AMGer Asks Info: Equipment for Digitizing CDs
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 4:39pm
Posted by Melvin Udall
Let me set the stage: I have a 5.1 HD video/audio receiver and speakers that are all I need, Klipsch by brand, including a powered sub-woofer. The receiver is about 3 years old.
I also own an older Yamaha 5-CD 'turntable style' music player that has basically pooped the bed, at least mechanically in the opening and closing of the tray.
Separately, I just bought a new GMC Pickup that has a USB connector on the dash that allows me to plug in a flash drive and cycle through the folders to pick music to play, with the folders and titles shown on the radio dial. Very cool; I bought a 16GB flash drive no bigger than your finger-nail, and have digitized about 30 CD's on it, and have barely used 25% of the capacity. My wife has a 2004 GMC vehicle and was quite jealous. I found a Satechi device for $40 on Amazon that does essentially the same thing, transmitting on an FM frequency, with a remote control. I can plug a 16GB flash drive into it in the same way. Her car is new enough to show at least some of the info on the radio dial.
So here I am wanting to digitize, in original quality, probably 200 or so music CD's for playing via the big home sound system. Ideally, what I would like is a unit to replace the Yamaha CD player that has a solid state hard drive capable of holding hundreds or more full fidelity CD images, and that plugs into the receiver in place of the old CD player. It would be nice if it could do the digitizing itself, but I can do that by other means. It should have a remote control, and a display screen that allows you to program a few hours of music with various modes...shuffle, repeat, etc.
I have no doubt that something like this has existed for years, but I'd like the advice of others who have broached the subject to help me narrow the search.
I'm not initially interested in iTunes and cloud players, etc. I'd like to be able to do my own thing without the need for wifi connections, etc.
Given that I got the Satechi device for so little, I have the feeling there is a $200 unit out there that is beyond my wildest imagination.
What say you, AMG'ers?