
offers
a free10-disc
MusicShifter
sorting.
youcantaketheservice
dropping
fora spinbefore
t hed ou gh .
format,
in
CDripsin MP3or AAC
Ripshark
offers
Basic
service
bitratesallthewayupto 320kbps.
perdisc.Addona lossless
ripin FLAC
or
isS.99
Theresulting
foranadditional
Apple
Lossless
S.69.
filesandApple
AAC
224kbps
files-wechose
andRipshark
evenripped
error-free,
Lossless-were
wethrewin asa test(RIAA
lawyers,
CDs
a fewburned
Theydidmiss
us,weowntheoriginals).
don'tbother
including
Brian
Wilson's
Pef
a fewdiscs,
however,
obscure
andreleased
in 2002.
Live-hardly
Sounds
y Ds p i n d l e
Rips h a rskh'si p p i nmga t e r i a l s -fal i m s C
beyond
a custom-sized
inside
a boxwithnopadding,
inspire
confidence.
lnfact,
cardboard
insert-didn't
tripio us,andwe
onitsreturn
thespindle
broke
rattling
around
loose
inside
a boxwithCDs
received
alongwithshards
of plastic
thelidof thespindle,
itself.
0uch!
spindle
fromthebroken
>> 28
winter200e
MILipoDHANDBooK
luxury,something
seemedlikean extravagant
bestleft for peoplewith more moneythan
commonsense.The basicconceptis this:Pack
up your musicCDs,shipthemoff,anda few
dayslater,your CDscomeback,alongwith
professionally
digital
ripped,iTunes-ready
versions-completewith albumart, track
)
names,releasedates,and in somecasescompose[artist,and complete
track-numberdata.lf you'relikewe oncewereiyou'reaskingyourself
why wouldanyonein their right mindpay for somethingyou can easily
do yourself?
we managedto rip at homein smallbatches.As muchas we wouldhave
The answeris simple:convenience.
Wehavea moderatecollectionby musicgeekstandards-of a few hundredCDswe'veamassedover
the last few decadesof scouringthe BayArea'sfinestrecordstoresand
street-cornerblanketsales.And yet,despiteour best intentions,we only
artist,and trackdata is anotherprojectonto itself.
As a test,we sent out batchesof discsout to four differentcompanies
specializing
in digitizing
CDcollections.
On the whole,we foundthe
quick,and simple.And despitesomekey
servicesto be convenient,
hadabout20 percentof our CDcollectionripped.Therest sat for years.
unheardandburiedin boxesunderthe bed-most of our listening
has
transitionedfrom recordsand CDsto digitalfilesplayedvia computers
and iPods.We'vebeensubsistingon a diet of digitaldownloads(seep54
differencesbetweenthe levelsof serviceoffered,all of the resulting
fileshaveexcellent
soundquality.On convenience
alone,we'resold.The
abilityto access
anyandall of your musicwitha few mouseclicksis an
irresistibleconceptfor all hosewho'veeverwishedthey couldf inallyfill
for our takeon three alternativesto the iTunesstore)and the few discs
out their iTuneslibrary.-RayAguilera
lovedto haveour entirecollectionavailablein a click,endlesslyfeeding
CDsintoour Macwassimplytoo time-consuming-not
to mentionmindjankyalbum,
numbing.
Andchecking
andcorrectingiTunes'
notoriously
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ttbnrn
www.readytop
Iay.com
perdisc;contact
Price:Starts
at S1.30
forquote
w!\Iw.riptopia.com
perCD
Price:Starts
at 99cents
ReadyToPlay
wasourhands-down
favorite
among
theservices
wetested.
Iheresultinq
filessounded
great,
butwhatgaveReadyToPlay
theedgewastheir
thorough
metadata.
Thecompany
checks
album
data
fourdifferent
across
databases,
andincludes
Album
Artistandcomplete
tracknumber
data("Track
3 of
"Track
12"instead
3")foraccurate
of simply
sorting
in
Thethorough
ilunes.
dataisanyobsessive
collector's
dream.
Single-format
ripsstartat S1.30
each,
but
volume
discounts
areavailable,
anda second
format
isavailable
foranadditional
fee.Unlike
theother
pricing
giveexact
services,
which
ontheirsites,
RIP
quotes
prices
andis usedto dealing
uponrequest
fromusers
withspecial
requests
withhigh-end
wasthemostexpenslve
audiosystems.
ReadyToPlay
service
wetried,buttheincredibly
detailed
metadata
service
wereunmatched.
andhands-on
customer
yougetwhatyoupayfor.
Ultimately,
Liketheotherservices
metadata
wetested,
Riptopia's
wasgreat,
andevenincluded
Album
Artistinfo
forproper
sorting
of multi-artist
albums.
192kbps
MP3s
areS.99
a pop,andthePremium
service
adds
in a second
Lossless,
320kbps
MP3,
WMA
or FLAC
v e r s i ofno r5 1 . 6 9 . 0gnlea r i npgr o bl e ma r r eodu r
Riptopia
TheTerms
included
experience.
0f Service
watermarking
fileswith"customer
theresulting
information."
Worse,
wasn't
revealed
thisdetail
p r i o tro p l a c i nagno r d e r - o n lay f te ro r d e r i nagn d
(andpouring
receiving
over)a pageof fine-print
wereweaware
thatourfileswould
bewatermarked.
passing
A sinqle,
reference
to thewatermarking
disappeared
fromthecompany's
website
during
thetimeweweredealing
withthem.Repeated
requests
exactly
emailandtelephone
to clarify
whatinformation
isincluded,
andhowa consumeT
mightverifytheinformation
forthemselves,
went
unanswered.
Thepossibility
of thatmysterious
"customer
intothewrong
information"
infofalling
hands
if ouriPodiseverlostor stolen
isa morethan
a littlebutnerve-wracking.
A lookat ourfileswith
a texteditorrevealed
notice
inthefile
a copyright
headers,
butwecan'tbesurethatthereisn'talso
private
someembedded
information
in eachthatwe
didn'tnotice-and
thecompany
isn'ttalking.
winter2009
MIL29
iPoDHANDBooK
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