FAQ

We convert your entire CD collection into an organized digital library (other formats also available), saving you from the chore. If you were to do it yourself an hour a day, it could take several months. We also offer other digital music/data services, library cleanup and organization. See our Ordering or Services page for more details.

As soon as you place an order we send you a CD spindle shipping kit for your CDs. The kit contains instructions, CD spindles, and a pre-paid FedEx Ground return label. When we receive your CDs we convert them into the digital format(s) of your choice. Once your order is complete we send you portable/flash drive and/or MP3 player containing your organized digital library, along with your CDs. From here you can enjoy your music by copying the files from the drive to any computer and by syncing the music to any phone or other digital music player.

What separates us from any other CD ripping service, or just doing it yourself for that matter? For starters, experience. We have been in business longer than all our competitors (17 years and running). We’re almost as old as the iPod! We have leveraged this experience to learn all the ins and outs of the technology, as well as best practices for providing the most value. This means that we use the best CD ripping equipment and software, calibrated to an ensure error-free, high quality rip of each CD. We also have a metadata cleanup process has that has been honed to perfection over the years. On top of that, we are in communication with you through every step of the order process, and always respond quickly (usually the same day) to any problem, question, or inquiry. We back this all up with a guarantee of quality. If you are unhappy with any aspect of your delivered library, we will fix it free of charge or refund your money. If you ever have any questions about our services, pricing or process please contact us anytime.

When you place an order, your credit card will be charged for the estimated amount. When the job is complete we then process either a credit to the card or issue an email invoice to account for any differences in final CD count or other order changes. If you are unsure of your CD count it’s better to over-estimate than under-estimate so that you’re sure to get enough CD spindles in your shipping kit.

For typical orders we charge and additional $0.30 per CD to handle CDs in jewel cases or binders. There are also additional shipping charges due to larger volume and number of boxes being shipped. Please contact us for a shipping quote if you are interested in this.

Yes. We send all CDs back to you with your newly converted digital library, unless otherwise requested.

Turnaround time varies by the size of your CD collection and sometimes by job complexity (rare titles, scratched or scuffed cds, multiple formats required, etc.). Our turnaround is typically around 15* business days, not including transit times. If you have a specific requirement or deadline please let us know! We can often accommodate it. Expedited shipping and/or rush charges may apply for quick turnarounds.

*IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to current demand for our services, we cannot absolutely guarantee our stated turnaround time. If you would like your project completed and shipped by a certain date we urge you to communicate this when you place your order. If ordering online please use the ‘special instructions’ section of the order form to communicate your desired completion date. We will then respond with a confirmation.

We have done the research and have determined that AccurateRip is a perfectly acceptable way of verifying the bit perfect quality of files, but that it is also based on technical jargon that doesn’t always hold up. It is somewhat unsure how AccurateRip’s database is determined. AccurateRip data is based on a somewhat arbitrary rip to which others are measured. It is not based on AES standard or any other standard that we know of.

i.e. give me your best technical jargon!

We use the exact same commercial grade CD ripping/duplication equipment that was the chosen solution for EMI (Abbey Road in particular), Sony Music, A&M, Capitol Records, Reprise, Warner Brothers, Imax, and many others. This equipment was chosen by these recording companies for it’s ability to make frame accurate copies that could be verified. CD-DA (Red Book) is considered unverifiable but our equipment’s frame accurate imaging and reproduction make it possible.

Audio CD-DA discs do not have the same EDC (Electronic Data Capture) and ECC (Error Correcting Code) of data discs. They do however have a form of EDC and ECC. Each frame or block of an audio CD is 2352 while a typical data disc is 2048 bytes. More bytes are used for ECC and EDC in a data disc block than an audio CD as they need to be more robust. With Audio CDs, modern players can hide errors with over sampling and recover from errors with techniques such as average, holds, and mutes. During ripping our equipment monitors the C1 and C2 decoder errors coming off the drive. E11, E21, E12, E22 are all recoverable with data redundancy, although an E32 (3 errors in the second stage of error correction) is not recoverable and we will fail the disc. Many modern drives will still play these discs and consequently rip them. This is why only certain optical drives are supported in our equipment/software. This helps guarantee that the process always delivers the quality rip we desire from each CD.

The equipment we use is the equipment same equipment used by Fortune 500 companies, the US government,  and significant institutions such as the the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, the BBC, CBC, NPR, NHS, The National Archives of New Zealand and Australia, The NewYork City Archive, professional archivists like Iron Mountain, Preservation Technologies, and countless other university archives & libraries. In addition, it was vetted by George Blood Audio and became their standard.