In article , Bob Latham
wrote:
In article , Woody
wrote:
Whether you like it or not the iTunes management software - for which
you don't need an iPod - does the job very effectively and is a
doddle to use.

Whilst mp3 is also effective especially at higher sampling rates it
is worth looking at AAC or Ogg both of which are less lossy and
produce better results at lower sampling rates.

Or Flac, please don't forget flac.

I've spent a couple of years looking at ways to have all my music in one
place and no discs cluttering the place up. After a lot of checking of
costs and facilities this is what I did.

Hardware Synology DS111 NAS box Sonos connect (90) Ipad

Software dBpoweramp Cd ripper and format conversion Spin It Again

FWIW I have based my approach on flac. But I've also adopted a more
cautious and old-fashioned storeage and paying approach. I keep copies of
the files on three different (USB) hard discs. Then have one disc connected
to each of the in-use machines I employ to play audio with the third USB
disc normally sitting as a 'spare copy'. I then just play using Audacious
on ROX/Xubuntu machines, via decent USB DACs.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

On 20/12/2012 14:07, Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , Bob Latham
wrote:
In article , Woody
wrote:
Whether you like it or not the iTunes management software - for which
you don't need an iPod - does the job very effectively and is a
doddle to use.

Whilst mp3 is also effective especially at higher sampling rates it
is worth looking at AAC or Ogg both of which are less lossy and
produce better results at lower sampling rates.

Or Flac, please don't forget flac.

I've spent a couple of years looking at ways to have all my music in one
place and no discs cluttering the place up. After a lot of checking of
costs and facilities this is what I did.

Hardware Synology DS111 NAS box Sonos connect (90) Ipad

Software dBpoweramp Cd ripper and format conversion Spin It Again

FWIW I have based my approach on flac. But I've also adopted a more
cautious and old-fashioned storeage and paying approach. I keep copies of
the files on three different (USB) hard discs. Then have one disc connected
to each of the in-use machines I employ to play audio with the third USB
disc normally sitting as a 'spare copy'. I then just play using Audacious
on ROX/Xubuntu machines, via decent USB DACs.


How do you keep the 3 disks synchronised?

Rob

In article om, RJH
wrote:
On 20/12/2012 14:07, Jim Lesurf wrote:


FWIW I have based my approach on flac. But I've also adopted a more
cautious and old-fashioned storeage and paying approach. I keep copies
of the files on three different (USB) hard discs. Then have one disc
connected to each of the in-use machines I employ to play audio with
the third USB disc normally sitting as a 'spare copy'. I then just
play using Audacious on ROX/Xubuntu machines, via decent USB DACs.


How do you keep the 3 disks synchronised?

Mainly by trying to be organised in the way I copy files to them. :-)

I tend to generate files in batches. e.g.With the transfers from Reel tape
I've been doing I have made enough recordings to near-fill a 4GB CF card.
Then edit/process these into flac files with suitable names and side
metadata files. Then copy them to each of the 3 storage discs in turn.

Every now and then I compare the contents in various ways to see what I may
have missed and fix any differences.

Yes, I know there are many programs for synching disc contents etc. But I
tend to do things in simpler ways that I can check as I go. No hurry. Not
as if anyone is paying me to go faster. And I do enjoy assembling the
recordings as it gives me a good excuse... erm reason to listen to the
music along the way. :-)

If I were handling data for a living I'd do it differently.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

On 21/12/2012 09:26, Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article om, RJH
wrote:
On 20/12/2012 14:07, Jim Lesurf wrote:


FWIW I have based my approach on flac. But I've also adopted a more
cautious and old-fashioned storeage and paying approach. I keep copies
of the files on three different (USB) hard discs. Then have one disc
connected to each of the in-use machines I employ to play audio with
the third USB disc normally sitting as a 'spare copy'. I then just
play using Audacious on ROX/Xubuntu machines, via decent USB DACs.


How do you keep the 3 disks synchronised?

Mainly by trying to be organised in the way I copy files to them. :-)

I tend to generate files in batches. e.g.With the transfers from Reel tape
I've been doing I have made enough recordings to near-fill a 4GB CF card.
Then edit/process these into flac files with suitable names and side
metadata files. Then copy them to each of the 3 storage discs in turn.

Every now and then I compare the contents in various ways to see what I may
have missed and fix any differences.

Yes, I know there are many programs for synching disc contents etc. But I
tend to do things in simpler ways that I can check as I go. No hurry. Not
as if anyone is paying me to go faster. And I do enjoy assembling the
recordings as it gives me a good excuse... erm reason to listen to the
music along the way. :-)


Very laid back!

I'm not quite so organised and get in a muddle with the 3 source disks I
have, adding occasional bits and pieces as I listen. It's not the end of
the world - every month or so I'll consolidate with a simple enough sort
by date.

Then there's the cost, I'm up to about 500GB of music. Obviously, backup
is not an issue with three disks.

So I'm experimenting with a cheapish (£30) NAS I got from ebuyer. It's
sort of working - some latency/connection lag, and slow transfer speeds
over homeplug wotsits (15 mebabytes/sec, fine for music really). And
beholden to iTunes, it seems up to this type of arrangement but early days.

Rob

In article om, RJH
wrote:
On 21/12/2012 09:26, Jim Lesurf wrote:
[snip]

I'm not quite so organised and get in a muddle with the 3 source disks I
have, adding occasional bits and pieces as I listen. It's not the end
of the world - every month or so I'll consolidate with a simple enough
sort by date.

I have things divided in a way that suits me, but may seem odd to many.

e.g. at the top level I divide files into sections like 'BBC' and 'HighRes'
and (now) 'Reel2Reel'. Then have subdirectories like 'Radio3' subdivided by
year, or by format. e.g. 'HDCD'.

I keep the 'metadata' in a mix of the filename/directory name and in text
files. Makes it easier to have my own search routines.

Then there's the cost, I'm up to about 500GB of music. Obviously, backup
is not an issue with three disks.

I'm using 3 x 1TB discs for audio. Have a seperate set of 2TB ones for
Video. FWIW The 1TB audio ones are FAT. The 2TB video, ext4.

One of the reasons for the approach is that a lot of the items are *not* CD
rips, and *not* 'popular' music. So the common/standard/CDDB approachs to
cataloging music files, etc, don't work well.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html