storing digital music questions (windows)

[knobbyhead]

As an old fart I am trying to bring my music into the 21 century:

Currently have digital music stored as: (for windows/ andriod phone)

1. various formats flac, wma mp3 etc. mostly wma some mp3's some flac some ogg
2. 95% stored in the following format: band (folder) /album (folder) /songs
3. Most songs are tagged. (some are live)
4. I have a bunch of cd's I need to burn.

With phone/windows machine I use vlc.
According to mazda my car plays: MP3/WMA/AAC/OGG files on a usb stick

I would like to store all the music in the same lossless format. I know there might be some issues converting the mp3 files to lossless, but they are probably not the greatest quality so I don't care.

so, my questions are:

1. Is there a conversion program that I can use to change the formats of all my music without going into every album folder to change them individually? Can I do: old format /band/album/songs and create (new format) band/album/songs and not have to create the new directories on a bulk level? I know I'll have to do each format individually. I have read that some programs are able to do this. I'll need to fix the tags first.

2. Out of mp3, wma, acc, ogg files; I suspect acc or ogg is the best. I don't think wma lossless is supported in my car, but that I can check. What does everybody think?

3. I found media monkey, which looks like it would solve some of the organization and the tags issue. It also has a cd burner. And I also found tagscanner program to fix tags on the files. This has also got good reviews

4. I will also need to look into a media server, but that's for another time.

 

[Karate Monkey]

1) Can't help, I've fallen back on CDs/whatever the music comes as, since every time I hitched my wagon to a format, it either died/something better came along. I got tired of re-entering tagging/directories.

2) Currently? Lossless is lossless, imo. .ogg files are widely playable on anything that the developer cares enough about their job on, since the codec is free. Unless you're recording, pick whichever works on most of your stuff. IMO, unless you're gonna throw down on a serious sound system, you can't hear any difference between wma lossless, FLAC, .ogg, .m4a, etc...

3) I (used) to use Winamp. Still have it on another computer. I think a developer picked it back up and is trying to fix things up.

4) Store your files in several places (Google cloud, Amazon, BD optical storage/spare hard drive). Google play music works, but it uploads everything as a so-so sound quality. You also get 50,000 free uploads, so, ya know. Bear in mind none of the current storage solutions are actually 'shelf stable', so to speak. The files will degrade over time, so it is prudent to have multiple copies. I found this out the hard way with ~50GB of music stored on a new hard drive. Plugged it in several years later, and a number of files played with sound artifacts/missing sections...so just like a CD with stuff rubbing off.

 

[gtluke]

I've used media monkey for this. Then I just gave up and just re-downloaded everything from someone who did it properly. I don't have the ear to tell the difference between a "lossless" mp3 and a flac anyway.

 

[qclabrat]

what you are looking for isn't free, problem is that once you've figured it out and set yourself a standard, you will want to make changes. If your demands for quality isn't very high, don't go with lossless and spend more time organizing your music. For digital music I prefer subscriptions to music services or some thing free like Slacker or Pandora.

 

[soundz]

People still store music? I haven't read through everything yet but @wschruba I remember reading somewhere that lossless is lossless from the perspective that if u open up the lossless file in a wav editor like Audacity, the wav file you see is the same between all lossless files. However, when you play back a file like flac, the player chooses how it ineterprets the decompression so there can be some differences between players. My memory is hazy so I don't remember how accurate this may be but it seems to make some sense. And at the end of the day no one can probably tell the difference.

 

[mattybfat]

My head exploded with this talk

Pony up for Spotify and never worry about saved music.

$15 dollar family plan is money well spent and that's not from me but my teens and wife.

 

[Karate Monkey]

People still store music? I haven't read through everything yet but @wschruba I remember reading somewhere that lossless is lossless from the perspective that if u open up the lossless file in a wav editor like Audacity, the wav file you see is the same between all lossless files. However, when you play back a file like flac, the player chooses how it ineterprets the decompression so there can be some differences between players. My memory is hazy so I don't remember how accurate this may be but it seems to make some sense. And at the end of the day no one can probably tell the difference.

That's true, all around. Don't really have much to add to it.

I stopped 'storing' my own music around the same time I re-ripped everything for a third time. The improvement of sound quality from a lossless file is not worth the crap, to me.

 

[knobbyhead]

Ugh ...Lots to think about. Right now I do listen to Pandora alot. I Fricking too lazy to even pick out my songs for something like spotify. So that in itself says alot.

Probably go with media monkey to organize and just leave it at that.
.
The wife is crazy for Xmas music. so I just might have to burn them.

 

[qclabrat]

I always recommend folks to add an external DAC to their digial music system. It will usually be better than most digital source chipsets. I have a few all around the house which range from $20 to 2k, in comparison DACs chips in your iphones and galaxies cost less than $1. low investment to easily improve your sound quality

 

[knobbyhead]

I always recommend folks to add an external DAC to their digial music system. It will usually be better than most digital source chipsets. I have a few all around the house which range from $20 to 2k, in comparison DACs chips in your iphones and galaxies cost less than $1. low investment to easily improve your sound quality

I will do some research on these. thanks.

 

[pooriggy]

I lost my record albums at my parents house when my dad threw them out. Now I spotify.

 

[RobW]

I'll make it easy- buy my 500gig external hard drive with almost everything you can think of up until 2006

 

[jtrain]

This is a subject I have been working on for years so I apologize for the lengthy reply. Not only do you need to have access to a variety of music, you also need the playback controls: Library browsing, random play, genre organization. Easy access controls are essential in the car. I have found that a combination of options works best:

Spotify is great for hearing new music; artists you do not have in your collection. (That $14 / mo deal for 5 accounts works great). I like to pick an artist I like and tune Spotify to that artists radio - it plays similar artists. The drawback is that it eventually repeats. And you must be connected. So I listen until I heard enough or switch channels. Or sometimes I just want to hear something familiar so I go to my mp3's.

I have over 150G of MP# (mostly 256kbs). I used a mp3 editor to correct the tags (this took a while). I use simplified genres (rock, jazz, classical). It is important to name the files with the track# first as many mp3 players will do playback alphabetically. (Folders for artists, sub folders for albums). With the editor program it is easy to rename the file from the tag.

In my car usb sticks work best for me. I have 3 or 4 16G usb sticks, one for each genre (rock, Jazz, classical). 16G holds a LOT of tracks. Using the usb stick in the car allows you to use the cars player display to choose folders etc. Keeps my eyes on the road.

Finally I have purchased a number of dedicated mp3 players over the years, some that took uSD cards giving up to 128G of storage, but since I got my new phone (Droid II) and installed a 128G uSD card these seem obsolete. Now I play mp3 files through the phone (I use double twist for playback on Android - its free). I can pick a genre and play random or select artists, albums or create a playlist with an easy to use interface.

Bluetooth from the phone works great at home and in the car. I still use the dedicated players for a party when I don't want to tie up the phone or when I need to hard-wire to the amp. A problem with the dedicated players is that the controls are usually hard to use because of the small screen and lack of buttons.

Other things I have tried: Using the computer for playback (gives you a good interface but ties up the computer and is not a portable option);
dedicated hard drive server: did not have a useful interface; music through the TV: can't watch another channel and listen to music.

Also some people are happy with iTunes. Its not for me. 'nuf said.

So the short answer is a combination of Spotify, usb sticks in the car, and the mp3 player on my phone (and Bluetooth).

 

[knobbyhead]

This is a subject I have been working on for years so I apologize for the lengthy reply. Not only do you need to have access to a variety of music, you also need the playback controls: Library browsing, random play, genre organization. Easy access controls are essential in the car. I have found that a combination of options works best:

Spotify is great for hearing new music; artists you do not have in your collection. (That $14 / mo deal for 5 accounts works great). I like to pick an artist I like and tune Spotify to that artists radio - it plays similar artists. The drawback is that it eventually repeats. And you must be connected. So I listen until I heard enough or switch channels. Or sometimes I just want to hear something familiar so I go to my mp3's.

I have over 150G of MP# (mostly 256kbs). I used a mp3 editor to correct the tags (this took a while). I use simplified genres (rock, jazz, classical). It is important to name the files with the track# first as many mp3 players will do playback alphabetically. (Folders for artists, sub folders for albums). With the editor program it is easy to rename the file from the tag.

In my car usb sticks work best for me. I have 3 or 4 16G usb sticks, one for each genre (rock, Jazz, classical). 16G holds a LOT of tracks. Using the usb stick in the car allows you to use the cars player display to choose folders etc. Keeps my eyes on the road.

Finally I have purchased a number of dedicated mp3 players over the years, some that took uSD cards giving up to 128G of storage, but since I got my new phone (Droid II) and installed a 128G uSD card these seem obsolete. Now I play mp3 files through the phone (I use double twist for playback on Android - its free). I can pick a genre and play random or select artists, albums or create a playlist with an easy to use interface.

Bluetooth from the phone works great at home and in the car. I still use the dedicated players for a party when I don't want to tie up the phone or when I need to hard-wire to the amp. A problem with the dedicated players is that the controls are usually hard to use because of the small screen and lack of buttons.

Other things I have tried: Using the computer for playback (gives you a good interface but ties up the computer and is not a portable option);
dedicated hard drive server: did not have a useful interface; music through the TV: can't watch another channel and listen to music.

Also some people are happy with iTunes. Its not for me. 'nuf said.

So the short answer is a combination of Spotify, usb sticks in the car, and the mp3 player on my phone (and Bluetooth).

Thanks for the detailed response. I'll probably do the same, big hard drive. different usb sticks for the new car; big memory card for the phone for the old car. Bluetooth and phone at home. Have to look up DACs for home. I know they make Bluetooth DACs for older stereos. Media monkey looks good, it also runs as a media server.

Lots to think about...

 

[qclabrat]

no thanks to @knobbyhead , but this thread is going to cost me money bro

a few years back I started to build a digital music server on a dual zeon box, software to manage files at the time was very expensive so I pulled back on the design and eventually found myself here buying bikes instead. Fast forward about ten years and the music world has changed completely from codecs to software, streaming and wifi.

For those who have gone full bore on digital music files, did you build a system from ground up or used existing components. Ideally I'd like to reuse what I can. I really like my speakers and would be the last pieces I would replace.

I'll always have some form of analog or transport system, listen to this 180g press of Foxy Lady on planar speakers or MFSL issue of Coltrane on tubes and super efficient speakers. I'll never fully convert....

 

[knobbyhead]

no thanks to @knobbyhead , but this thread is going to cost me money bro

a few years back I started to build a digital music server on a dual zeon box, software to manage files at the time was very expensive so I pulled back on the design and eventually found myself here buying bikes instead. Fast forward about ten years and the music world has changed completely from codecs to software, streaming and wifi.

For those who have gone full bore on digital music files, did you build a system from ground up or used existing components. Ideally I'd like to reuse what I can. I really like my speakers and would be the last pieces I would replace.

I'll always have some form of analog or transport system, listen to this 180g press of Foxy Lady on planar speakers or MFSL issue of Coltrane on tubes and super efficient speakers. I'll never fully convert....
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I have heard there are very good bluetooth dac converters that you can use on your analog receivers. BTW, I just put a bluetooth receiver in my NTM Mazda (thanks @JSantana! it drives great btw) and I am very impressed with the quality of the music.

 

[rlb]

I've been using foobar to manage my music for a few years now and it works great. Add files to the que (browse or drag/drop) and from there its a right-click to convert, tag, and re-name. The tagging and renaming tools are pretty powerful. You can use existing fields and a bunch of functions (left, right, mid etc) to tease out and clean up what you need in your tags. You can do them in batch or one by one. Renaming can read tags as well so you can put together formulas to tease out what you want. I have a set formula based on tags to organize my files as shown below. Definitely worth a look!

 

[rlb]

One word of caution though, with super long file names like that you might run in to trouble on something like an OEM head unit.

 

[knobbyhead]

One word of caution though, with super long file names like that you might run in to trouble on something like an OEM head unit.

I think I'll investigate both. Both look like they will do bulk conversion, which I would like.

 

[soundz]

I always recommend folks to add an external DAC to their digial music system. It will usually be better than most digital source chipsets. I have a few all around the house which range from $20 to 2k, in comparison DACs chips in your iphones and galaxies cost less than $1. low investment to easily improve your sound quality

This is true. I have a variety of pro audio interfaces (firewire, adat lightpipe, pci) and the sound quality is no comparison to the $1 chips, esp when you are listening to 32-bit/96+ kHz wav files. Having said that the $1 chips have come a long way. I remember in the 90's plugging headphones/speakers into my PC was unlistenable and you needed to get at least a cheap SoundBlaster card. These days I am less picky about sound quality, but that's also cause I don't really have time to sit down at home and enjoy sound quality so most of my listening is sporadicly on the road.