Let's say that you've got a pretty big pile of audio CDs and DVDs just lying around, since you're not listening to them anyway. And it's not like you don't want to listen to those tracks, but you've gone completely digital, and don't really have an optical disc player around anymore, relying solely on the music stored within your network. So, what's to be done?

Well, one simple solution comes from the mCubed company, who has just introduced the RipNAS, a device that will rip the music from your optical discs into its internal memory, store it, and even stream it, need be, to a wireless audio system attached to your wireless home network, including here such players as Sonos, Logitech Squeezebox, uPNP/DLNA compatible players and iTunes DAAP (Apple).

Before going into such issues as hardware configuration and storage capacity, let's take a quick look at the ripping process. So, according to mCubed, this process is a very fast and easy one. First of all, users will have to insert the Audio CD in the slot-in DVD of the RipNAS and the metadata is retrieved from four providers (AMG, GD3, MusicBrainz, freedb) with quality album art, at the same time spelling mistakes are automatically corrected using PerfectMeta.

The CD is ripped using the dBpoweramp ripping engine to a lossless format of choice - FLAC, Apple Lossless, WMA Lossless, or mp3 (Lame) -, then audio files are automatically shared for streaming. Secure RipNAS models check ripped files for errors against AccurateRip, re-ripping the track if errors are detected and potentially recovering the error (scratches, etc), in-accurate tracks are separated to a different folder.

As mentioned right from the title, since this NAS unit is in fact a micro-computer (albeit providing a relatively reduced level of functionality), it comes packed with an Intel Atom processor, accompanied by 2GB of RAM memory, a Teac Slot Loading DVD/CD, and, initially, around 640GB of storage space. However, users can always add more memory (up to 4TB, to be precise) via USB HDDs. Actually, mCubed is also providing a range of matching RipNAS storage boxes that can be placed under the RipNAS.

The RipNAS is available online, but it's a rather expensive product, as it retails for somewhere around 1,095 EUR (or 1,422 US dollars). However, since this thing is, in fact, a combo between a netbook and a NAS, the price doesn't even seem that high, does it?


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