Let 'er Rrriiiiiipppppp!

The great ripping has begun.
Ew. Gross. Not that kind of rip.
Everette and I (mostly Everette) have been discussing for several years now, ripping all of our gazillion Cd's to one single computer where they can be sorted, consolidated, and... listened to.
Admittedly I think it is a great idea. There is a lot of music I don't listen to simply because it isn't convenient. The problem lies in the fact, that in all of these discussions, I am the one doing the ripping. Everette would always tell me how easy this or that software would be, and that he would set it up so it would be super easy. It never, quite worked out that way, for one because our first computer downstairs used Linux, and my brain isn't compatible with Linux, it is compatible with windows--only. We even discussed loading up all the CD's and sending them to a company to rip them for us. That... costs money.
And while I didn't necessarily want to be the one doing the ripping, I certainly didn't want to pay someone to do something that "was so easy". So they sat in the corner collecting dust, and generally being an eyesore.
Enter new smooth fully-functioning computer. Everette found this software that really does make it super easy. I could tell you what it is or how it works, but, well, i can't. It is magic. If Everette ever posts anything about it on his blog, I will link to it I promise.
The Disc drive opens, and you insert the CD, then the metadata (song info and album art) is pulled magically down from the sky through the internet. I have not pushed a button yet. Then I simply click "rip" and it rips all of the songs (quickly, 1-2 mins) stores it in the folder Everette instructed it to, then spits out hte CD. Then repeat. again. again. again.
did you see how many buttons I have to press?

the catch is this software is only free for the first 21 days. So we have 21 days to gather every cd shoved in every knook and cranny of our house and our cars (easy for me-since I just cleaned my old one out) and rip baby rip.
I am sure that our Cd collection pales in comparison to many, but let me just say that Everette for a period of time was signing his dogs up for BMG. He has a lot of CDs.
Everette and I made a serious dent in them last night. He VNCed (remotely connected) to the computer from my laptop and I ripped while we watched TV ( I clicked the button, and he put the CD in).
The trouble came this morning. I had gone to as many places as I could think of to gather cd's, and there were still several missing. Truth be told, they were the ones I liked the most, and cared about the most. I had exhausted every place I could think of and still no cds. I knew they were separated because they were in my car and in my classroom back when I was teaching, then we moved, then I had a baby. Do you see where this is going? I was starting to think the worst, that maybe they were left in my classroom, or my car that we just sold. Even though I knew they weren't
Then in an act of desperation I went upstairs to my very orderly desk and sat down. then on a file tray way back I saw a spindle. simply out of curiosity I pulled it out. Every CD I had been looking for was stacked neatly and safely on that spindle.

I was so relieved.
Just in case you don't see the direness of my situtation, let me give you a taste of what was on tha spindle.

o brother where art thou
Derek Webb (I see things upside down)
norah jones
Ben Folds (rockin' the suburbs)
Crooked Still
Stephen Foster
Johnny Cash
Bob Dylan
and others.
Do you see my concern?

thankfully they are all ripped safely stored on my computer where i can listen to them almost anywhere.

Oh the music that will be at my fingertips!