About Your Computer Requirements

Your Computer must conform to these Minimum Specs:

• Operating System Windows XP or 2000 (Windows 98 and ME not supported) or Mac OS X (Mac OS 9 or lower not supported)
  
  
• A DVD-ROM drive.
  
  
• 256 MB RAM Memory
  
  
• 10 GB or more free hard disk space, depending on the size of your CD collection. Our order page will tell you roughly how much space you must have free on your hard drive to hold your music collection. It's very important to make sure you have more than enough hard disk space for your collection. Your computer will not work well if it is almost out of hard drive space. A good guideline is to end up with at least 5 GB free, even after loading your music collection as supplied by our service.
  
  
• If you purchase a Hard Drive or Loaner Hard Drive option, your computer must also have a USB 2.0 port.
  
  

You can tell if your computer has a DVD-ROM drive by loading a DVD that your might get from a Video Rental store in to your computer. If it plays the movie, you have a DVD-ROM drive. If you are still unsure, you can run a program on your computer to tell you more about your hardware as follows:

On a computer running Microsoft Windows, click the Start button and then click Run. When a box pops up, type msinfo32 in the box and press the return key. A window will pop up with System Information. You can find the total Memory under "System Summary." You can click the "+" next to "Components" and then click "CD-ROM" to find out if your computer can read DVDs. If you click "Storage" under "Components", you will see "Drives." Click on "Drives" and you will see a drive C: which will tell you how much free space you have in GB. Under "Components" click "USB." If you see the word "Enhanced" or USB 2.0 then your computer supports USB 2.0. You might also want to check the manuals that came with your system.

On a computer running Mac OS X, click the Apple in the top left of the screen and then click "About This Mac." When the dialog windows pops up, you will see the total memory of your computer, click "More Info" to learn about your hard drive and DVD drives. Once the System Profiler pops up, click "Disc Burning" to see if your computer has a DVD drive, it will show Reads DVD, yes or no. Click ATA to see how much space you have on your hard drive. Click through the devices on the right until you see "Macintosh HD" and then look for the number of GB under "Available." You can also click USB to see if your computer supports USB 2.0. If you see USB High-Speed Bus, then you have USB 2.0.

USB 2.0 vs. Firewire

USB 2.0 and FIrewire are both high speed external hard drive interfaces. USB 2.0 is more common to both Microsoft and Apple based computers, hence that is what RipX supports. If your computer only has Firewire, you may want to purchase a Firewire external drive and send us that drive in lieu of purchasing a drive from us. Theoretically, USB 2.0 is faster than FIrewire, but in actual practice, Firewire is often the faster of the two interfaces. RipX can accommodate both technologies, but we standardize on USB 2.0 for maximum compatibility.

About Your Music Library

Loading your music collection on to your computer.

When you load a DVD from RipX into your computer's disc drive, generally a window will pop up with the contents of the DVD. The same is true when you plug in a USB External Hard drive obtained from RipX. You will see a folder called "Your Music." Inside that folder is all of your music. If you want to copy all of your music to your computer's hard drive, simply drag and drop this folder to your computer's Hard Disk icon. You may choose to skip this step if you do not have enough hard disk space on your computer's internal drive and/ or you prefer to leave your music on the External Hard drive. Keep in mind that you must keep the drive plugged in to your computer if you choose this option.

Loading your music collection in to your Jukebox Software.
Generally, you must "import" your music in to your Jukebox Software. Most people choose to use iTunes, but you might also use Windows Media Player, or WinAmp, or some other jukebox software. If you are using iTunes, choose Add to Library from the FIle Menu, locate the audio file or folder, and then click Choose. For other Jukebox software, consult the manual with respect to how to add or import music.

Loading your music collection in to your Music Player.
Generally, portable music players are configured to automatically sync with Desktop music jukebox management software. Consult your player's manual for more information.

About Selecting and Encoding Option

Which encoder options should I choose?

Selecting an encoder depends on several factors. If you are unsure, here are some basic guidelines:

• If maximum compatibility with portable, streaming, rack based players etc. is your highest priority and you intend to use your music with players other that the Apple iPod, the select MP3. The default encoding rate of 192 kbps is a great balance between space and quality. Select a higher rate if you do not intend to use a portable player.
  
  
• If you plan to use your music exclusively with Apple's iTunes and iPod products, then choose AAC. The default encoding rate of 128 kbps should be adequate, especially if you plan to use your music with an iPod where space is a consideration. If you only plan to listen to your music on your computer, you can select a higher encoding rate.
  
  
• If you demand the highest possible Audio quality, and you plan to use Apple's iTunes or iPod products to listen to your music, then select Apple Lossless.
  
  

If you simply want to archive your CDs and don't plan to load them in to music player software, select WAV. Note that WAV files are not tagged with any meta data. This option is exclusively for archival or DJ use. If you want to use iTunes or other Jukebox software to organize your music, do not select this option.

Which encoder option is most compatible?

MP3 is the most compatible option. MP3 will work with rack mounted players such as the Roku, Slim Devices, Sonos and it will also work with the iPod and other popular portable players such as Zune. Note that while MP3 is more compatible, the file sizes are larger. If you have an iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle or iPod Mini, you may want to consider AAC as you will be able to fit more music on your player.