I'm not sure how I missed this in the past, but I came across an interesting website this week while doing my weekly Amazon check for third party accessories. It is called Riptopia. Basically, it is a CD ripping service. You buy a set number of CDs to rip, they ship you a box, and it comes back to you on DVD or HDD.

At first, I thought this was a dumb idea. I mean, everyone has this available to them for free. Then I started to think how long it takes me to rip a CD. Maybe five minutes per CD. Perhaps ten. What's that time worth to me? In addition, I've ripped and reripped my entire collection several times. First is was 96KBPS MP3. then 128KBPS WMA. Most recently, 192 KBPS WMA. Now, with the new Zunes, I've started to rip in lossless.

I bet I've got 400 CDs at five minutes a piece. Is that worth a buck a CD to me? It is starting to look a lot more attractive. Then I saw that they support Windows Home Server. That's where it gets really interesting. Don't even get me started about how cool that would be with a DAR or Sonos. And, I could set this up for my mom and dad and I'd never (well, maybe never is a strong word) have to help them with their collection again. I think I'll try them out and let you know how it works.