With WMA lossless the bit rate depends on the music. Microsoft advertises 470-940 kbps, in other terms 200-400 MB per disc or about 1:2-1:4 compression ratio compared to the raw data.

I don't have a BS5, but thanks to fishta's idea, I've finally started to rip my CD collection by feeding them to my laptop while reading the morning paper (will take a few days more). I have now ripped 112 discs and they consume 32 GB on the disc which is a little less than 300 MB per record.

The process works pretty well nowadays - I have only spotted one record which didn't get at least decently correct tagging. Some records are missing the cover art, but those are mainly more esoteric Finnish albums. WMA Lossless is a safe format in that you can convert it to other formats even with free tools. I'll eventually go to FLAC as I very much prefer free multiplatform choices, but I didn't have the energy to think of how to do that directly with this ease.

Now I only need to think of what I'm going to do with all those bits. Much of my CD collection, mostly acquired 15-20 years ago, is such utter sh1te that I can only hope I didn't pay normal prices for them...

BTW, this Vista laptop of mine starts the ripping process automatically after just inserting a disc, even if Media Player is not running. The key to this might be in the autoplay settings, but having MP start automatically after boot is probably just as good a solution.

fishta,

this is amazing stuff. for the less computer literate could you run us through the steps one by one?

few Qs..

1. when you say you installed software; what software and how?

2. how do you put Bs5 into service mode?

3. how do you connect a keyboard, mouse and all it' drivers to the Bs5?

4. how did you navigate to Microsoft; was this on the Bs5 display?

5. how/where do you access 'windows mode media player' autostartup?

6. what do you do about missing cover art?

7. can you tell it to not rip certain songs if you don't like them on the CD?

Fishta,

you say "WMP get automaticaly cover art".

Yes, when i rip cd with WMP, cover art is here but in low resolution.

I must scan the original cover or find it on the net to get a good resolution on the BS5 screen.

So, did you find a solution to get the cover art automaticaly in high-res ?

seethroughyou wrote:

fishta,

this is amazing stuff. for the less computer literate could you run us through the steps one by one?

few Qs..

1. when you say you installed software; what software and how?

Windows Media Player was the software installed, which you can get by googling it on the BeoSound 5 when you are in the service mode.

2. how do you put Bs5 into service mode?

Its been a while since I've done it now but I believe its by pressing "Left Right Left Go" I'm sure you can find out how on the forum if this isnt correct.

3. how do you connect a keyboard, mouse and all it' drivers to the Bs5?

I used a USB keyboard with trackpad mouse on it which worked a treat, yes all drivers are there as the BM5 is based on Windows XP

4. how did you navigate to Microsoft; was this on the Bs5 display?

Yes

5. how/where do you access 'windows mode media player' autostartup?

Not sure what you mean by this?

6. what do you do about missing cover art?

This can be edited in BeoPlayer

7. can you tell it to not rip certain songs if you don't like them on the CD?

No unfortunately not

I hope that this helps, sorry for not replying sooner but when I came up with all of this I worked in a B&O store and have since left and completely forgot to ever update it and now I see B&O are making a device that will do this for you...