*stupid question* can i load songs from cd without iTunes

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
i have about 175 CDs. will i have to load them to iTunes in order to get them on my iPod, or can i do do it manually, to save time?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    What do you mean by manually? They've got to be in iTunes to play them on the iPod. At the least, you'll probably want them compressed into AAC/mp3 before putting them on the iPod.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    like drag and drop into the drive where the iPod is plugged into. (files on CD to iPod drive)



    but from what you just said i'm probably better off going thru iTunes.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    CD audio is uncompressed AIFF



    iTunes will rip them to .mp3/4 or .aac



    10-to-1 file size saving



    If you wanted 'raw' CD Audio' files, I suppose it's theoretically possible you could use DU to copy them across, but why?
  • Reply 4 of 8
    In iTunes preferences, you can set how you want to import. There are many options and a lot of disagreement about what type of rip is best when you also look at file size savings. If you want it to sound like a CD, then do Apple Lossless



    If you want a compression, i can give you what i recommend. I find it to be a nice mix of file size vs quality. I use AAC 160 VBR. That is just my suggestion YMMV
  • Reply 5 of 8
    hirohiro Posts: 2,663member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by blondieblue227

    i have about 175 CDs. will i have to load them to iTunes in order to get them on my iPod, or can i do do it manually, to save time?



    like drag and drop into the drive where the iPod is plugged into. (files on CD to iPod drive)



    but from what you just said i'm probably better off going thru iTunes.




    No that will not put the files in the proper directory structure with the proper metadata for the iPod to play them. They will just be data files on an iPod hard drive. It won't save time either.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    shetlineshetline Posts: 4,695member
    Though I'm personally way too fussy about tagging and artwork to ever make fast work of importing CDs, you can choose the "On CD Insert: Import Songs and Eject" option in iTunes/Preferences/Advanced/Importing, and import your music at a rate of around one CD roughly every 4-10 minutes (depending on how fast a Mac you've got). You can work on other stuff at your computer while the ripping goes on, pausing to pull out the last ripped CD and pop in a new CD, everytime the auto-eject occurs.



    175 albums is still a big project. Expect it to take several days if you don't want to spend more than an hour or two this task per day.



    Although the "Import Songs and Eject" option streamlines the import process so that you typically don't need to interact with iTunes at all beyond simply removing and inserting CDs, every once in a while you'll get a Gracenote/CDDB prompt asking you to choose between multiple sets of tag data for a particular CD. Every once in a very rare while Gracenote won't recognize a particular CD at all, and all you'll get for track info if you don't intervene will be "Track 01", "Track 02", etc.
  • Reply 7 of 8
    Quote:

    Originally posted by shetline



    175 albums is still a big project. Expect it to take several days if you don't want to spend more than an hour or two this task per day.





    you aren't kidding, it's going to take me forever, but hey that's why i got an iPod...because my 300 sony changer hit the bricks.



    i'm so glad iTunes/gracenote will recognize the artist/song for me.



    great explanations, thank you.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    Quote:

    Originally posted by blondieblue227

    you aren't kidding, it's going to take me forever, but hey that's why i got an iPod...because my 300 sony changer hit the bricks.



    i'm so glad iTunes/gracenote will recognize the artist/song for me.



    great explanations, thank you.




    If you know anyone who is in good with a comp lab you can do what i am planning on doing for my dad's 125 collection. I am creating a new user account on all 17 computers so i have a brand new library. Then i am all setting them for the rip and eject setting. I will then just walk around and import all of the CDs. After that, i will just copy the songs over to my external drive and add them all to itunes. There are also places that will do it for about $1 per CD but i rather just spend some time and do it by myself.
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