Entertainment For Lively Minds
ATM: where do you keep your computer-based music?
Posted by Fitter Stoke on 8 October 2011 - 10:26pm.
On your computer or laptop?
On a USB hard disc?
On a NAS?
In a storage /playback gadget like the Brennan JB7 or one of the Olives?
Pleased with the result?
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On my desktop PC
...synched to my iPod, and backed up to an external USB drive (which also has an archive of stuff which isn't in my iPod library.)
On
1 x 1.5TB external disc drive (this is the main backup)
4 x 1TB external discs (one of these is the 'using' disc (network drive), one the 'travel', and 2 the spare.)
Numerous DVDs (100+ and counting)
And if it's 'computer only' (I don't have a CD) also on CDs (nearly 300)
Belt, braces, and condom, me.
several places
On a network storage box that fakes being a shared iTunes server (shows up in iTunes on all my devices)
On my desktop mac (iMac) for syncing with my iPhone and iPod
On a time machine backup
I also have a dropbox account that all my purchased MP3s are stored on. Which is kind of dumb. I appear to value purchased MP3s more than ones I ripped from CD. But if I had a house fire, I would lose my CD collection so wouldn't be able to re-rip them anyway.
I am really looking forward to iCloud as a way of completely backing up all my music away from the house.
As I understand it
Doesn't iCloud just back up music you've purchased from iTunes? Not your homemade efforts.
iTunes Match
There's going to be a new feature called iTunes Match ( coming soon ). This is what Apple says about it :
"If you want the benefits of iTunes in the Cloud for music you haven’t purchased from iTunes, iTunes Match is the perfect solution. It’s built right into the iTunes app on your Mac or PC and the Music app on your iOS devices. And it lets you store your entire collection, including music you’ve imported from CDs or purchased somewhere other than iTunes. For just $24.99 a year.2
Here’s how it works: iTunes determines which songs in your collection are available in the iTunes Store. Any music with a match is automatically added to your iCloud library. Since there are more than 20 million songs in the iTunes Store, most of your music is probably already in iCloud. All you have to upload is what iTunes can’t match. Which is much faster than starting from scratch. Once your music is in iCloud, you can stream and store it on any of your devices. Even better, all the music iTunes matches plays back from iCloud at 256-Kbps AAC DRM-free quality — even if your original copy was of lower quality."
There are a number of questions about this, not least that it's not actually your own music you're accessing.
My main gripe about iCloud is that it will mean the end of iDisk which was a great way of sharing music files with friends in Mobile Me. For this reason, I'll be switching to DropBox.
I was wondering about this as well...
I keep several backups of my digitised music "library" both at home and online, but what if, like lots of people, I didn't. What happens if I use iTunes Match and iCloud - the music is all up in the cloud, but then I lose my data from my computer.
Can I download it all from iTunes to restore a disk copy ? Presumably, if I stop paying the annual fee, I can't access any of the music.
I love the idea of cloud services, but something stops me committing to any of them completely, I.e. trusting in a service enough to use it as more than a back up.
On an iMac. Backed up to a hard drive. And an iPod.
But the amount of stuff I listen to from those sources is minimal.
wot 'e sayed
Did you set..
..up my system too ?
Drobo
My main iTunes library (music, movies etc) is stored on a Drobo connected to the iMac via firewire. This is then streamed around the house via Airport Express (for music) and AppleTV (for video).
The Drobo (www.drobo.com) is basically 4 x 2TB drives configured as RAID-5 so that if one drive fails (they will) the data is protected. This configuration gives me 5.5TB of usable capacity, which is currently about 80% full.
I also have a backup copy on 6x 1TB drives in my office desk drawer.
How long have you been using the Drobo?
I've read a lot of fairly alarming accounts of inconsistent behaviour and unexplained failures from these devices - what's your experience been?
No problems
I had a couple of the 4-bay units for 2 to 3 years now (basically i bought the second to use the 4x 1.5T drives I had left over when I upgraded to 2TB drives !).
I know a couple of people with them and all no issues. The company does seem pretty good at support with regular software and firmware updates - they've just updated the firmware to support drives >2TB so with being 80% full I may have to upgrade to some 3TB units. Its convenient working for one of the major disk drive manufacturers.
I have not had a single issue with either of the Drobo units. I had one of the HDD's fail but that was simply a matter of pulling it out and replacing with a new one (it was under warranty) as is the way its supposed to work.
That said, the one thing that still concerns me is the proprietary nature of the Drobo - if the power supply failed for example, then I can't access the data without using another Drobo unit. You can apparently just take the whole lot of drives out, put them in a new one and it should work seamlessly. I have not tested this yet though.......
External USB drive.
2tb LaCie hanging out the back of my Mac Mini, streaming to an Airport Express and an Apple TV for the films and TV.
It'll be a Drobo as soon as I can afford one.
5.5 Terabytes of HDD on the desk, 2.5 Tb inside the PC.
And a huge stack of shiny 5 inch plastic circles called Compact Discs. Anything in the purely digital realm is 'computer-based' really, so they all count too!
4,762 Albums
converted to macrame pot-holders, which not only last longer than compact discs but make your house nice. Plus I backed everything up into a stack of old copies of Health & Efficiency in the allotment shed.
Double Backup
A 1Tbyte USB HD that I play from via Media Monkey on my music laptop.
A 2Tbyte USB HD that I back up to from the 1Tbyte drive automatically once a week.
A 1Tbyte RAID NAS that I also back up to from the 1Tbyte drive on a weekly basis.
I have lots of CDs, vinyl, minidiscs & cassettes that have never been digitised, however. I really should do it and soon.
Windows Home Server
which a really quite neat cheap server if you have a spare desktop you can use, it backs up all PCs in the house and runs mirrored disks for everything, plus a detachable remote disk in the shed (just in case!)
I'm now wondering if I should dump it all and just use Spotify.
Anybody have any success with cloud based storage recently? I tried to use a cloud service a couple of years ago a gave up after trying to upload my MP3s. The slow ADSL upload speed meant that it would have taken a month of non-stop uploading (for around 500Gb at the time).
All over the shop
'Only' 144GB, primarily on a Windows home made desktop; replicated to a home made Windows Media Center; favourites on an MP3 player; stuff I haven't listened to yet on a Windows Phone; podcasts and iTunes purchases on an iPhone....my technology is a pain in the neck (or much lower) to manage.