If I had to do it over again...
1. I think I'd be more diligent about filling in album release date information when ripping.
2. While I organized later rips as:
[Drive:]/My Music/[Artist]/[Album]/[Trk_Title].wav
I really should have done:
[Drive:]/My Music/[Artist]/[Date]/[Album]/[Trk_Title].wav
3. When ripping compilations, I really should have put them in a separate /compilations directory--the large number of Artists I have with only one song makes the directory structure ugly.
Good luck! |
I didn't actually use iTunes to rip, but EAC has something I'm guessing is similar--"Various Artists Naming." FBOW, it drops the tracks into the same artist/album/song.wav format, but that results in a large number of directories that are populated with one folder with one song.
Redoing the kitchen can put buying stereo equipment to shame... Next time, I'm skipping the stainless (too hard to keep fingerprints off), going for a bigger fridge (new fridges allow you to keep lots in the doors, but try refrigerating a turkey while its brining in a large stockpot), building a separate espresso machine area with plumbed in lines and built-in knockbox opening over a trashcan, putting an outlet every foot on the splash, and definitely going for a walk-in pantry. The concrete countertops came out nicely tho'.
Good luck. |
Hmm. I was hoping there was a way to do it with iTunes, but I couldn't find that option. Are you using iTunes 5.0? Half the problem is that with Apple's overscan, I can't see the menu bar on the top. I had that fixed for a while with Panther, because it gave me a new "no overscan" option when it recognized my TV/monitor, but then I hooked the whole shebang up to an HDMI switcher, Panther decided my display was no longer a TV, and the "no overscan" option disappeared. Aie. Anyway, maybe I didn't get the choice b/c I didn't have anything selected.
Yeah, I agree about the conversion times. It took 45 mins for Applescript to convert the directory info into tags, and mp3 compression is going to take even longer. I figured I'd start it up and let it run for a couple days. The mac doesn't get much use beyond running iTunes anyway.
Hadn't thought about the management of the files. I was going to put them on a separate directory on a file server I have. I thought, for some reason, you could have them in the library but choose to "show" only mp3s or wavs as the case may be. In any event, thanks for the help. I'll dig through iTunes once again. |
Well, I pieced it together. There is a line item under one of the top menu selections that previously read "Convert to WAV", but I found that if you go into the advanced preferences, you can change the preferred encoding the "mp3" or "AAC" or whatever. That is great, I can mass convert a bunch of selected files.
In terms of references to multiple libraries, why not just use the playlist feature as a sorting mechanism? I took the library of WAVs and turned it into a playlist called "All WAVs." I'll go back to the whole library when its finished converting to create a second playlist called "All mp3s." Rudimentary library management, but it should work.
But, I have another problem! Since all my files are on a server, iTunes puts a "!" in the library next to each file name until you double click to play the file. Its like some cautionary note that it doesn't know whether the file exists or not. If you double click to play it, iTunes will use the password on your "keychain" to pull it off the server, and the "!" goes away. The problem is that for whatever reason, asking it to convert does *not* cause iTunes to use the keychain to get to the file, and it simply ignores files with the "!". Any idea whether there is a simple way to force iTunes to verify access to the file? Playing all 15K songs will take me (according to iTunes) 40 days. |
Kennyt-
Thanks, but I figured out what the problem was. If I log into the server before starting iTunes, the "!"s don't appear. Its only if iTunes starts before its logged into the server. I started AAC compression of all the files last night at about 7PM, and I figure it will take about 3-4 days to convert all 15000 songs. I don't think I've ever had a computer processing anything for 85 hours straight... |
Its been running now for about 42 hours and is slightly less than half done... |
The ripping to .wav files took months. The mac just finished converting the .wav files to .aac--took about 100 hours... |
I'll agree with you on the built-in espresso machines--never saw one that I wanted. I'm running a Salvatore semi-auto. I manually fill it and manually empty the tray, but think the whole plumbed in lines thing would be cool... I just want a little dedicated area for it.
BTW, if you don't already have one, a good dosing burr grinder is a must have.
Kitchen sounds great. You have my sympathies on the trips to Tiff's--I got engaged back in May (cha-ching!) and will be getting married next May, so I'm bleeding money to wedding vendors... |
I like the idea of the coffee machine next to the bed... Maybe the thing to do is to put the espresso station in the master bathroom or something, as long as the toilet is in a separated area... Hmmm...
I actually don't drink that much in the way of pure espresso--my g/f gets cappucinos and I drink americanos. Basically a strong cuppa joe--double shot of espresso topped off with a bit of water. You still get some nice crema on top and the flavor is better than drip joe. The pressure system actually somehow contrives to extract w/o the acids present in a gravity drip. The most important part, however, is getting a good roaster. Luckily, I've got a shop nearby that does a nice full city roast w/o the burnt flavor you get off of anything starbux makes.
Good luck weathering the storm. Remember to unplug the stereo gear. |
Have you ever tried cold extracted coffee? During the summertime, that is probably my drink of choice. Basically, you let about 9 cups of water sit in a pound of ground coffee for about 24 hours, and then filter it several times--Toddy makes a device that simplifies the process. Put a couple ounces in a tall glass, fill up with milk, and its a great drink. It is a concentrate, however, so a little goes a long way. Funny thing is that with the cold filtering process, none of the acids leech into the coffee, so you actually get a really good coffee flavor. |
