Apple Scupper CD Ripping

We run a CD ripping service so you might think we'd be celebrating. Instead I have mixed feelings.

Apple - our favourite IT company - have announced two new computers. Neither have built-in CD drives which means that without sourcing an accessory, the typical Mac user will no longer be able to rip their CDs. Part of me hopes this will result in an increase of clients for us, but I also feel sorry for those people who have invested in CDs and with the advent of this new computer will no longer be able to extract digital value from their investment.

Shipping Music

Our CD ripping service offers great value for money, and it enables us as a London area based business to reach out across the whole of the UK. So one of our music frequent conversations covers how clients can get their CDs to us.

First, we only need the CDs, the discs themselves, not the jewel cases they were supplied in. Immediately that reduces the bulk and weight of what needs to be shipped. And the variable nature of unit size.

Second, the best way is to put the discs into the plastic drums you get when you buy blank CDs in bulk. If you need some let us know, we'll send them to you. We've also had clients who've cut bits of wooden dowel and some who have tightly wrapped handfuls of CDs in clingfilm. Both work well, you just need to stop the discs moving too much in transit.

Each CD has a small ridge on the back. This stops CDs rubbing against each other when they're stacked so don't be tempted to "top and tail" the discs, doesn't help at all.

Third put your CDs into a decent padded envelope or box, with something like bubble wrap or crushed paper to aid steadiness. Some people like to split shipments into chunks as they worry about the risk of loss in transit.

Which method of post? Many clients use courier companies often as they have a business link with one already. If you don't you can find them easily enough online or through your local paper. I wouldn't ignore the post service, we've had brilliant service from Royal Mail and Parcelforce over many years. Both offer fully tracked services with signed-for delivery. Royal Mail Special Delivery is top of the range, with guaranteed delivery by 13:00 next day but Parcelforce offer similar services over longer periods (24 and 48 hours) and are often a lot cheaper.

Music M8

I like to think CD ripping is a simple business, you send, we rip, you get the music. But this week has been chaotic.

First, we had two clients who underestimated the number of CDs they had. So we were expecting 500 and then 400, we actually got 1800 in total. Not a major problem but it did put us behind, and we had to dip into the overtime budget.

Then client number two, with 800 CDs rang to ask if we could copy his music onto his new Xiva Music M8. OK, but my little heart sinks at the thought. I have dabbled with this machine before and I have to say it isn’t my favourite. I unplugged the ethernet connected Iomega drive we’ve been using and replaced it with the Xiva. So off I go trying to copy the files from one of our drives to a shiny new Xiva box. The instructions say you should just type musicm8 into the address bar in your browser.

Failed. Safari seems determined to hop off to the internet and finds that some clever ISP in Holland has grabbed the domain as a .com. Couldn’t get at the box that way so tried the other local variant Xiva suggest. No luck there either, nor via the SMB command from Apple’s Finder.

Then I remembered an issue we’d had years ago with another project that involved CD ripping to a NAS drive and I swapped the ethernet cable installed already for the cable that came with the Xiva box. Bingo! Still couldn’t get there with musicm8 but the SMB route in Finder worked fine. At last the data is flowing from our simple USB drive across the LAN and into the Xiva Music M8.