21st Century Music Storage

[Mandryka]

I hate CDs.

Those boxes are always breaking, you can damage them, they're hard to find, hard to store, eays to lose  . . .

What I want is a better way of storing music -- a big hard disc and database. Database big enough to store loads and loads -- as losslessy as possible.

Do any of you guys have any ideas/experiences?

[Herman]

Yeah, that's a great recording. I believe there was a topic on this matter some time ago in the diner.

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,1531.0.html

[Mandryka]

Yeah, that's a great recording. I believe there was a topic on this matter some time ago in the diner.

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,1531.0.html

Well what a waste of time that thread is -- people suggesting things like "put them in a plastic bag" and posting photos of wooden bookshelves.

This thread is for 21st century solutions only: Media Hubs and the like. These sort of things:

http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/promo/Media-Hub

http://www.naim-audio.com/products/hdx.html

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

CDs suck. My PC based solution follows. Databases have big advantages of course. I could "find any stuff by Bruckner which is less than 5:00 long" for instance.

You need:
- Terabyte hard disks, at least one backup. Another one anually, at best stored somewhere else.
- A consistent tagging scheme.
- Lossless audio format of your choice.
- Consistent booklet storage scheme.
- foobar2000 + columns UI + foo_uie_albumart
- to be a geek.

This gives you a clue what it is about. The left pane auto hides btw.
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/9/21/1446950/fb2k_2009.png

[Todd]

It strikes me that three things are needed: 1.) Lots of hard-drive space, 2.) Lots of back-up space, and 3.) lots of time to rip CDs.  The first two are easy enough to come by, the third a bit harder, so I've not really gone down that road.  (Of course, some type of nifty music distribution system is needed, but I'm too lazy to go down that road yet, either.)

[Mandryka]

You need . . . to be a geek.

Ahh -- can't do that.

It strikes me that three things are needed: 1.) Lots of hard-drive space, 2.) Lots of back-up space, and 3.) lots of time to rip CDs.  The first two are easy enough to come by, the third a bit harder, so I've not really gone down that road.  (Of course, some type of nifty music distribution system is needed, but I'm too lazy to go down that road yet, either.)

If I could sort out the first two I'd just pay my windowcleaner's son to do the third  for me. Or just add to the hard drive slowly myself. At least I would feel the problem were getting under control that way -- right now it's just TERRIBLE  I've spent the past three weeks trying to find Brendel's studio record of Schubert Moments Musicaux, for example -- and God alone knows what has happened to Cziffra's Chopin Waltzes.

The problem is -- connecting from Hard Drive to stereo DAC and the user interface.

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

Ripping consumes the most time, true. If I buy music, I prefer downloading lossless stuff over buying the physical CD.
Is that Erich Honecker in your Avatar?

[Bunny]

Why not try one of the dedicated music systems? Olive's Opus 4 will store up to 3000 cds in FLAC, and keep them organized (1TB hard drive).  The device "library" is accessible wirelessly to iphone and ipod touch, and can also access internet radio stations. It also displays the album artwork, although you will need another system to get the notes or lyrics.  I don't have this, but it looks very tempting.

They will load your first 100 cds for free, and the rest for a price.  If you've got money to burn, this might just be the answer to your dreams.  Did I forget to mention that the set is expensive?  It also has a companion music server (Melody No. 2) to stream music to the rest of your house wirelessly. 

What none of these systems offer yet is surround sound playback of SACDs, DVD-As.  They are very convenient but only offer redbook layer playback.  They also recommend hard drive back up as well as retention of the original cds.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

I could "find any stuff by Bruckner which is less than 5:00 long"

In other words - you can find nothing 

[Mr. Darcy]

Yeah, that's a great recording. I believe there was a topic on this matter some time ago in the diner.

Ha ha! Oh man, that first sentence had me busting-up... I think Herman was suggesting that "Great Recordings and Reviews" is perhaps not the best place for this thread.

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

In other words - you can find nothing 

Haha. 52 matches. Basically tracks from his Choral and Piano works... and the Intro/Outro Applause with B5/Celi.