Hi,

 Don't know about you guys, but I would love something connected to my Bvis 7/Mac mini/masterlink system that would take the hassle out of ripping cds/dvds and provide a large storage capacity.

 

Have stumbled accross this product and would be interested in your thoughts;

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

 

regards StUrrock

There shouldn't really be any hassle RE ripping CDs if you access your iTunes account over a network, and use a more convenient computer for ripping CDs than your MacMini (which I assume is pretty tied in to the BeoVision).

Looks easy to use but I would consider ripping to lossless now that storage is so cheap.  This defaults to 320 MP3 which is fine (and actually what I use!) but if starting again, I would go lossless. If you don't want to go wireless, an external large HDD would seem the way to go - you can rip via one computer and then attach it to the Mac Mini.

Networking the MacMini up to another computer which can act as a 'ripping terminal' is actually very simple.

Two choices - you can either keep all the media on the MacMini or the 'ripping terminal' - I personally would keep it on an external HDD connected to the Mini.

Connect to the Mini's external drive over a network (wireless or wired, it shouldn't make any difference other than speed), make sure the 'ripping terminal' computer is running under the same user name as the MacMini, and open the MacMini's 'iTunes Library' data file on the ripping terminal. Then in the ripping terminal's iTunes Preferences, choose the same directory the data is stored in on the MacMini as the iTunes folder.

Don't run iTunes on the Mini at the same time as the ripping terminal - that'll cause serious issues...