[Hidden-tech] music collection management

Andy Klapper andytk at charter.net
Tue Sep 13 12:06:35 EDT 2011


To some extent it depends on what you want to do with the music.  If you are
going to be playing your music on a quality sound system in your living room
(i.e. big speakers) then I would recommend ripping to a lossless format like
FLAC.  If you are going to be playing your music using a portable device
with ear buds then I would rip to MP3 (the iTunes format has DMR with can
cause problems if you want to share the music or if you want copies on more
than three devices).  For MP3 I would recommend using LAME.  LAME using a
variable compression scheme that gets the most quality for the least amount
of space.  Both FLAC and LAME are open source if that carries any weight for
you.

 

Let me know what you come up with after getting advice from the hidden tech
community.

 

 

Andy.

 

From: hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net
[mailto:hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net] On Behalf Of Stacy
Kontrabecki
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 11:10 AM
To: hidden-discuss
Subject: [Hidden-tech] music collection management

 

So my 300 CDs have been taking up space on my office floor for 3 years b/c I
don't know how to deal with them. Looking for recommendations. 

I have:

*	1 Macbook Pro for work that my iPhone 3GS 32 GB is connected to
through iTunes - maybe 20 albums of music is synced to the phone. 14 GB free
on the phone.
*	5 year old Dell laptop restored to factory settings that I only use
for occasional GPS points downloading.
*	iTV -not used for media access currently since media is still on
disc!
*	External drive I back up my Macbook to. Additional PC formatted 160
GB external drive not being used.
*	What is the best way to get these CDs ripped and accessible? I don't
want to store the music on my work computer hard drive.


Options I've considered:

1.	Purchase another external Mac drive just for music, create 2nd
directory (?) on Macbook iTunes (I need to sync my photos & contacts to the
Mac still) referencing the music I store on the external & sync it to some
new MP3 player.
2.	Install the music to the Dell (via USB vs. Mac firewire) and use the
existing PC external drive to sync to an MP3 player.
3.	Retire the 3GS to iPod status and update my phone?
4.	Crawl into a hole with my vinyl albums and turntable, swearing off
new technology.

Before the iPod/Phone/MP3 phenomenon, I bought a slew of CD sleeves and
binders that I was going to shrink the size of my collection down to. That
never happened. May still do this for "backup" so I can trash the jewel
cases once I figure out the dilemma outlined above.

I so need the real estate in my office and miss playing my music, too.

Thanks for your recommendations in advance.

Stacy




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