Music Library

bigaudiofanatic

So with my collection totaling over 300 GB's and counting. I am thinking of no longer keeping it directly on my laptop. With my next laptop, I am going Ultrabook and SSD. So I will be much more limited as far as storage is concerned.
I am planning on getting a Drobo for a home based storage. For movies, music and my backup. Here is where my choices open up or become complicated.

My library is stored in iTunes _______________:arrowl:insert joke here all in Apple Lossless. With my next purchase being a windows computer I am considering moving it out of iTunes. So I will probably have to convert them too FLAC. Which I am not sure if I will lose quality.

Here are my goals long term:

Have my library in more than one location and constantly up to date. Preferably one copy on a external hard drive to take with me. And one on Drobo. Maybe even a third as a bi-weekly backup. I want my entire collection with me at all times.

Movies will start being ripped in HD format to Drobo. However what is a good interface for the TV other than apple tv?

I have heard that WD TV Live is one good choice. But I have not searched past that.

Am I going in the right direction? Also what is a good music library interface, if I decide to leave iTunes but is similar?

Some may ask why the sudden change from apple. Simply put I am getting a bad taste from apples attack on Samsung lately. So I am slowly moving away from them.

newrival

300GB of Apple lossless to FLAC conversion? yikes.

hope you have 300GB of freespace on your laptop to direct the new files to.If you have to do it over USB, or god forbid, network, to an external drive, that is going to be miserable. It makes me queazy just thinking about it.

You won't lose quality, btw.

interfaces I really like:
Boxee
Popcorn Hour
Roku
(in that order)

I love my Drobo, by the way.

I, too, am trying to get away from apple.

bigaudiofanatic

newrival wrote: »

300GB of Apple lossless to FLAC conversion? yikes.

hope you have 300GB of freespace on your laptop to direct the new files to.If you have to do it over USB, or god forbid, network, to an external drive, that is going to be miserable. It makes me queazy just thinking about it.

You won't lose quality, btw.

interfaces I really like:
Boxee
Popcorn Hour
Roku
(in that order)

I love my Drobo, by the way.

I, too, am trying to get away from apple.

Luckily I can use Firewire 800 which will make it go by a bit faster. I have been eyeing a Drobo for a few years now. Decided it was time to get one.

The only downside to converting will be my ipods will not be to happy about the converted format.

Syndil

For ease of use and the UI, I would recommend the Roku over the rest, with the inclusion of the Plex channel and a NAS that will run the Plex server. My own personal recommendation (this will come as no surprise to some) would be a ReadyNAS Ultra. Gives you the most bang for the buck when it comes to a NAS--much more processing power, transfer speed and capabilities than the aging Drobo FS.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Funny how you're now abandoning Apple after your infamous 'burning zune' thread. Also funny how other people are moving away from Apple after all my years of constantly bashing them, and now I'm moving towards Apple :-)

If you've got a problem with Apple's 'attack' of Samsung and are leaving them on principle then don't ****-foot around with it and keep your iPods, if you're gonna ditch them then do it right and ditch the iPods as well. I'm going through a similar drill with Samsung right now and am ridding myself of every product I own of theirs, which is not a cheap proposition because I have two plasmas that are going to be expensive to replace with Panasonic. My point is, if you're gonna ditch someone based on principle don't half-**** it, go all the way.

If you're moving to Windows you'll definitely want to ditch iTunes, as it's an absolutely horrid experience on that platform. MediaMonkey and JRiver are two good library tools for Windows. Also since you're no longer Apple there's no point in keeping your music in Apple Lossless. Convert to FLAC and don't look back, dbPowerAmp is a great tool for this but there are others as well.

Syndil is a big fan of Plex, I'm not (we'll not start hashing that out again though). Instead of arguing that I'll just throw out another option or two. So you can go with the Roku and a NAS or computer that will run Plex, OR

Depending on what all you need from a streamer, I'd recommend wither the WD Live or one of the Netgear boxes, as both of those will stream content from any local network drive. The WD will play basically anything you can throw at it but isn't the most stable box with the best UI out there. I've heard the newer firmware updates are much better though and it'll likely work out fine for you. I prefer the interface on the Netgear boxes, but they don't make a box that will handle BOTH online and local streaming. You either get online services like Netflix and Hulu OR you get local content depending on which box you get, but not both. That also is as of about 6 months ago and may have changed. The good thing about either of these options is that they'll play media from any connected network drive, hell maybe even a USB drive, and you don't have to buy a special NAS that runs special software.

Syndil

I used to be a big fan of the WD TV stuff, but compared to the current crop of players from Roku and Netgear the UI feels very clunky and dated to me, so I have stopped recommending it, but YMMV.

The Netgear is a good option if you don't mind the either/or situation they put you in that Assimilated mentioned. You either get online streaming or local streaming, but not both in the same Netgear box. If you only want one, however, I would agree the Netgears are a very good choice, and I would even rate their UI slightly better than the Roku's.

However if you want one box that can do it all, the Roku does online streaming, and with the addition of the Plex channel it will also do local streaming. Plex may not be perfect (yet), but I will say that it is open source so it won't be abandoned like Logitech is doing with Squeezebox/LMS, and it is under constant development and improvement, so any bugs found will be squashed relatively quickly. It hasn't reached v1.0 yet but is still very usable. Personally I have very high expectations for Plex. Obviously others do not.

bigaudiofanatic

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

Funny how you're now abandoning Apple after your infamous 'burning zune' thread. Also funny how other people are moving away from Apple after all my years of constantly bashing them, and now I'm moving towards Apple :-)

If you've got a problem with Apple's 'attack' of Samsung and are leaving them on principle then don't ****-foot around with it and keep your iPods, if you're gonna ditch them then do it right and ditch the iPods as well. I'm going through a similar drill with Samsung right now and am ridding myself of every product I own of theirs, which is not a cheap proposition because I have two plasmas that are going to be expensive to replace with Panasonic. My point is, if you're gonna ditch someone based on principle don't half-**** it, go all the way.

If you're moving to Windows you'll definitely want to ditch iTunes, as it's an absolutely horrid experience on that platform. MediaMonkey and JRiver are two good library tools for Windows. Also since you're no longer Apple there's no point in keeping your music in Apple Lossless. Convert to FLAC and don't look back, dbPowerAmp is a great tool for this but there are others as well.

Syndil is a big fan of Plex, I'm not (we'll not start hashing that out again though). Instead of arguing that I'll just throw out another option or two. So you can go with the Roku and a NAS or computer that will run Plex, OR

Depending on what all you need from a streamer, I'd recommend wither the WD Live or one of the Netgear boxes, as both of those will stream content from any local network drive. The WD will play basically anything you can throw at it but isn't the most stable box with the best UI out there. I've heard the newer firmware updates are much better though and it'll likely work out fine for you. I prefer the interface on the Netgear boxes, but they don't make a box that will handle BOTH online and local streaming. You either get online services like Netflix and Hulu OR you get local content depending on which box you get, but not both. That also is as of about 6 months ago and may have changed. The good thing about either of these options is that they'll play media from any connected network drive, hell maybe even a USB drive, and you don't have to buy a special NAS that runs special software.

I still am happy Zune is dead, never liked them.

Anyway, I still have to keep at least one ipod. Simply because being a car audio installer makes me setup systems and test everything. So I usually use a ipod for my tuning list.

Thank you for the good advice about different programs and devices.

bigaudiofanatic

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

Funny how you're now abandoning Apple after your infamous 'burning zune' thread. Also funny how other people are moving away from Apple after all my years of constantly bashing them, and now I'm moving towards Apple :-)

If you've got a problem with Apple's 'attack' of Samsung and are leaving them on principle then don't ****-foot around with it and keep your iPods, if you're gonna ditch them then do it right and ditch the iPods as well. I'm going through a similar drill with Samsung right now and am ridding myself of every product I own of theirs, which is not a cheap proposition because I have two plasmas that are going to be expensive to replace with Panasonic. My point is, if you're gonna ditch someone based on principle don't half-**** it, go all the way.

If you're moving to Windows you'll definitely want to ditch iTunes, as it's an absolutely horrid experience on that platform. MediaMonkey and JRiver are two good library tools for Windows. Also since you're no longer Apple there's no point in keeping your music in Apple Lossless. Convert to FLAC and don't look back, dbPowerAmp is a great tool for this but there are others as well.

Syndil is a big fan of Plex, I'm not (we'll not start hashing that out again though). Instead of arguing that I'll just throw out another option or two. So you can go with the Roku and a NAS or computer that will run Plex, OR

Depending on what all you need from a streamer, I'd recommend wither the WD Live or one of the Netgear boxes, as both of those will stream content from any local network drive. The WD will play basically anything you can throw at it but isn't the most stable box with the best UI out there. I've heard the newer firmware updates are much better though and it'll likely work out fine for you. I prefer the interface on the Netgear boxes, but they don't make a box that will handle BOTH online and local streaming. You either get online services like Netflix and Hulu OR you get local content depending on which box you get, but not both. That also is as of about 6 months ago and may have changed. The good thing about either of these options is that they'll play media from any connected network drive, hell maybe even a USB drive, and you don't have to buy a special NAS that runs special software.

I still am happy Zune is dead, never liked them.

Anyway, I still have to keep at least one ipod. Simply because being a car audio installer makes me setup systems and test everything. So I usually use a ipod for my tuning list.

Thank you for the good advice about different programs and devices.

AsSiMiLaTeD

You don't have to use iPod, there are alternatives. If you really have a problem with the company then cut ties with them, otherwise your attempt to 'stick it to the man' is half-**** and you come across **** - I hate it when someone gets all up in arms about something and then doesn't have the conviction to actually completely follow through...

I don't share your opinion of Apple in the Samsung deal, but if I did and felt strongly enough to look at alternatives then you can bet your **** I would not own a SINGLE product from them.

Hobbyguy

Have you considered synology NAS? Expensive but the interface and power/speed is without equal. If you know a little about configuration/protocol you will not find a better NAS (no this is not an ad and I don't work for them). If you can afford it the DS1512 is I think best bang for the buck and again if you can afford it go with an enterprise class hard drive. Synology also has several ipad/iphone apps that let you stream movies/music and view your files. The NAS has software that will let you download torrents, run wikipages, host photoshare...etc.

Syndil

Hobbyguy wrote: »

If you can afford it the DS1512 is I think best bang for the buck...

Gonna have to disagree with you there. There was another thread about this already, but the ReadyNAS Ultra series definitely gives you the most bang for the buck. Compare an Ultra 6 to a DS1512--costs less, gives you one more drive bay, still has plenty of CPU power to run apps, of which there are many available.

Hobbyguy

Did not see that thread....will have to look. Did it also cover unRAID?

Syndil

ReadyNAS has their own patent-pending X-RAID.

http://www.readynas.com/?p=656

Hobbyguy

Uh....not what I meant.
Unraid.
http://lime-technology.com/

Made for digital media....have been wondering about this.

Syndil

"Unraid" is simply marketing speak that Lime Technology has invented to describe their own flavor of RAID, which I would describe as dumbed-down RAID-4. X-RAID provides more flexibility. Synology uses what they call Synology Hybrid RAID, which is similar to X-RAID.

Don't worry about the "made for digital media" claim. Marketing gibberish.

Hobbyguy

yeah but it is hard not to be impressed with what you can do with unraid.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1282253/my-unraid-servers-83tb-total

and connected to the popcorn hour:
http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/index.php?pluginoption=catalog&mainItemId=47

Syndil

Unraid is for homebuilt NAS devices so I'm not even sure why we're discussing it. If you're buying a Synology or a ReadyNAS or a Drobo (like the OP mentioned) you're not going to have Unraid. No big loss.

Also. looking at the example you linked to, keep in mind that Unraid only supports the loss of a single drive, no matter how large the array. Lose more than one and you have lost data. Using Unraid for an array that large is a Very Bad Idea.

Hobbyguy

Thanks for the SAN advice but that is way out of my league.....pretty damn cool though!

Syndil

That was not advice. :P A SAN is cost-prohibitive for many businesses, much less a personal network.

bigaudiofanatic

I am liking the boxee all except how time consuming it is to search through your music library. Is there any better ones?

Also internet content is not a must for me as my connection sucks anyway.

Syndil

Get the Netgear NeoTV 550 then. Cheap, great UI, and will do everything you want. Doesn't do Internet streaming, but if that's not important, I think it's the clear winner.

bigaudiofanatic

Converting as I type this. Been playing with media monkey, it isn't bad however is their any other products that are cleaner?

punk-roc

I've settled on Foobar on my netbook that streams the FLACs from my NAS. I thought it was the cleanest since I just want a program to shuffle my FLAC collection and play them..

Jason

bigaudiofanatic

I will look into that punk-roc.

A few problems with my conversion last night.

1. Not all album artwork carried over. Only about half did.

2. All songs are now bundled together instead of being in separate artist folders.

3. Failed to transfer some of my AAC's about 30 albums.

4. Have to redo all my favorites and playlists. Unless someone knows another way.

decal

Ah, the joys of computer audio.smiley_rotflmao.gif

98Badger

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

Converting as I type this. Been playing with media monkey, it isn't bad however is their any other products that are cleaner?

JRiver Media Center is excellent. Well worth the $50 price tag. There is a free 30 day trial. I could never go back to Mediamonkey after JRiver.

bigaudiofanatic

decal wrote: »

Ah, the joys of computer audio.smiley_rotflmao.gif

LOL I will not lie, breaking from the itunes grip is a PITA however well worth it, giving me much more control over my music.

98Badger wrote: »

JRiver Media Center is excellent. Well worth the $50 price tag. There is a free 30 day trial. I could never go back to Mediamonkey after JRiver.

:eek:

I think I found a new hope for my music. Thank you!

punk-roc

I really like Jriver as well and actually bought it and use it on one computer.. I just didn't like the performance on my netbook and it seemed a little much since I only wanted it to play FLACs on random from my collection haha.

AsSiMiLaTeD

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

LOL I will not lie, breaking from the itunes grip is a PITA however well worth it, giving me much more control over my music.



:eek:

I think I found a new hope for my music. Thank you!

I'm curious what 'control' of your music that you did NOT get with iTunes?

bigaudiofanatic

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

I'm curious what 'control' of your music that you did NOT get with iTunes?

The ability to use it on any device I wanted because of the encoding Apple lossless. Also being able to have my music on more than one computer without "sharing"

bigaudiofanatic

I just have to say........

I am loving FLAC! Finally able to do everything I was hoping for with itunes but with the freedom to use the devices I wanted. Just transferred my FLAC music collection to my NAS this morning after picking up a 3TB external. I now have the ability to allow anyone in the house to listen to my collection on there tablet, phone, computer, or boxee or other. It is fantastic. To think I can put my entire music and movie collection on my network and sit outside and stream a movie from the NAS.

J river I am completely sold on, with the organization much more powerful that itunes ever was it has taken some getting use too. However finally able to share or access from any hard drive or computers shared music folder is amazing. And to think I am just beginning. When I get my boxee in a few weeks I should be completely set on having the things the way I want.

Still looking for the best app for android.