Copying your music collection to hard drives: who else is doing this?

Actually, there are programs that will catalog your hard drive contents. It will make my cataloging of my CDs very easy!

Ah! I have my computer hooked up to my stereo, so I play files from my PC through the good old fashioned stereo! Got it good both ways. Later, I will get a Squeezebox.

Again: true, I have a third more CDs than vinyl LPs. But, i've done hundreds of needle drops!

Second: I will not dump my CD collection, and i'm dumping a select number of LPs that I bought used over the years that I have needle dropped.

Next: It is NOT a violation of a copyright. Let's not go there on this thread, because we can all argue this point all week long.

And finally: The point? The point is to back up my music in case something happens to it. I did not spend a lifetime collecting all that music only to have it destroyed or stolen in a few minutes. At least with backups, I don't have the physical product, but I still have the MUSIC. I won't be devastated! I want to pack my music away so I can life lighter and move easily if needed, and I may be moving out of town.

If you are settled in your home, and feel secure that nothing will happen to your music, that's fine. I value the artwork and liner notes too. I also like putting on a record. I just got another turntable! But, bottom line...I want to still be able to hear my unique needle drop of the White Album in mono if I happen to lose the original CD or vinyl. If music doesn't mean that much to you, that's cool! But, music is my lifeblood, and many here feel the same way. It's the air that I breathe (sorry Hollies!).

I am not knocking anyone for their views, but consider the positive aspects of those of us who wish to preserve out music, however we get it done. We can't live in Ft. Knox. I'm not crusading. I find that many who automatically attack this trend may not be too familiar with the technology and how it all works.

 

I don't listen to music on my pc. I listen to it on my stereo.

 

Grant, I'm right there with you; I'm beginning to undertake this task primarily to back up to my collection. That way, I have a copy in case disaster strikes my home.

I've spent too many years to see my collection literally go up in flames.

 

Well I'm going on vacation next month for my annual spring training vacation in Arizona. I used to pick out a few dozen CD's to take with me.

I will not have to make that choice anymore. I'll be taking a full hard drive with me so I can play whatever I feel like. I actually did this last year and it worked out great.

This year, I'll take the Squeezebox and a remote control and it will be even better.

 

I have an MPX3 headphone amp on my desk right beside a Squeezebox. The music source is an external HD with my entire collection. It is so cool to be 800 miles from home and be able to listen to any record that I feel like - and have it sound damned fine!

I justified this by rationalizing that this was an offsite backup. Little did I know that it would, indeed, serve this function. Now I have two complete backups of the main array.

 

My music collection is very tiny compared to what most of you guys have. Though my quest in collecting vinyl has increased since last summer, my CD collection is very small. More are being added of course but I also have several of the multi-disc albums like a lot of the FF soundtracks.

Though I can do my CD collection soon, I want to wait to get the E-Mu 1616M to work with my vinyl needledrops before I begin. And, I would love to backup the music on some of my old video games too via manual recording.

 

I beat the 32GB limit with SwissKnife, but now I've decided 1000+ tunes is more than enough for me to have on tap.

For me, I can't see the benefit of having 400 CD's on a hard drive (even though now I can) and I don't have to fire up the display to read them.

It's faster just to grab one off the shelf and drop it in the player.

Is there a USB2 enabled car deck ? Now that would be slick. HD's are 12 volt.

 

I'm single, so I can justifiy just about anything I buy.

But seriously, that's the beauty of having a mobile system. It is also a complete backup system. I'll be taking the Squeezebox this year, but last year I just used WinAmp and hooked the laptop up to my boombox.

Of course using my Sennhsiser 650's and the Total Bithead USB amp is far better sound and I have that option as well.

This year, I'm really thinking about going bonkers and maybe taking a pair of baby Advents or AR6's and a Sony STR-197 stereo receiver for the Squeezebox. I need several of them for a job I'm doing so there is no cost for this. The speaker are just sitting here.

Kind of absurd if you think about it, but why not? Of course the hotel may not be too happy about it. OTOH, back in the 70's when I was touring, I carried a Crown D-60, Nakamichi 550 and a pair of ADS 2002 speakers with me and set it up in my hotel rooms.

Ain't these swell times.

 

See guys? What better what to rationalize your collections? You can take it ALL with you and listen to pristine sound. Imagine visiting your friends and family a thousand miles away and having a party (or listening session) with your complete collection.

I don't have to crusade.Y'all are doing it for me!

 

I don't even have computer speakers!

 

Fellow ReadyNAS and Squeezeboxer.

 

+1 for the ReadyNAS + Squeezebox

 

Actually, I have an, uh, alternately sourced digital copy of the White Album with bonus tracks, so I needn't do a needle drop of my mono lp.

I also have a LOT of insurance in case of fire, which is the only realistic way anything could happen to any significant portion of my collection. Of course proving what I had would be kind of difficult if I don't get my cataloging done.

BTW, I misspoke in my earlier thread, I don't even own a pc, I have an i-Mac, and it's getting some age on it, too.

 

Insurance will refund the money, but can't give your music back to you.

The operating system does not matter. OK, look at it this way: Say you have some precious pictures on your computer. Your house catches on fire, and your computer is destroyed. Wouldn't you fell better if you had your pictures backed up in a safe place? You can always replace the machine, but not your pictures if you don't back them up. With CDs, it's the same thing.

 

I've been robbed of my CDs collection before. I lost some valuable (impossible to find) items, and now my insurance refuse to cover my whole collection. So, backing-up my collection and using a server is the way of the future for me. 294 of my 1272 discs have been converted into Flac files so far. It will take a while...

 

Only if a person has a special rider.

Insurance does not cover "collections" of anything at full value w/o a rider.

 

I didn't mean to imply that the operating system mattered, just didn't want to be identified as mainstream. Actually, very little computer literacy, very little free time, and a very high level of frustration when trying to figure out how to do new things on the computer would also be contributing factors for me not backing up my collection.

Plus, I have a hang up, in that, in my mind, if I don't have the actual artifact, I don't own it. So saved copies would never be satisfying to me, but that's a personal foible. Your analogy on pictures is a good one, but the vast majority of my photos are still 35 mil, and I don't usually get a cdr version, so my own ludditeness makes me SOL there too.

 

Well who said you have to relinquish your actual discs if you rip them to a hard drive. I certainly haven't gotten rid of any of mine and have no intentions of doing so.

 

Right!

 

I thought just as you did, for about 40 years. But after seeing many formats fall by the wayside over the years -- everything from cassettes to 8-track to Beta, VHS, laserdisc, and god knows what else -- I finally realized that the format is not important to me anymore.

My advice to you would be to get over it, and accept that owning the music is more important than owning the piece of plastic that stores it. I agree, not being able to hold the artwork in your hand is a compromise, but I'm getting around that by doing high-res (1000x1000) jpeg scans of the covers and interior art. That works for me.

 

Oh well...I tried!

 

If I had all the time in the world, and a scanner that scanned 12" x 12", that would be perfect for me!

 

If you set a camera up correctly on a tripod you could take photos of your covers and then you have a digital copy ready to do whatever you please with it when you get a chance. I know there are more variables in the equation like a good lens for close shots and getting the lighting right but it is a quick way to digitize LP's.

Pat