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[benn600]

Before Media Center, I stored my music files in mp3 format, averaging 128Kb.  Therefore, the quality was much lower and the filesizes were also much smaller.  I also used iTunes at the time.  Using a synchronizing program, I had everything set up to automatically sync one way from my desktop to my laptop my entire music library, iTunes database, and everything associated, like playlists which are in the two iTunes files.

Now, however, I am almost finished converting my 500 CD library to FLAC and am already well over 150Gb.  This reveals a problem because my laptop drive is only 60Gb and my old mp3 library never exceeded 40Gb.  I would like to know what other people have done to sync with their somewhat portable laptops?  I know MC has good sync features for portable devices but I would like to take my entire music library with all playlists, ratings, etc., with me when I go on vacation this summer eventually.

Also, I would like to gradually build up a rating for every song I have.  I understand that so many songs go unheard forever because people listen to their favorites and I am especially guilty of this.  I need to broaden my interests by listening to other songs I already have and figure that I have about 40 days of solid music listening to get this accomplished, but if I spread it out over the course of two years, that's only a little over an hour per day.  Perhaps I could break it up to 4 years--lol.  The question here is that I want a way to save the rating in a standard format.  In other words, I don't want to rely on MC's database because then if I switch programs, I would have to re-listen to everything, or !!  Is what I want to do even possible?  I just don't want to spend the four years on this task and then lose everything I did.

Portable players:  I also need to buy a really good portable player.  I have been looking at some 6Gb players with expansion slots.  That seems like the best option for me but would like some feedback.  I do not want an iPod and I really think a solid state player is the best option for me.  I am so careful with my equipment but somehow I manage to drop mp3 players quite often.  My small 128Mb player has held up through numerous falls of 5 feet or more and I am happy about that.

[Alex B]

Before Media Center, I stored my music files in mp3 format, averaging 128Kb.  Therefore, the quality was much lower and the filesizes were also much smaller.  I also used iTunes at the time.  Using a synchronizing program, I had everything set up to automatically sync one way from my desktop to my laptop my entire music library, iTunes database, and everything associated, like playlists which are in the two iTunes files.

Now, however, I am almost finished converting my 500 CD library to FLAC and am already well over 150Gb.  This reveals a problem because my laptop drive is only 60Gb and my old mp3 library never exceeded 40Gb.  I would like to know what other people have done to sync with their somewhat portable laptops?  I know MC has good sync features for portable devices but I would like to take my entire music library with all playlists, ratings, etc., with me when I go on vacation this summer eventually.

That's not a problem for MC. You can make an identical copy of your FLAC library that points to smaller lossy files. Before posting a detailed answer I'd like like to know how your FLAC files are organized. Are they all under a single base path? How the subfolders are organized?  Is (are) the base path(s) on the C: drive?

Also, I would like to gradually build up a rating for every song I have.  I understand that so many songs go unheard forever because people listen to their favorites and I am especially guilty of this.  I need to broaden my interests by listening to other songs I already have and figure that I have about 40 days of solid music listening to get this accomplished, but if I spread it out over the course of two years, that's only a little over an hour per day.  Perhaps I could break it up to 4 years--lol.  The question here is that I want a way to save the rating in a standard format.  In other words, I don't want to rely on MC's database because then if I switch programs, I would have to re-listen to everything, or !!  Is what I want to do even possible?  I just don't want to spend the four years on this task and then lose everything I did.

MC can save the Rating tag to the FLAC files. Just make sure that you have the option "Store in file tags (when possible)" enabled in Tools > Options > Library > Library Fields > Rating > Edit...

Besides, you can easily make five "Rating" smartlists (one for each rating value) and export the lists in m3u playlist format. Since m3u is universally supported you can open the lists in another program and easily rate the files if that program does not support the "Rating" tag in FLAC files.

Portable players:  I also need to buy a really good portable player.  I have been looking at some 6Gb players with expansion slots.  That seems like the best option for me but would like some feedback.  I do not want an iPod and I really think a solid state player is the best option for me.  I am so careful with my equipment but somehow I manage to drop mp3 players quite often.  My small 128Mb player has held up through numerous falls of 5 feet or more and I am happy about that.

I am not a portable expert, but I think it would be good if the player would support Ogg Vorbis besides MP3. You can compress audio files more in Ogg Vorbis format without losing audio quality. Also, check this site out before bying anything: www.rockbox.org.

[benn600]

I keep my files very carefully organized with Artist/Album folder structure and files are named as Track Name.flac.

The files are actually stored on my server's large hard drive under "//Cybermax/book1/Music"  I know when I was using iTunes I was forced to use a mapped drive, M:, in order to just sync the database.  I would actually be happy if I could somehow create a relative database or just sync the files with the portable player syncer, if I can, and then scan for new files all the time.  Better yet, I'm waiting for a watch feature.

I really like your playlist idea.  That would work perfectly because under a playlist, select all and then quickly rate--if each playlist contains songs rated each level.  Is there a way to automatically export .m3u playlists, too?

I am perfectly happy using WMA because it is better than MP3 and probably similar to ogg.  Most players support MP3/WMA and I think WMA will work fine for me since I recall MC having support for WMA.  I am thinking 96Kb WMA's will work for my portable device.  I am really going to have to order a player asap, too, because I don't want to chance not getting it in time.  I am considering the Sandisk 6gb player but it has a large screen, which I don't want.  I want a dedicated music player, only.  I like the mobiblu which has the 123 (or so) hour battery life, whatever the number is...but it isn't available yet.  I also am considering the mobiblu cube but it's only available in 2gb at the moment.  I really want 6gb if possible.

[Alex B]

You could use MC's virtual Handheld feature for making a dublicate of the server library on your laptop. Configure the laptop to use a local folder as a Handheld and convert on the fly.

After the files are converted you can make a new library for the converted files. Start with a cloned copy of your server library and use the Find and Replace tool for fixing the filename extensions and base path.

E.g.

Disconnect the server

Tick only: Filename (name)
Find what: .flac
Replace: .wma

Tick only: Filename (path)
Find what: \\Cybermax\book1\Music\
Replace: C:\Music\

After the new files are found do "Update Library (from tags)" for fixing the file format info. Also, I would recommend reanalyzing the files, because the compressed files have a bit diffferent volume level and the previous Replay Gain values would not be exactly correct.

Personally I would use the same files with the laptop and with the portable. It would be faster to synchronize already converted files.


BTW, don't believe everything that Microsoft claims. WMA is probably worse than LAME MP3 at 96 kbps. Here are the results from the best 96 kbps codec test I have seen:



From: http://forum.hardware.fr/hardwarefr/VideoSon/MP3-WMA-AAC-OGG-qualite-kbps-evaluation-sujet-84950-1.htm (French only)

I would recommend using LAME MP3 VBR with this custom setting -V5 --vbr-new (VBR, averages at about 125-135 kbps) despite the bit larger file size. The current LAME version (which is used in MC) makes high quality files with that setting.

In this test an older LAME version was a bit better than WMA at 128 kbps: http://www.rjamorim.com/test/multiformat128/results.html

The -V5 --vbr-new setting with the current LAME version has been proven to be very good here: http://www.maresweb.de/listening-tests/mf-128-1/results.htm
(In this test WMA Pro was used instead of standard WMA. WMA Pro is much better, but it cannot be used with current portable players.)

- I took part in this last test and ABX tested all samples. In reality the differences between the codecs are minimal. All modern codecs are good at 128 kbps VBR.

One thing that is not available with WMA standard is truly gapless playback on PC. MC + LAME MP3 is gapless.

[benn600]

I have heard many people say WMA is much better than MP3 and I almost thought I had figured that on my own.  I think I'll do some personal testing now that I can easily convert to anything sine I'm starting in flac.  Also, I probably won't use 128Kb just because I want to get the most music I can on the e270 I ordered yesterday (6GB).  I'm thinking maybe 96--or perhaps 112?  Those two settings would probably work fine for me.  What about VBR 112?

[Alex B]

-V6 --vbr-new has a target bitrate of 115 kbps.

For lower bitrates I would recommend Ogg Vorbis if audio quality matters. The differences between the codecs start to be clearly audible at about 96 kbps and lower. Unfortunately only a few portables support Ogg Vorbis.

I calculated some playback times for you:

5600 MB of 96 kbps files: 132 h 44 min
5600 MB of 115 kbps files: 110 h 48 min
5600 MB of 130 kbps files: 98 h 1 min

I chose 5600 MB because I suppose it is not good to fill the portable completely. You may want to add some files later.

Remember that VBR bitrates are not exact science. If the files are on the heavy side (loud rock, electronic etc) the bitrates will be a bit higher. If the files are easier to encode (quiet music, vocal, most classical etc) the bitrates will be lower. This is because the encoder tries to maintain constant quality instead of constant bitrate.


The current recommended LAME settings: http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=LAME

I have made a bitrate test of all available LAME -V settings and published the results here: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=37011&view=findpost&p=328558


Edit: edited a bit

[GHammer]

When making files for my wife to take to work, I use -V6 --vbr-new as it gives good sound in a small file.

The problem (for me) with WMA is not relative quality at a given file size. It is the wide range of tools available for MP3 format.

[JustinChase]

After the files are converted you can make a new library for the converted files. Start with a cloned copy of your server library and use the Find and Replace tool for fixing the filename extensions and base path.

E.g.

Disconnect the server

Tick only: Filename (name)
Find what: .flac
Replace: .wma

Tick only: Filename (path)
Find what: \\Cybermax\book1\Music\
Replace: C:\Music\

Make sure you don't forget to disconnect the server first (or rename the folder outside of MC), or when you find/replace, you'll end up renaming or moving all your files, which you probably don't want to do.  forgetting this step has cost me many hours of frustration!!!!