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Author Topic: Need advice for managing/organizing library  (Read 3513 times)

rar4010

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Need advice for managing/organizing library
« on: January 05, 2011, 10:16:49 pm »

Happy New Year to all. I figure most people out there are way smarter than me and can help me.

One of my New Years goals is to rip my CD collection and integrate with daughters iTunes library and existing MC library. I was thinking I'd rip the CDs to FLAC, but then should/could I put them on a separate drive and create a shadow copy in a compressed format for syncing to devices, etc.? Does anyone have experience using the HP MediaSmart servers with MC...is that an option for consolidating?

I was interested in the discussion of syncing MC playlists to iPhone via push to iTunes...not sure where that stands.

MC seems like it's got a lot of flexibility and I may just not realize all that is possible. Thanks for any advice on how to organize.

Andy
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Vincent Kars

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Transcoding
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2011, 04:16:29 am »

I was thinking I'd rip the CDs to FLAC, but then should/could I put them on a separate drive and create a shadow copy in a compressed format for syncing to devices, etc.?

I have all my CDs in FLAC
When syncing to a portable you simply tell MC the  format and the compression to be used.
In my case I convert everything to a high bit rate MP3.

A bit more detail: http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/Players/MC14/MC_sync.htm

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MrHaugen

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Re: Need advice for managing/organizing library
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2011, 04:57:22 am »

I would not have a library with FLAC and MP3. The FLAC can easily be converted to MP3 on the fly for media players. Not exactly sure how that works if you have to go through the awful iTunes to sync your iPhone though. Personally I would sell the iPhones and by an Android phone. Hehe. Had an iPhone for 2 weeks. I'm never touching one again..
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MrC

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Re: Need advice for managing/organizing library
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2011, 10:43:44 am »

I would not have a library with FLAC and MP3. The FLAC can easily be converted to MP3 on the fly for media players.

Unless you care about time.  Our 16k + tracks takes about 20 hours to convert.  HDs are cheap, and life is short.
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roopertd

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Re: Need advice for managing/organizing library
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2011, 11:56:43 am »

I would not have a library with FLAC and MP3. I find myself constantly updating and modifying tags, and couldn't imagine trying to keep track of changes to two versions of each song.
It would be very time consuming to manage both.

I have family members who uses i tunes/ipod so i normally batch convert the whole library about once a year for her. it takes a full day to convert then half a day to transfer onto her computer.
Im not going to do it anymore. Huge waste of time. It is a lot of work just to support a lame device. I would rather buy her a Sansa fuze+ for $100 that plays flac than do the conversion again(been doing it for 5 years). I suppose the problem is that she won't move on from the ipod. Im not going to be an enabler anymore, so she may have to.

There are some really nice devices coming out right now that should be great alternatives to ipods. Last year didn't have much. There are android devices available from Cowon, Archos, Samsung, and Creative.
They would all sync with J River and support conversions, though Flac should be supported thus making conversion unnecessary.

If you consider the time wasted trying to accommodate an apple device, it makes a lot more sense to spent a bit of money on something else.
You can get an 8GB sansa clip+ that plays flac for $60.

If you are ripping you CD collection, lossless is the only way to go. I ripped my entire collection to mp3 years ago, then re-ripped to flac two years after.
That was another waste of time. Its best just to do it once. Properly.

I recommend to Rip once, and have one library with one version of each track in the most compatible format, FLAC.

Portable devices are irrelevant when it comes to ripping and organizing you music collection. The iphone probably won't work in a couple years, but your FLACs will last forever.
As long as you back them up periodically.







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Matt

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Re: Need advice for managing/organizing library
« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2011, 11:59:08 am »

I would not have a library with FLAC and MP3. I find myself constantly updating and modifying tags, and couldn't imagine trying to keep track of changes to two versions of each song.

You could use stacks inside Media Center.  Then it would keep all copies tagged and synchronized.
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rar4010

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Re: Need advice for managing/organizing library
« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2011, 06:49:42 pm »

Thanks for all the advice so far. I think I'm sold on the FLAC ripping...might need to get a larger hard drive. Does MC play well with an HP MediaSmart storage server? Maybe that would help deal with the iTunes library. I don't own an ipod, but since the iPhone is my voice device, it is nice to have some music on it.

I'll continue to formulate my plans and look forward to any other tidbits of advice.

Thanks
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juice370

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Re: Need advice for managing/organizing library
« Reply #7 on: April 17, 2011, 05:52:28 pm »

Matt have you got any help files or pointers on Stacks?

Cheers
Ian
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