Music storage

bluenose1940 · February 3, 2016

I and my wife have a fairly large collection of CD's and many of them get used extremely rarely and some of them probably never, or at least with some years between plays! They do take up quite a bit of space and generally i offload some to the charity shops from time to time.

Rather than dispose of them and therefore not have access to them at some future date, I am thinking that it would be a good idea to copy and store these CD's or, in some cases just selected tracks, What I am wondering is, have any of you done this and if so, what storage system did you use. As I see it, there is the option to store them all on USB Memory sticks, I'm sure that I would get a fair few CD's/Tracks on these and, if this should turn out to be the preferred method, is there an optimum size for the stick, i.e. would it be better not to exceed say 64gb for whatever reason or, are the larger sticks just as stable as the smaller ones?

Alternatively, would it be better to use something like iTunes to copy them all to and then to transfer to a USB stick as and when certain tracks are needed? Is iTunes the only medium of this type or are there others that can be recommended?

Thanks for any help that may be offered.

steveledzep · February 3, 2016

This is what I use and it works very well. There's also another system called dbPoweramp I believe, but I have no experience of that one.

http://www.jriver.com/mj/

bluenose1940 · February 3, 2016

Thank you Steve, I will have a look at your link.

normski2 · February 3, 2016

I use Itunes ... in fairness only because I've used it for years ... so am really comfortable with what I can do. I also have Iphones and Ipods (me and the wifey).

All my music is stored in a separate drive accessed via my PC (Windows 10 Desktop). I don't use apple Itunes designated 'aac' files. I do everything in 'Mp3' at 320Kbps. You can mess around with stuff in the Preferences section. It's quite straightforward. A typical album can be 90 Mb or so.

I have three 4Gb USB sticks that I load up and change from time to time. When I use the USB source i always make sure each folder only has the Mp3 music files ... I don't copy the artwork or info folders ... as I found it seemed to cause reading issues. This may not be the case with the IS300 as I think you may be able to display artwork on your screen.

Also have Ipod Classic loaded up with 130Gb of playlists and some on my Iphone.

There is also 'Foobar'. That's another free to download system.

With all these methods there will be updates from time to time. I always choose to wait until I see Itunes Forum comments saying the upgrade is OK before I allow the upgrade. There was a apple Itunes upgrade around Oct 2015 that caused a huge amount of problems to Itunes users. It was not fixed until Mid January. So beware the instant upgrade!!!

bluenose1940 · February 3, 2016

Thanks Normski, useful information as always. Interestingly I had something in the back of my mind about iTunes, hence the question in my first post about any alternatives.

I too use a Windows 10 desktop which I'm very happy with. Do you use a separate internal or external drive for your music? I don't suppose that it matters much which really does it.

Do you happen to know if there is an optimum size when using USB sticks? I ask because I have read of problems with dashcams where 64gb seems to be OK but 128's seem to give hiccups, just wondered if this might be the same with music file.

normski2 · February 3, 2016

Hi Geoff

Its a 1Tb external drive ... with about 380Gb of music files and other important back up stuff/photos etc. I keep the music separate as PC's can go pop. Had an internal HDD go pop last year ... pretty damned irritating. I'd be gutted if i lost all that music.

You won't really need huge capacity USB sticks for music. That's why I only have the 4Gb (also have a 16 but rarely use it) size. It also means its quicker to delete and reload. I can get more than enough on 4Gb for my listening. I usually put 20 or 30 albums on a stick. If I want loads I just plug in my Ipod (like I do when we go to France).. Your IS300 may happily read larger capacity sticks ...kind of a suck it and see moment in all honesty.

You probably have larger capacity on dash-cams because, I guess, the files are that much larger.

steveledzep · February 3, 2016

I use a Windows 8 desktop machine with a 2Tb internal hard drive. I also have an external 2Tb hard drive which is set to constantly mirror my internal hdd. As Normski says, it would be a bugger if the hdd failed and I lost all my music.

It's very important that I have a back up system as I have recorded over 300 LPs to the computer, recorded in real time of course, not quickly ripped like a cd. All of my music is stored as flac files which is a lossless format but with much smaller files than wav.

There is a certain quirkiness to apple products, as Normski refers to. For that reason Geoff I strongly recommend you investigate JRiver before deciding on iTunes.

I rarely use memory sticks, so don't have anything to contribute there.

normski2 · February 3, 2016

Quite right Steve. Check 'em out fully so you are happy with what you are doing, Geoff.

Can you play flac files through the car system? I've not tried, so not sure. Personally I wouldn't bother ... save the flac files for the home Hi Fi.

I do have many flac 'mother' folders of the more important stuff in my collection. These will be quite large files though. Single tracks can be as much as a full Mp3 album.

For example:- Steely Dan album 'AJA'. Whole album in Mp3 @320kbps is around 96Mb. In flac, it's 890Mb.

Sorry Geoff, not trying to bamboozle you. For your knowledge ... flac is Free Lossless Audio Codec ... its similar...ish to Mp3 but the music is compressed without any loss of quality. So it is vastly superior to Mp3.

Geoff, if you have a Bluray player it is very likely you can play Flac and Mp3 files through it, if you wanted to audition the difference for yourself.Pretty confident all Bluray players have a USB port.

steveledzep · February 3, 2016

47 minutes ago, normski2 said:

Can you play flac files through the car system?

Probably not. I use flac as a storage method to preserve all the detail but without the very large files. JRiver allows you to choose the storage format and also the format for burning to disc or saving to stick.

If you have the storage capacity (very cheap now) then I consider it worthwhile to store in a lossless format. For playback in a vehicle, mp3 is probably adequate.....depends how fussy you are ? If I'd paid the premium for a ML system, I suspect I'd want to feed it the best possible source material.

Personally, I don't rate the ML system much above the 11 speaker system I have in my IS. I'm a bit of a HiFi nerd, but the compromises inside a noisy, moving vehicle don't warrant the extra expenditure in my opinion.

normski2 · February 3, 2016

Out of curiosity ... I just loaded a flac file onto a USB stick ... nope, nothing seen.

Mind you the IS300h might see it, maybe ... or am I being too darned optimistic?

bluenose1940 · February 6, 2016

Hello again Normski and Steve, thanks a million for your input, very helpful indeed. The weather this weekend is absolutely shocking and so it is a really good time to have a go at what we're discussing here. I will have a go at saving a flac file and see if it will play in the car, I will let you know when I get chance to try it. Also, I do have a usb port on my Blueray player and so can do the 'test' suggested by Normski.

Steve, I see that you mentioned that you recorded LP's in 'real time' that must have taken an eternity! Is the end result better than 'ripping and burning'?

I have used iTunes in the past but I am going to try the jriver suggestion and see how that pans out. Normski, you mentioned having an iPod Classic, my wife has mentioned getting an iPod but she says she wants to be able to 'choose by track', does the Classic allow that? Going down this route will enable us to use the iPod in either car and with Lin's WiFi speaker setup in the house.

Steve, what do you use to have one drive constantly mirror another?

As mentioned, memory is very inexpensive these days and so I will get a few of the smaller sticks.

Thanks again for the help chaps.

normski2 · February 6, 2016

You would normally load 'Playlists' or 'Albums' onto the ipod. You can then choose tracks from within each if you wished.

You could I guess make up a large list of tracks on a playlist and then play those tracks however you wish. Your easiest way would be to set the car system to 'random' play, or maybe hit the up or down tracks to navigate. I can see the individual tracks of a playlist on the menu screen and just press that track required and it plays. I assume the Mk3 will do the same or better.

Choosing by track ... mmmm .... that is going to be quite laborious if you are jumping around between albums and playlists, and very time consuming, and could only be safely undertaken by a passenger. Far better to pre-select your tracks and put them in a playlist. I do this in Itunes .... select New Playlist, then drag and drop tracks from different albums into that playlist. In this way I have my own 'Best Of ####' selections for much of my music.

Don't know what phones you use. The missus and I both have Iphones (offspring cast offs) and they will typically have 16, 32 or 64 Mb capacities. That's actually quite a lot of music. These days I mostly use my Iphone connected for Phone and Music. But I'll take the Ipod on holidays.

bluenose1940 · February 6, 2016

Lin and I both have iPhones and do have some music on them which we sometimes play via Bluetooth in the car. The reason that I asked the question on the iPod was because our sister-in-law has an iPod and Lin tells me that she can only choose an album from it to play but can't choose individual tracks. I'm afraid that I can only quote what she tells me as we have never owned an iPod.

I have downloaded the jriver software and it seems quite straightforward to use. When I rip a CD I notice that it saves it to my C drive, I only use my C drive for the O/S and programmes, I don't store any sort of data on there. Whilst ripping the CD, I didn't spot an option to save the 'rip' to another drive, with that in mind, is it simply a case of copying the rip to the drive of my choice, then make a back-up image of it somewhere else and then delete the rip from the C drive?

Choosing by track in the car would be done by Lin as I, when on my own, more often than not, listen to either radio 2 or mostly TalkSport.

normski2 · February 6, 2016

She is right in that sense. Slightly misunderstood what you meant.

On the ipod you would select Music then from the options you scroll the thumb wheel down to songs. There you'll see all songs and the letters of the alphabet appear as you scroll through.

You are right about copying and deleting the original.

steveledzep · February 6, 2016

6 hours ago, bluenose1940 said:

Steve, I see that you mentioned that you recorded LP's in 'real time' that must have taken an eternity! Is the end result better than 'ripping and burning'?

Steve, what do you use to have one drive constantly mirror another?

Yes, it took months to record the LPs, still not finished. I'm not much of a TV watcher and so I have been recording just a couple of LPs most evenings. It has been enjoyable rather than laborious as I've rediscovered some music I hadn't played for yonks !

Most of my albums are late 60s and early 70s so they pre-date cd by a long way. I don't think a lot of my music is available on cd and the albums that are have generally been transferred very poorly. Lots of compression with little dynamic range....they sound very flat and unexciting.

This is the external drive that I use. In addition, I have a Samsung 1Tb portable drive that I have my LPs on too (belt and braces !)

steveledzep · February 6, 2016

3 hours ago, bluenose1940 said:

I have downloaded the jriver software and it seems quite straightforward to use. When I rip a CD I notice that it saves it to my C drive, I only use my C drive for the O/S and programmes, I don't store any sort of data on there. Whilst ripping the CD, I didn't spot an option to save the 'rip' to another drive, with that in mind, is it simply a case of copying the rip to the drive of my choice, then make a back-up image of it somewhere else and then delete the rip from the C drive?

On JRiver, if you go to Tools/Options, it lets you choose where your files will be stored, what format etc......it's very flexible.

JR allows you to construct playlists track by track, so plenty of scope.

Normski's solution seems to work for him and JR for me. Let us know how you get on Geoff.