How do you store/manage all your music files?

[tbp0701]

I'm wondering what everyone is doing to keep music files, both ours and listening. Dedicated hard drive? Using a hard drive / server? Just resorted to streaming for listening files? I mostly have mine on a laptop, but its hard drive is about full. I also have an old Macbook hooked up to a stereo. I have an external hard drive, but only connect it for backups.

 

[alantig]

CDs. Physical product is still my #1 choice. Some vinyl, but I don't buy downloads unless I have no other choice, and even then, I have to really want it. Other than that, everything gets ripped to my iPod Touch (and I still have to transfer my old iPod Classic library to a newer Touch).

 

[bodia]

All of mine is on my PC. I keep the music folder on one drive, backup folder on a 2nd internal drive and another backup on an external drive. I used to be one of those people that had to have the physical object. But, 3,000 CDs takes up a lot of space that is better suited for other things. Ripped them all to my PC and took the CDs to Disc Replay. I don't do streaming services. I'll put tunes on my phone for headphone listening while walking the pooch. Through my monitors while I'm working (at home). No CD player in the last two vehicles I've had, so from the phone while driving also.

 

[Tone-y]

I have all my CDs ripped to my laptop, I also have them all on harddrive stored in a fireproof safe box. And just for good luck I have them all on a memory stick in the car. It's really only in the car that I listen to them though as I just stream music when I'm in the laptop

 

[alantig]

I have all my CDs ripped to my laptop, I also have them all on harddrive stored in a fireproof safe box. And just for good luck I have them all on a memory stick in the car. It's really only in the car that I listen to them though as I just stream music when I'm in the laptop

I'm still working out the memory stick in the car thing. The first pass didn't go so well, so next up is trying to copy the library a different way.

 

[nac]

I gave up and went streaming. Family subscription, customizable playlists, no ad's. It's easy. I still have a HD full o' tunes but I just got tired of have to deal with it.

 

[tbp0701]

I still have a mix of CDs and LPs, but I have ripped or digitized nearly all of them. One of the reasons I'm running out of hard drive space. I remember seeing a hard drive server a while ago and wondered if it would work.

Much of what I buy new these days is digital, mostly from BandCamp. But I still buy used CDs and LPs on occasion, like an order I just got today from a Discogs seller. While transferring them I was looking at my limited hard drive space and wondered what others are using.

 

[veinbuster]

All my own music is on my laptop, and 3 backup drives in different places.

Stuff I’ve bought was copied from CD to iTunes where I organized it by style (how I think of each song rather than nominal musical genre). When travelling I use the iTunes playlists from an iPod (or my phone if I forget the iPod).

 

[Tone-y]

I'm still working out the memory stick in the car thing. The first pass didn't go so well, so next up is trying to copy the library a different way.

Ah my car is easy, usb slot in the centre console, drop your collection onto a stick, plug it into the car and that's it.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I name them all “Untitled Song” to keep them together in one place.

 

[alantig]

Ah my car is easy, usb slot in the centre console, drop your collection onto a stick, plug it into the car and that's it.

That part is easy. It’s the file structure that seems to give my car fits. Like it chokes on how much music is there.

 

[Moondog Wily]

Sergio is onto something there! Untitled Song/Various artist is the best way to ensure you don't loose anything!!

I have never subscribed to a streaming service and have no intention of doing so. That is what they want you to do though! It is what is known in the accounting world as recurring revenues ;~))

When I get a new CD (I think all I bought last year was a few newly released Zappa CD's), I rip it to computer, scan all artwork (including disasembling case to get back cover artwork out for clean scan if necessary), and then make a external drive back up as well as remote location back up.

For my project music, all is on a SSD drive that I can take wherever I go, and also have backups of that on another external drive as well as copy at remote location. I use my phone (Motorola 5G Ace) the most for listening to music (captured music). I have a 256GB removable chip in the phone (128GB internal) and have about 20,000 songs on it. Total music collection on drives is about 100,000 songs. Sold my LP's in 2010 (wish I did not have to and lost some gems in the process). Had to toss most of my CD's because they got covered in mold in boxes that were in garage. Probably could have cleaned them all, but already have them all captured, so did not see the point.

Remember all (and some of you have already indicated you are in compliance with this), good backup is one copy on main machine, one copy on external drive/medium and one copy at remote location. Fire safe is great, but some disasters (huricanes, tornadoes, floods, sinkholes, robbery, etc.) are not going to leave that safe where it now is, so it is not total protection.

 

[markd21]

I gave up and went streaming. Family subscription, customizable playlists, no ad's. It's easy. I still have a HD full o' tunes but I just got tired of have to deal with it.

Me too.

 

[Bogner]

I'm still working out the memory stick in the car thing. The first pass didn't go so well, so next up is trying to copy the library a different way.

Make CD Players In Vehicles Great Again.

 

[Bogner]

I Am All For Having The Product In Hand. I Copy It To An External Drive From There And Then Put Some On iPhone And iPod For My Compressed Listening Pleasure.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Ah my car is easy, usb slot in the centre console, drop your collection onto a stick, plug it into the car and that's it.

I have to unplug and re-plug a stick every time I start my car (Honda) and it always started at the first song.

I finally gave up and went streaming.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Make CD Players In Vehicles Great Again.

I much prefer my wife’s Civic with a CD player. It’s always a hassle to wait for my car’s head unit to warn me, load up, select “source” and and then drive five minutes to the store.

 

[tbp0701]

I have a CD player in my car, a 2012 Mazda, but have rarely used it since getting a phone with Bluetooth. Yet outside of the car (or when doing yardwork while wearing headphones), I still prefer listening to a complete album rather than shuffling.

 

[dmatthews]

I let Spotify do it for me.
Anything I record or get from others is on my 1TB SSD and synced with cloud.

 

[László]

I'm wondering what everyone is doing to keep music files, both ours and listening. Dedicated hard drive? Using a hard drive / server? Just resorted to streaming for listening files? I mostly have mine on a laptop, but its hard drive is about full. I also have an old Macbook hooked up to a stereo. I have an external hard drive, but only connect it for backups.

I have a lot of HD files (24 bit, 96 KHz) and keep all my music on a dedicated USB C SSD in my studio rig. I can't stand listening to mp3 files or the streaming stuff, except for a few high-res sites.

But mostly I don't listen to this stuff for casual listening, it's to hear details in what various mixes are like so I can reference mine.

In addition I have separate 4TB thunderbolt 4 SSDs for original music I'm working on, and for sample libraries I use in orchestral scoring.

And...I'm almost out of disk space, which sucks since the SSDs are super-high speed and expensive.

"You probably didn't need the most expensive option."

"I always need the most expensive option. Because I'm so freaking special!"

"Says who?"

"Hang on, let me consult my Ouija Board for an answer."

"Says my grandma."