At first glance of the forum I'm not sure if the Media Center product is for audiophiles only?
No. There are plenty of people here who would consider themselves as such, and MC is capable of fulfilling their needs, but it has many other use-cases as well. I absolutely do
not consider myself an audiophile.
If you spend a little time to get it set up properly, I can
guarantee that MC will meet your needs much better than iTunes ever could. Welcome!
1. Currently i have iTunes on PC, organized by Artist > Album, its give me 3 years of hassle. I have approx 180GB of music and videos in this folder: Z Drive > Media > iTunes > (Music) (Video)
80% of the music files are MP3 and 20% M4A. I got tricked into converting my CD's into M4A by iTunes. Not sure which is the recommended format?
- Would you recommend keeping this iTunes folder and just hooking Media Center up to the media files within, enabling me to add any iTunes audiobooks in the future if i wish too. If so how do i get Media Center to connect to this Media folder seamlessly while adding the playlists i created in iTunes without them changing?
2. Would you recommend creating a new Media folder as an alternative to the iTunes folder and if so is there an easy way to consolidate in MC like within iTunes?
These two things are related, so I figured I'd address them together. Yes, I would probably import your files where they are now. This is easy in MC, simply go to the Tools menu and choose Import, then walk through the wizard. You can either simply scan the folder one time, or you can set it up as an auto-import folder (where MC will "watch" the folder and automatically detect and import any new files).
MC doesn't itself particularly care where the files are stored. They can be in one place on one drive, or spread across multiple drives, including network locations. It doesn't matter. It will manage them all and can be used to reorganize the files on disk if you choose.
Once you get everything imported and set up the way you like it in MC, and you are ready to abandon iTunes, you can use the tools built into MC to consolidate your media files elsewhere to some place and folder structure of your choosing. MC has a very powerful file organization feature under
Right-Click -> Library Tools -> Rename, Move, and Copy Files.
MC can handle pretty much any media format you throw at it, so no need to worry about those M4A files, so long as they aren't DRM-laden. There is no one "recommended format". That answer depends on your needs.
3. If i hook up MC to the iTunes folder and then change the Meta data within MC, will this change the original file Meta's in the iTunes folder?
It depends how you do it. MC will change the "tags" in the file (the bits of the file that contain the metadata). iTunes may or may not re-read these changes though. I only use iTunes to sync to my phone, so I can't really speak to its capabilities.
4. Which format do you recommend using (based on quality and file size) when importing CD's: MP3, AAC, M4A, other? I imported a CD into MC and it was APE. Is this the default and can this play on iPhone or Android?
APE is a lossless format, similar to FLAC, which was designed by one of the main software engineers behind MC. It is the default, but this can be changed under the Options panel to just about any format you want.
If you want to keep it simple, but high-quality, I would use the MP3 Encoder in VBR mode with the Target Quality set to either High or Extreme. This should meet your needs in most cases.
However, it doesn't really matter which format the files themselves are in on disk. MC will automatically convert them on the fly when you sync over to your handheld device. When you set up a handheld, you can specify the file formats it is able to play. If you sync over a file type that it doesn't support, MC will automatically convert it as part of the sync process. This opens up your choices a bit. Another option would be to rip your new files in FLAC or APE (a lossless format which is bit-for-bit identical to the original data on the CD, but compressed to save space), and then set up MC to convert on sync. It can even keep a "conversion cache" of the converted files so that it only has to do this once per file. However, you don't HAVE TO cache the conversions if you don't want these extra duplicates taking up additional space on disk (they won't show separately in the library, MC manages this part). You can just have it convert-on-the-fly and then those converted versions are only copied over to your device and not kept elsewhere.
For example, my setup works like this:
1. Most new music I acquire comes from Amazon's MP3 Store, which sells high-quality MP3 files.
2. Most of my "older" library is MP3 in a variety of bitrates. I'm slowly replacing my old 128kbps MP3 files as I have time.
3. If I rip a new CD, I choose either FLAC or MP3 set to VBR High, depending on how much I "care" about the quality of the music. Aphex Twin, The Beatles, and Pink Floyd get FLAC, the latest pop crap from Lady Gaga that my wife wants gets MP3.
4. My "handheld" (which is, in this case, a folder on my C drive - I import those files into iTunes and it contains ONLY those) is set to
Convert Unsupported Formats and High Bitrates and uses the MP3 encoder set to
VBR High Quality Portable. This provides enough quality that you can't tell the difference when you are playing the files back from my phone, but saves some space and allows me to fit more on my device.
5. These converted files are "cached" and stored in a "stack" with my existing files. That means that the original source file essentially has a "related" file that is connected to it. It works and acts in MC like one single file (you only have to apply metadata to it once and only see it once in the library in most cases), but MC actually tracks and works with both files on disk.
You will get the best compatibility and sync support using an Android phone. Apple's iOS devices are locked-down and cannot be supported directly by MC. There are some workarounds (I personally use an iPhone), but it isn't a "tier one" experience.
5. What kbps is recommended to rip from CD so when I burn them back to CD maintaining the CD quality? or does the KBPS not affect this?
If you really want to maintain the full CD quality, then you have to use a lossless format like APE or FLAC. The bitrate is not relevant for these file types, because they are PERFECT copies. If you want to use MP3 for compatibility reasons or to save space, then VBR set to High or Extreme should be "transparent" (meaning that the human ear can't discern the difference between the original and the compressed format) for
most sources.
6. I currently have an iPhone but am thinking of moving to Android. Can i play my M4A's or DRM iTunes Audiobooks on Android or do i need to convert them somehow and can your software do this conversion?
I believe Android can handle M4A files, but if not, MC will convert them on the fly. Like I explained above, any file that your handheld does not support, MC can convert on the fly as you sync. For DRM though, you could run into trouble. MC generally cannot convert files that have DRM applied (it can often play them, but not convert them). Audiobooks purchased at iTunes will not work if they contain DRM. The only way to remove DRM from the files is to use the burn/re-rip trick in iTunes (or some variant of the same).
I believe that Audible now supports Android, but you'd have to check with them to be sure.
7. Is there a 'Locate Files' option to find missing files like in iTunes?
I'm not familiar with that feature. However, MC has quite powerful organizational tools. You can certainly locate files on disk. However, MC can also automatically monitor folders and import files for you (and remove missing files from the library, if you choose). It has a powerful expression "language" that you can use to search for pretty much anything you can imagine (and some real wizards here who can figure out how if you need help).
It is generally best if you do your file maintenance and organization from within MC, so that it doesn't "lose" the files. There are some work-flow implications of this, but generally, the tools MC provides will be faster and more powerful than doing anything directly in Windows Explorer.
8. Is MC compatible with iPhone or would i have to switch to Android, which i don't mind doing btw?
9. How do you transfer music from MC to the iPhone or Android, is it as simple as drag and drop?
MC does not directly support any iOS devices or newer iPods, but it is possible to set up with few quirks. As I mentioned, you will have a better and more seamless experience with Android.
I will comment more directly on this in a few minutes.
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Topic: Pre-Sales Questions Prior to Buying Media Center! (Read 8974 times)