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Post by Adrian on Feb 22, 2006 9:03:22 GMT -5
Here's an issue I'm throwing out to get some input.
I've been wondering about how to manage storing my shows and songs in the long run. At some point in time, I can see myself relocating again, and I don't really want to be dealing with boxes and boxes of cd's and jewel cases if I can help it. As you know, with the passage of time, all of us will end up with more and more shows. I've thought about various mediums of storage but none of them are perfect.
PC: With the amount of shows I have, I am probably thinking of getting an external drive. Even if I could possibly save them all in mp3 format, there's the possibility of a crash, and then what?
MP3 discs: Heard that the music quality is somewhat lower than a regular CD, but maybe not discernable to the ears depending on the sensitivity of the audio system one has. It may also be useful as a backup in case the hard drive crashes. But I will have to get an mp3 player, and with Ipods gaining popularity and regular cd's still being the standard medium, how long will mp3 technology last?
Regular CDs: This is the current form I have right now. But they require jewel cases and physical space if you have the expense. And a good back if you're planning to move.
Ipods?: Don't know much about them, but I suppose they can store radio shows? Being a klutz, I'm not sure if I want to save all my shows on one small machine. What if I accidentally drop it?
I am thinking about switching my shows to mp3 discs, but don't want to embrace a technology that I don't know much about or may not last long. Obviously, you can tell I'm no audiophile so any suggestions would be helpful.
Or maybe I should just conduct a poll to see how people are storing or plan to store their shows in the long run? ;D
Adrian
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Post by BrettVW on Feb 22, 2006 10:03:37 GMT -5
I would stick with the CD method for now. You can, of course, store radio shows onto an i-Pod or MP3 player, but then that is the only way to listen to the shows. With CD's, you have virtually any stereo system, PC/Mac computer, and virtually any car stereo. If space is really that much of an issue....perhaps you could pick up either paper CD sleeves or the space-saver slim jewel cases.
Hope this helps!!
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nenad
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Post by nenad on Feb 22, 2006 18:26:13 GMT -5
Here's a review of the media you are wondering about (I work with IT and am both interested and used to the technology and usage): + pros - cons ? to think about... PC external drive:+ good, lots of space (!) meaning you will be able to store lots of shows, nower days quite mobile and due to standardized usb or firewire ports you will be able to connect it to any PC (or computer) around - risk of crash! need of backup! Regular (audio)CDs:+ standard, you can play them "everywhere" - takes a lot of space, as the storage is reduced to 80 min per CD ? noone really knows how good CD-R's are and how long optical media can last, so there's certain risk that shows get deleted(!) ** MP3 CD-R's:+ at high qulity compression rates you don't lose on quality, and can store double as much comparing to regular audio CDs, the format is gaining popularity so most of nower days DVD players plays these discs, meaning you can play them on your hifi system, even mp3 car systems units are released in large amount today... check the mp3 compatible DVD player list on "videohelp.com" www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers?DVDname=&Search=Search&mp3=1&dvdportable=&dvdchanger=&dvdtv=&chipset=&country=&orderby=Name&hits=25&Submit2=Search- loss of quality at lower compression rates ? same as audio CD-R MP3 DVD+/-R+ same as CD-R, but can store up to 4.7Gb (10-15 shows) on single layer discs and 8.4Gb (20-25 shows) on dual layer discs (depending on compression of course). great backup media (see external harddrive and mp3 players) - not compatible with so many dvd-players at this point, playable mostly only on computers ? see CD-R's Here's the list of DVD-MP3 compatible DVD players: www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers?DVDname=&Search=Search&dvdmp3=1&dvdportable=&dvdchanger=&dvdtv=&chipset=&country=&orderby=Name&hits=25&Submit2=SearchIpods/MP3 players+ mobile (small) units, with (quite) large amount of storage space, depending on compression rate(!) you can connect them to your existing hifi system and use as normal hifi unit - non-harddrive players (memory based) cannot store that much data, I think I have seen 2Gb at most. Even here there's a good risk of harddrive crash, meaning you need to backup using optical media. All in all: Todays technology changes rapidly, meaning it is impossible to be on a safe side! Personally, I started w/ audio CDs (3 discs per show) but today I burn mp3 CDs (w/ 192 kHz which is good quality or 224 kHz high quality compression I store 2 shows on one disc), saves me both time and space (and not to forget, money)... I have Panasonic DVD player S75 which plays mp3 discs and with double remaster function in it I get real good sound quality at 96 kHz stereo on my hifi system:) I even have car stereo with mp3 playback, so IMHO mp3 works perfect... As long as you have a computer and a mp3 player and encoder in it, you will be able to convert or reconvert to future formats if it comes to a change (which I am sure, sooner or later will happen)... next dvd generation s.c. blue-ray and HD DVD media is on its way, there's talk about mp4 format, so, hmmmm, just decide whatever is most suitable your needs and/or your budget! Hope this helps, cheers! /Nenad.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2006 18:54:43 GMT -5
My only advice is DO NOT store them on your computer. If you do and never transfer them over, you will inevitably experience what I have twice...the loss of them all. And a third time, some ahole just trashed all my cd's
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Post by cdman71031 on Feb 22, 2006 22:49:54 GMT -5
My word to the Wise is not to use MP3 discs have a friend that tryed that for his car and between every track seemed to be a tiny space. If your recording the shows with each segment as one track them maybe this won't bother you. But my friend Andew Caraner make the disc the way Iseem to be used to them with each songs as a seperate track and you will get a spacein between each hit that wau also you must number the discs carfully as MP3 chooses the running order formyou and does not let you choosew the order yourself
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Post by Adrian on Feb 23, 2006 7:17:07 GMT -5
Thanks to all who replied. It's not a project that I plan to do any time soon, and I know if I wait for a while, there's always going to be something better and more perfect that will come along. Of course, the $64 zillion question always is: when. But that is something I will have to deal with.
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nenad
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Post by nenad on Feb 23, 2006 14:14:01 GMT -5
My word to the Wise is not to use MP3 discs have a friend that tryed that for his car and between every track seemed to be a tiny space. If your recording the shows with each segment as one track them maybe this won't bother you. But my friend Andew Caraner make the disc the way Iseem to be used to them with each songs as a seperate track and you will get a spacein between each hit that wau also you must number the discs carfully as MP3 chooses the running order formyou and does not let you choosew the order yourself Yes, thanks for this comment! I forgot to mention that... MP3 discs (CD-R or DVD) you will need to rip and convert shows in segments and not songs, because of the unability of the players (most common standalone ones) can't handle 2 secs pause inbetween files.
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Post by Radioman on Feb 24, 2006 4:08:52 GMT -5
I'd like to give you some personal comments here too. Nenad and the other guys gave you an excellent overview what's good and what's not these days.
In my opinion CD-R's are a very good and reliable media to store your data, as long you go not with the cheapest no name products on the market. But most of the CD-R's are OK these days, not like in the early days with that green dye, wich has a very short lifetime. CDs in general have a more than 20 year history, even it is a bit shorter for CD-R's. I have no CD or CD-R that quit the job, not even the ones from 20 years ago.
But on that same point I'd like to advise you to be careful when using DVD's (any). There is no guarantee they will keep your data save for a long time. Experiences are that even very good DVD's can't be read by any drive after 2 years or so. Keep your hands away from DVD's !!! This media is technically NOT finished, also because of too many different standards. You can use DVD's as a temporary backup, but never as the main storage for important data.
Everything on an external or internal Hard Disk Drive needs at least one mirror, better two ....... The Backup should be non-permanent connected with your system, in case of any crash, virus or whatever ......
And one more word on the compression side: If any audiophile compresses Audio-Files smaller than 224 kbit MP3, then he should go straight into jail ! Most of the regular audio codecs make destructive compression. Once you lost the quality, you can never get it back ! Of course you can use lossless codecs like FLAC, but the compression and handling is not that good. Also there is very few hardware to play these files. So PLEASE when handling "lost gold" like old radio programmes, use MP3 224 or better 320 !!! It's destructive too, but acceptable to the human ears, also when converted back to CD-Audio. Never use 128 or 160 kbit !!! It's horrible and you can put these great stuff into trash !
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Post by Shadoe Fan on Feb 26, 2006 10:38:39 GMT -5
So PLEASE when handling "lost gold" like old radio programmes, use MP3 224 or better 320 !!! It's destructive too, but acceptable to the human ears, also when converted back to CD-Audio. Never use 128 or 160 kbit !!! It's horrible and you can put these great stuff into trash ! So this means when I buy tracks online and they come in at 128kbit, I'm being ripped off on quality?
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nenad
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Post by nenad on Mar 2, 2006 15:15:30 GMT -5
So PLEASE when handling "lost gold" like old radio programmes, use MP3 224 or better 320 !!! It's destructive too, but acceptable to the human ears, also when converted back to CD-Audio. Never use 128 or 160 kbit !!! It's horrible and you can put these great stuff into trash ! So this means when I buy tracks online and they come in at 128kbit, I'm being ripped off on quality? Well, this really really depends... 128kB is really the lowest you should compress, when talking about mp3s... 160kB is actually a budget compression! This as well depends on the conversion (whether it's done at CustomBitRate - always at one solid rate - or VariableBitRate - it compresses silent parts more and parts with more data less)... it's actually possible to hear quality loss at 128k, a bit harder at 160k... so, if you are an audiophile, I agree with "Radioman", don't convert at lower rates... 192 should be as low you should go! This is talking about mp3s. There are many other formats (wma is microsofts format which is mostly recognized by the market today, after mp3), some of them give you possiblity to convert without losing quality (s.c. lossless codecs), but on the other hand they're not supported by commercial hardware today (f.e. flac, ogg, monkey audio...) There's a simple rule... "sh*T in will be always sh*T out"! You cannot make good CD audio from bad mp3 or wma. There's a way that you can make it sound a bit better, by resampling it! ...if your player has a resampling (remastering) functionallity. It will result in a more crisp sound, but it will (still) not be as perfect as a original source (CD audio)! Unfortunatelly, the market today and the youngsters of this day and age are mostly interested in (producing and using) mobility and portabilty of the product (as much as possible at so little space as possilbe), so "noone" really cares any more about the quality (rather the quantity ).
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