Audio Files

[Northern Girl]

As much as I prefer to have CD's, I'm realizing I will eventually have no choice but join the downloading world kicking and screaming.

So I'm begrudgingly going to rip all my CD's and start using an MP3 player for starters.

My hesitation, besides my preference for the tangible CD, has been the thought of losing the MP3 player or it stops working for some reason (they seem fragile to me) and having to start all over again. And there is also the issue of computer crashing and losing my music files and being SOL.

I'm already backing up all my digital photos on CD's or flash drives, and that's a pain in the ass to keep up with! You know sometimes old school is just easier!! LOL

So, I'm guessing the best thing to do is store my files on the Internet? Does anyone here do that? Have you tried the Cloud or is there another you prefer?

[VHscraps]

I have used an external hard drive to back up and move MP3 files between computers, and it works fine. Sometimes if you have to start from scratch with a new computer, it might take a couple of hours to transfer files into, e.g., iTunes.

But I recently started buying vinyl again - although I have to admit I still often find myself listening to music on the laptop (sometimes plugged into the hi-fi rig).

I wouldn't have a problem going with the Cloud, and some stuff I have purchased via my iTunes / iPhone shows up on all my devices, which is quite useful. If I was starting totally from scratch, I would probably do it.

[jhale667]

If you don't want to do the Cloud thing (which I'm only starting to experiment with), my advice would be skip the flash drives and just get a couple of 1 or 2TB externals. They're running like 50-60 bucks a TB lately. Back one up on the other. That's pretty much what I'm doing with my Pro Tools files (which are waaaaay larger than MP3s).

[VHscraps]

I also have a 2TB external running Time Machine on my macbook, which means the whole thing is backed up. You're spot on - those things are just getting cheaper ... and smaller.

Who knows how things will pan out in 10-20 years, though. Did you know that researchers have been experimenting with DNA, and using it to store data?

According to this article (http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/24/scientists-encode-mp3-dna-memory/) at Harvard they stored 704TB of data onto a single gram of DNA, and more recently at a UK Bioinformatics institute got "a hulking storage density of 2.2 petabytes per gram" of DNA.

Someone said somewhere else that a flake of skin that falls off a dog's paw could contain entire libraries of books!

So, who the hell knows where we will be storing and playing our music from in the near future!

[DLR Bridge]

I'm already backing up all my digital photos on CD's or flash drives, and that's a pain in the ass to keep up with! You know sometimes old school is just easier!!

Tell me about it. I've got binders of photo discs (and women:)) that I feel like I'm never going to get around to making prints of. Someone once told me that the discs aren't necessarily a guaranteed safe way to store the images either. I hope that's a load of poop.

[Hardrock69]

Pot, man. They will be selling smart joints.


You smoke one, and the molecules contained in the smoke get into your bloodstream, go to your brain and lodge in your cerebral cortex, where they will transmit the entire recorded history of mankind into your skull in about 4 or 5 seconds.

I look forward, man, to smoking the Electron Hash, where they use a dynamically-charged ion cloud in a room full of pot plants, allowing the the atoms in the THC molecules to enter an excited state, and create a trans-dimensional cortex in the midst of your frontal lobe......so that you can become one with God.....


Well, you could do that by just listening to Black Sabbath at 78 speed....

[ELVIS]

Pot, man. They will be selling smart joints.

I look forward, man, to smoking the Electron Hash, where they use a dynamically-charged ion cloud in a room full of pot plants, allowing the the atoms in the THC molecules to enter an excited state, and create a trans-dimensional cortex in the midst of your frontal lobe......so that you can become a robot of the State.....




Sounds lovely...

[Hardrock69]

Seriously though.

I had hundreds and hundreds of cassettes. Not just official ones, but all the live boots I have been collecting since the 70s.....not to mention the tapes I created myself.

Then came the CD revolution. I began to switch to CDs. I have at least a thousand. And I have hundreds of boots on my hard drive waiting to be burned to a disc.

So yes, the question is asked....what to do?


I have a 1 TB external for Storage and backups.

I have another one that is just a separate longer term backup. Hook it up every month or so, and back up everything.

I do need to get a 2 TB disc soon.

Then there was the same thing with film.

Started with VHS tapes when I got my first VCR in the late 80s.

Began taping the usual stuff. Then every documentary I could find on ancient history, music, UFOs, religion, FUCKING, etc.

I wound up with over 1,000 VHS tapes.

Once I got the capability of dubbing them to my hard drive (about 9 years back), then I began transferring many of them to DVD. And erasing shit I would never watch again (like all the fucking documentaries, lol).

But again........I have hundreds of gigs of movies, random concerts and other stuff (not to mention the video projects I edit).....


I said years ago that if things kept on the way they were, we would all end up as librarians.

Meaning, we all are database managers. Some of us are good at it, some are bad, some fall victim to the failure of the machine or the crash of the drive.

But we spend way to much time managing our data.

Some of us have more than others (obviously).

I have been ignoring all my media stuff lately. Not like I have any timetable for managing all my stuff.

But I say better safe than sorry.

Be aware that DVDs and CDs deteriorate over time. A standard DVD or CD could fail within 7-10 years, according to some. And the quality of discs varies.

You CAN buy discs that are specifically designed for long-term....with guarantees they will last 100 years or whatever.

Flash drives can be convenient, but also a stray bit of static electricity could fuck the thing up.

I had one 8 GB drive just die on me within a couple of months of buying it.

Physical media is the safest.

And best to have a backup of your backup.

[VHscraps]

Seriously though.

Be aware that DVDs and CDs deteriorate over time. A standard DVD or CD could fail within 7-10 years, according to some. And the quality of discs varies.

You CAN buy discs that are specifically designed for long-term....with guarantees they will last 100 years or whatever.

Flash drives can be convenient, but also a stray bit of static electricity could fuck the thing up.

I had one 8 GB drive just die on me within a couple of months of buying it.

Physical media is the safest.

And best to have a backup of your backup.

I have literally hundreds of DVDs of TV documentaries on all sorts of subjects - from art to books to film to religion to UFOs to music to cultural history of all sorts ... blah blah blah. And I have discovered that they don't always last. I tried buying good quality DVD-Rs without going for the real top quality guaranteed for life ones that HR mentions, but still ... I was a bit disappointed to find DVDs that were less than 5 years old, stored in good conditions, but would freeze up.

It is a bit of a problem if you suffer from this affliction, this damn need to collect the stuff.

Most of my documentary materials - and I have probably near 1,000 documentaries dating back to stuff recorded originally on VHS in the 80s - came from the BBC. Now if I want something on BBC iPlayer (which has almost everything broadcast on the BBC TV channels in the UK), I use program to rip it, called Get iPlayer. So, you get the shows on fairly good quality on a PC, and if you burned it to DVD and played it through your TV (which seems increasingly obsolete as method of viewing stuff) it will look like non-HD broadcast quality.

If you are into BBC TV stuff, and I don't know if your IP address has to be UK etc, have a look at this - how to rip from iPlayer to MP4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HFZWDFJyws (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HFZWDFJyws)

But, for watching digital video files on TV, I recently bought one of these things, the Lenovo Q190 IdeaCentre, which you can control from a special handset size keypad:

http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/desktop/ideacentre/q-series/q190/ (http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/desktop/ideacentre/q-series/q190/)


It's small enough that I can take it from my desk where I use it with a smaller (23") monitor as a PC and hook it up to a large TV via HDMI to play whatever video files I have on it.

[DLR Bridge]

Guess I'll have to start reading the labels more closely and start keeping an eye out for the 100 year guarantee.

[twonabomber]

I ripped all my CD's to WAV. Storage is cheap, and I need not repeat why MP3's are bad, mmkay. :D All of my devices can handle the WAV files. Simply copy and paste and away we go.

All my music is on a 1TB hard drive. Most of that is backed up on an external 1TB drive. I am still downloading bootlegs but not burning them to disc any more.

I had a separate folder for video on that drive but picked up a second 1TB internal and moved all my DL'ed TV shows etc to it.

[jhale667]

Tell me about it. I've got binders of photo discs (and women:)) .

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h217/jhale667/what-you-did-there-i-see-it_zps9ce37cd4.jpg (http://s65.photobucket.com/user/jhale667/media/what-you-did-there-i-see-it_zps9ce37cd4.jpg.html)

:biggrin:

[jhale667]

Btw, here's (http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB) what I got...inexpensive, PT (audio file)-rated, works with Macs or PCs, stackable... pretty kewl.

[Northern Girl]

Thanks for all the responses...I will digest all of this tomorrow.

[Hardrock69]

I started doing some backup last night.

Realized I have data discs from 12 years ago that I need to sort through....lotsa duplication.


Here is a tip for old DVDs when they freeze up. Get a program called DVD Shrink v3.2. It will allow you to back a DVD up as an iso or as the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders on the disc.
DVD Decrypter v3.5.4.0 can help in this department as well.

Anyway, the dye on the DVDs may have begun to degrade enough that you cannot watch them, but you still may be able to recover the data on the discs. So next time an old DVD freezes, put the disc in your DVD drive, fire up DVD Shrink, click on open disc, click ok, then select the kind of backup you want from the pulldown menu (iso file, iso and burn, etc.)......if the data can be copied to your hard drive from the DVD, then all you have to do is reburn with a new disc, and you are good for another 5 years or so. Can't guarantee that this will work, but I have noticed a DVD start pixelating and freezing, I will take it out of the player and try to reburn as described above. I have had a decent success rate.

Nice thing about external drives, the information does not degrade, as it is stored magnetically (in the case of standard hard drives).

[ELVIS]

Yeah, DVDs fucking suck...

I'm glad I never stored anything on that rip-off format...

[Nickdfresh]

I ripped all my CD's to WAV. Storage is cheap, and I need not repeat why MP3's are bad, mmkay. :D All of my devices can handle the WAV files. Simply copy and paste and away we go.

All my music is on a 1TB hard drive. Most of that is backed up on an external 1TB drive. I am still downloading bootlegs but not burning them to disc any more.

I had a separate folder for video on that drive but picked up a second 1TB internal and moved all my DL'ed TV shows etc to it.

Apple Lossless is like WAV, only smaller...

[clarathecarrot]

I have a vintage pair of Bose 4.2 series 2 speakers hardly ever used. I am going to hook them up to my computer.

http://www.audiolab.com/Bose_4_2_II_Speakers_pair_p/bos42ii.htm

I am going to use the controller volume etc speaker on my computer desk top set set as the controller and cut and split the wire on the left speaker that still works, and direct that to the the two Bose speakers.

My computer control the right desk top speaker has been blown for a month ( volume control nobs and treble and sub woofer nobs work as does my actuall sub woofer) works fine the left sounds like shit from me driving it so hard.

I know this huge video audio card I put in my computer is just too much for these desk top speakers I keep blowing them up.

There is no way my left channel slpit into two and wired to the two Bose speakers will ever blow up.

How are you guys running your computer sound..?

[clarathecarrot]

As much as I prefer to have CD's, I'm realizing I will eventually have no choice but join the downloading world kicking and screaming.

So I'm begrudgingly going to rip all my CD's and start using an MP3 player for starters.

My hesitation, besides my preference for the tangible CD, has been the thought of losing the MP3 player or it stops working for some reason (they seem fragile to me) and having to start all over again. And there is also the issue of computer crashing and losing my music files and being SOL.

I'm already backing up all my digital photos on CD's or flash drives, and that's a pain in the ass to keep up with! You know sometimes old school is just easier!! LOL

So, I'm guessing the best thing to do is store my files on the Internet? Does anyone here do that? Have you tried the Cloud or is there another you prefer?


How much space does a audio CD take up anyone...a few meg...?

I belive you can store 250 song in a gig of space, so, NG I would recommend buying a bunch of 10 gig zip drives or what is called flash drives and label them for different collections you may have the flash drives are cheap and last a long time.

You will have to run all of your cds into your computer then off to the thumb zip flash drive thingie.

You can also download right of ITunes and such to your thumb/zip/flash drives or off of your audio computer library program.

[jhale667]

I have a set of Tannoy PB8MIIs I need to get re-coned so I can hook them to my computer to use as my main studio monitors... I'm currently using a set of M-Audio BX5a's. Pro Tools stuff sounds pretty cool on them, and one day I ran my total system sounds though them, I was checking out "Dark Knight Rises" or some shit, they sound pretty cool. But the refurbed Tannoys would sound better. I want to eventually get a home theater-type 7.1 system for this machine (for non-recording audio), the sound card will support it...

I also have one of the OWC external adapters that looks like the drives in the link I posted...I'm gonna catch a 2TB drive on sale on TigerDirect.com or next time I'm at Fry's or whatever and use that as a secondary backup. I lost a couple of years worth of work when a drive failed recently, only was able to recover older versions of 12 out of 16 tunes, so I have some re-work to do that I'm not happy about. :mad: But it is what it is. Gonna make sure that never happens again, though. ;)







:guitar:

[Nitro Express]

Pot, man. They will be selling smart joints.


You smoke one, and the molecules contained in the smoke get into your bloodstream, go to your brain and lodge in your cerebral cortex, where they will transmit the entire recorded history of mankind into your skull in about 4 or 5 seconds.

I look forward, man, to smoking the Electron Hash, where they use a dynamically-charged ion cloud in a room full of pot plants, allowing the the atoms in the THC molecules to enter an excited state, and create a trans-dimensional cortex in the midst of your frontal lobe......so that you can become one with God.....


Well, you could do that by just listening to Black Sabbath at 78 speed....

Dude. You need to change your avatar to Thomas Chong instead of Lerch. Your enthusiasm of weed radiates from your posts. I could picture you owning a pot shop being an expert and wild eyed enthusiastically showing the customers this and that.

[jhale667]

Tommy Chong rules. :stoned-smiley:

[clarathecarrot]

The reason I want to keep my right desktop speaker is my ear buds shut the system down completely and it is easy for me to plug in a out depending on wether I want to hear the tune or let my neighbors hear it..lol.

I should cut both wires and just use my software equalizer as a controller ...I am thinking if I have just the left channel hooked to two speaker I will only get the left sound on tunes that shift back and forth between speakers like that crazy seventies Zep or 60 Beatles back and forth recording styles they had...?

Oh the trivials of life!

and my endless wanting to rig shit up with what I got instead of buying the right shit...

[Nitro Express]

I have a vintage pair of Bose 4.2 series 2 speakers hardly ever used. I am going to hook them up to my computer.

http://www.audiolab.com/Bose_4_2_II_Speakers_pair_p/bos42ii.htm

I am going to use the controller volume etc speaker on my computer desk top set set as the controller and cut and split the wire on the left speaker that still works, and direct that to the the two Bose speakers.

My computer control the right desk top speaker has been blown for a month ( volume control nobs and treble and sub woofer nobs work as does my actuall sub woofer) works fine the left sounds like shit from me driving it so hard.

I know this huge video audio card I put in my computer is just too much for these desk top speakers I keep blowing them up.

There is no way my left channel slpit into two and wired to the two Bose speakers will ever blow up.

How are you guys running your computer sound..?

Every product that has ever said Bose on it, I manage to break. It's like some kind of curse. Amplifiers stop working, speakers go bad, the unit won't power up. I stopped buying their stuff after I sent one unit back and got the replacement and it broke a few days later.

[clarathecarrot]

I have had these speakers laying around for over 10 years they are hardly used and used to hang on the wall of my house when i had a zoned wired house .

They want like 500 bucks for a cheap surround system these days and the computer system speakers are a different language than the television ones so you have to buy both or link your computer with your home I just doen't need all of that....and i could choose a wireless et up who gives a fuck.

I am going to find that free with a fill up AM FM transistor 4 inchspuare radio i got back in 1970's it has Dino the Dinosuar on it from Pillips 66 and throw all the rest of my shit out the window..arrgg..


9716

[twonabomber]

Apple Lossless is like WAV, only smaller...

But it's Apple. :D

[twonabomber]

How are you guys running your computer sound..?

Still running the PC out to a Mackie 1202-VLZ. From there to an Alesis RA-100 and Monitor Ones. This machine also has an M-Audio Delta Audiophile sound card, the analog out goes to the next two channels on the mixer.


How much space does a audio CD take up anyone...a few meg...?

I belive you can store 250 song in a gig of space, so, NG I would recommend buying a bunch of 10 gig zip drives or what is called flash drives and label them for different collections you may have the flash drives are cheap and last a long time.


Anywhere from 450 to 600 MB, I'd guess. I have a 16 gig flash drive clipped to my faceplate case, that way it can go between the same model Pioneer head unit in three of my vehicles. 20+ CD's and a folder of random songs, with no skipping.



Here is a tip for old DVDs when they freeze up. Get a program called DVD Shrink v3.2. It will allow you to back a DVD up as an iso or as the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders on the disc.
DVD Decrypter v3.5.4.0 can help in this department as well.


Yup...strip out the other languages and crap you don't want.

And instead of getting caught downloading, do what I do: Redbox...rip...return. :D

[Zing!]

Pot, man. They will be selling smart joints.


You smoke one, and the molecules contained in the smoke get into your bloodstream, go to your brain and lodge in your cerebral cortex, where they will transmit the entire recorded history of mankind into your skull in about 4 or 5 seconds.

I look forward, man, to smoking the Electron Hash, where they use a dynamically-charged ion cloud in a room full of pot plants, allowing the the atoms in the THC molecules to enter an excited state, and create a trans-dimensional cortex in the midst of your frontal lobe......so that you can become one with God.....

Well, you could do that by just listening to Black Sabbath at 78 speed....

Far out solid and right on, man.

[jhale667]

Not to derail, but I'd like to get some speaker stands for my monitors, but then I think: I live in earthquake country. And I have a glass-top desk. Probably not a good idea to have things suspended above nearby that could go flying off said stands... :umm:

Home theater speakers I can tack to the walls...monitors not so much.

[twonabomber]

Could build some simple shelves but if the monitors are ported you probably don't want 'em right up against the wall.

I had built a monitor "bridge" for my desk but I am making a new desk so I got rid of it. Bought a clamp-on monitor arm and right now the M1's are sitting on the desk top with the Mackie underneath the PC monitor. Going to make some boxes with a top to get the M1's up a little.

[ELVIS]

I have had these speakers laying around for over 10 years they are hardly used and used to hang on the wall of my house when i had a zoned wired house .



Power those speakers with a proper receiver and run your computer into one of the inputs and run your headphones from the receiver as well...

[mh5150]

Soooo.....
I do I copy files onto my commadore 64??

[Hardrock69]

I run out of my sound card into an input on a Pioneer/Victrola power amp/receiver, which powers a pair of Tannoy studio monitors.

http://i48.tinypic.com/2s9r686.jpg

[Hardrock69]

Still running the PC out to a Mackie 1202-VLZ. From there to an Alesis RA-100 and Monitor Ones. This machine also has an M-Audio Delta Audiophile sound card, the analog out goes to the next two channels on the mixer.



Anywhere from 450 to 600 MB, I'd guess. I have a 16 gig flash drive clipped to my faceplate case, that way it can go between the same model Pioneer head unit in three of my vehicles. 20+ CD's and a folder of random songs, with no skipping.



Yup...strip out the other languages and crap you don't want.

And instead of getting caught downloading, do what I do: Redbox...rip...return. :D

Yup. Best way, in my opinion.

[Nitro Express]

Even on the more expensive computer speaker setups the power supply seem to be noisy. You can hear the transformer hum a bit. On one set I had it would pick up radio stations. A sign of poor shielding. They were Altec/Lansing speakers too. The switch broke so I went to Radio Shack and put a toggle switch on the top. They sounded fine but with nothing running through, you got the transformer humm and occasionally an AM radio station.

[ashstralia]

i'm not looking forward to transferring 25 years of audio/video to digital.

it's just not my thing.

maybe an intern from sae could get an hd for it? :)

[mh5150]

I have an old Marantz (spelling) amp that has tubes in it . Boy when those tubes warm up still sounds great. But have not hooked it up in a long time.

[Hardrock69]

That thing is worth some bucks, being a vintage tube amp.

[mh5150]

That thing is worth some bucks, being a vintage tube amp.

Its rapped in bubble wrap in a bin in garage. I must get it out. If I am not mistaken its has a quartz dial. Whatever thst means.

[Northern Girl]

i'm not looking forward to transferring 25 years of audio/video to digital

I'm finding it's a good time to just get rid of shit that doesn't mean anything to me anymore! Some things I never get sick of...others can go for good...I'll just play a classic rock station once in a while! LOL

Something cool though...I've purchased a lot of my CD's from Amazon over the years, and they have recently put all of them into THEIR cloud player for me which somehow ties to The Cloud! 327 songs already stored!

[Northern Girl]

I ripped all my CD's to WAV. Storage is cheap, and I need not repeat why MP3's are bad, mmkay. :D All of my devices can handle the WAV files. Simply copy and paste and away we go.

All my music is on a 1TB hard drive. Most of that is backed up on an external 1TB drive. I am still downloading bootlegs but not burning them to disc any more.

I had a separate folder for video on that drive but picked up a second 1TB internal and moved all my DL'ed TV shows etc to it.

What do you play your music on once they are WAV files? I don't really want to listen to music off my computer, unless you can get really good speakers.

Obviously, I can still play the CD's I have on my stereo. I'm just thinking about the future. I know you can get docking stations for Ipods and whatnot, but they look pussy!

[ashstralia]

my stuff is all old 4 tracks and live recordings of bands i've been in over the last 25 years...

just thinking about the monumental task makes me groan. next summer, maybe, i'll lock myself in the studio for a month surfacing occasionally for beer and sushi. :)

[Northern Girl]

Another question...can you download or save youtubes? Didn't Panamark find a site where you could convert them or something?

[ashstralia]

yeah, youtube to mp3 is free and it works; the quality isn't good though.

[ELVIS]

This (http://www.audio-tool.net/products/audiorecorderforfree.html) is a neat thing and it works very well...

And it's free...


:elvis:

[DLR Bridge]

my stuff is all old 4 tracks and live recordings of bands i've been in over the last 25 years...



Have a bit o' that myself. What's the best way to go tape to cd or computer?

[ELVIS]

The link I just posted is the best for tape to CD...

[ashstralia]

i'm gonna put all my stuff onto my zoom mrs 802, so i can still manipulate it later if need be.

[twonabomber]

What do you play your music on once they are WAV files? I don't really want to listen to music off my computer, unless you can get really good speakers.


Most of the time I play 'em in the guitar room, next to my bedroom. It's usually loud enough to hear in the living room, or outside the window in the driveway. I can pull them up on the PS3 or netbook through the network.

I take my netbook (or now, the tablet) out to the garage and stream Sirius out there. Got a small set of speakers in the garage but will be moving an old Kenwood out there eventually.

All my CD's are stored in Rubbermaid bins. Most of the bootlegs are just stacked on a spindle.

[Hardrock69]

I use keepvid.com. You can get anything off youtube with that. Convert videos to mp3. Download video in 240p, 480p, 720p, 1080p in a variety of formats (mp4, flv, mp3, etc.)

Also I use a program called DownloadHelper for downloading videos I find on other pages.

Between those two I can download anything.

And the best allround 2-track audio editor to me is Sound Forge.

I also use Media Player Classic instead of the Windows Media Player. No bloatware. Plays just about any audio or video file.

If I wanna listen to stuff while on the go, walking, doing yardwork or other mindless crap, I just convert the stuff I want to listen to to mp3, and load it up onto a small mp3 player I bought in 2009. About the size of a pack of gum, but holds 2 gigs of mp3s on it. Put on some earbuds, and I away I go.

Of course I can do that with my iPhone if I want, but the mp3 player only weighs an ounce at the most.