Music Formats

mattcullen

Most of my music collection is made of CDs which I play through and amp and decent speakers. Space is becoming an issue. ANyone any suggestions on my options for a new set up where I can still have decent sound quality? (not into mps3)

The Nal

mattcullen wrote: »

Most of my music collection is made of CDs which I play through and amp and decent speakers. Space is becoming an issue. ANyone any suggestions on my options for a new set up where I can still have decent sound quality? (not into mps3)

Get a few of these and ditch the CD boxes



Or get a Chromecast and sign up to Spotify or (for much better sound quality) Tidal.

squawker

CD to FLAC Ripper

Install Plex media server

Done

mattcullen

Thanks all,

If I Rip to FLAC, then I need to play all my music through a laptop or PC yeah? And hook up laptop to amp?
I use chromecast for streaming from laptop to TV but how could it be used to stream from laptop if using am and speakers?

squawker

mattcullen wrote: »

If I Rip to FLAC, then I need to play all my music through a laptop or PC yeah? And hook up laptop to amp?

nope, with Plex media server you can access on any Internet connected device

You will need a Plex server server running, the cheapest way is to get a Raspberry Pi and install Plex Media Server on it

Then attach a removable hard drive or USB stick with your FLAC collection and let Plex scan the library

you can use a PC for your media server but the Pi is very low wattage and cheap to have always on

CalamariFritti

I looked into that Plex thing. What I don't like about it you need an account and without an account nothing goes. I don't want my files on the internet (I know they're not public) and I dont want some company indexing my media files. Yes I have trust issues. None of this is needed to organise my local CD collection. It's just another company grabbing as much data as they can on you to try to sell you 'premium' services by the looks of it.

squawker

lol, does that tin foil hat ever get itchy?

https://www.plex.tv/about/privacy-legal/

as for Plex "selling" you premium services is nonsense, its completely free (even though I bought a lifetime subscription to support the devs)

they don't "index" your files, this is done locally on your server with Metadata scraped from Gracenote / Lastfm / Discogs

CalamariFritti

Yes it may sound paranoid but like I said I have trust issues. Companies like that are only a court order or change in direction away from re-writing their T&C's and operating procedures.

I fail to see why I have to connect to a company with a subscription account at all for organising my local CD collection. I'd rather just pay for a good program and be done with it.

The Nal

So what are you trying to do exactly? Rip all your CDs and have them available to you wherever? Across multiple devices etc?

Or are you just looking for a new way to listen to music?

Whats wrong with streaming?

CalamariFritti

The Nal wrote: »

So what are you trying to do exactly? Rip all your CDs and have them available to you wherever? Across multiple devices etc?

Or are you just looking for a new way to listen to music?

Whats wrong with streaming?

Ye have most of them ripped already. Want a nice organiser that also feeds into my AVR. The choice was either Plex on the playstation or Kodi on an android box. I went with the latter.

Not only does Plex need a subscription but you also need a Plex server. Thats on top of the NAS/DNLA server that I already have with my fritzbox. Which Kodi is perfectly happy with.

Streaming is ok but I have all that stuff already why stream it again? I'm so yesterday I guess.

As to the OP: I'd flac them (or mp3 320) put them on a drive and use kodi on a little android box for an on screen catalogue and as a player inputting into the AVR. Thats practically what my current setup looks like and it works vey well. If you have a little movie collection it will do the same for them.

The Nal

CalamariFritti wrote: »

Ye have most of them ripped already. Want a nice organiser that also feeds into my AVR. The choice was either Plex on the playstation or Kodi on an android box. I went with the latter.

Streaming is ok but I have all that stuff already why stream it again? I'm so yesterday I guess.

As to the OP: I'd flac them (or mp3 320) and use kodi for an on screen catalogue.

Thats a lot of hassle. Sign up to Tidal HiFi for a trial. Its free and does all that for you. And you can access it anywhere.

I played around with various ways for a few years as you're exploring - Kodi, Raspberry Pi, a server etc - but its just hassle. Time to accept that CDs (and DVDs) are dead I suppose. Remove the clutter and go with the best quality streaming service.

squawker

The Nal wrote: »

Sign up to Tidal HiFi for a trial..

€20 a month :eek:

think I will continue ripping my own Vinyl and CDs from Discogs

don't fancy giving a streaming service €240 a year and nothing to show for it

(if anyone wants a look at my Plex library, PM me)

The Nal

squawker wrote: »

€20 a month :eek:

think I will continue ripping my own Vinyl and CDs from Discogs

don't fancy giving a streaming service €240 a year and nothing to show for it

(if anyone wants a look at my Plex library, PM me)

You have unlimited access to high quality music anywhere to show for it.

The Masters section is beautiful. Considering I used to spend €300 ish on CDs a month, €20 all you can eat is a bargain.

squawker

The Nal wrote: »

You have unlimited access to high quality music anywhere to show for it.

you mean for as long as you pay the Sub

give me my own built music collection anyday

my3cents

Might be relevant here? I've noticed that some of the better downloads I get are flac files and include an ISO of the original CD so if there is some future change in technology you can rip the ISO to whatever the new format is.

HDD space is getting cheaper and HDD's are getting larger so I don't think thats such a bad idea.

The Nal

squawker wrote: »

you mean for as long as you pay the Sub

give me my own built music collection anyday

Tidal/Spotify etc have between 30 and 50 million tracks. Doubt you have that many in your CD rack!

Vinyl aside, physical music is dead folks. As are physical movies and the need for hard drives.

Let it go.

squawker

The Nal wrote: »

Tidal have 48 million tracks

and what that's got to do with it?

Fact is with a streaming service, you will need to pony up your subscription fee for the rest of your life

Tidal could go under tomorrow, at least my FLACs are safely backed up and are mine forever

seachto7

The Nal wrote: »

Get a few of these and ditch the CD boxes



Or get a Chromecast and sign up to Spotify or (for much better sound quality) Tidal.

I have these for my CDs, but the thing is I still have my sleeves stored in the CD cases in the attic

I've stopped buying CDs en masse. Only buy the odd few now.


I had started a vinyl collection but don't see the point... It's taking up more space.

seachto7

The Nal wrote: »

Tidal/Spotify etc have between 30 and 50 million tracks. Doubt you have that many in your CD rack!

Vinyl aside, physical music is dead folks. As are physical movies and the need for hard drives.

Let it go.

I also have 1000s of songs on a hard drive to go with my CDs.

The Nal

squawker wrote: »

Tidal could go under tomorrow, at least my FLACs are safely backed up and are mine forever

If they go under you can transfer everything, all playlists etc, to another streaming service. Using something like this.

https://soundiiz.com/

FLACs sitting on a hard drive are no good if you want to listen to them on a beach in Spain. Or if you want to switch from listening on your phone to your amp at the click of a button. You can sign in from anywhere, on anyones device and have your music library to hand. You can even download music to your device for offline playback.

I've explored all the routes and held off for as long as I could but theres no getting away from streaming being by far the best option. Otherwise you'll be dicking about with hard drives (which will fail), virtual media servers, buggy media players and so on.

seachto7 wrote: »

I also have 1000s of songs on a hard drive to go with my CDs.

As did I. Threw the hard drive in the bin. Less clutter. They were all available on streaming.

squawker

The Nal wrote: »

FLACs sitting on a hard drive are no good if you want to listen to them on a beach in Spain

I can listen to them anywhere I want with Plex

and costs me absolutely nothing

beauf

You get to explore more music with a streaming service. I still a library of my old ripped CDs and older. But I was finding myself in a musical rut. Between youtube and streaming I discover a lot of new music especially new bands.

seachto7

The Nal wrote: »

Thats a lot of hassle. Sign up to Tidal HiFi for a trial. Its free and does all that for you. And you can access it anywhere.

I played around with various ways for a few years as you're exploring - Kodi, Raspberry Pi, a server etc - but its just hassle. Time to accept that CDs (and DVDs) are dead I suppose. Remove the clutter and go with the best quality streaming service.

I wonder would it even be possible to sell a collection of CDs now? I have a bunch of live concert dvds as well, and am half tempted to keep them all. If I ever "settle" somewhere, I'll be able to sit and fire on CDs , same as vinyl...

The Nal

seachto7 wrote: »

I have these for my CDs, but the thing is I still have my sleeves stored in the CD cases in the attic

I chucked mine in the bin. Awful format.

seachto7 wrote: »

I had started a vinyl collection but don't see the point... It's taking up more space.

Vinyl is the best sound available.

beauf wrote: »

You get to explore more music with a streaming service. I still a library of my old ripped CDs and older. But I was finding myself in a musical rut. Between youtube and streaming I discover a lot of new music especially new bands.

Yeah a huge benefit. Theres bands I love and gigs I've seen that have only happened because of streaming services.

seachto7 wrote: »

I wonder would it even be possible to sell a collection of CDs now? I have a bunch of live concert dvds as well, and am half tempted to keep them all. If I ever "settle" somewhere, I'll be able to sit and fire on CDs , same as vinyl...

Oh yeah keep the concert DVDs! For various licensing laws etc you'll probably never find versions as good online.

CD boxes are horrible pieces of plastic though that take up loads of space.

I'm settled in the gaff now and have the CDs in shelves on the wall but haven't touched them for 5 years apart from switching a few out in the car.

seachto7

You chucked your CDs in the bin? Or the cases?

The Nal

seachto7 wrote: »

You chucked your CDs in the bin? Or the cases?

Sorry, I chucked the DVD cases in the bin. As above, I've the CDs in their cases on shelving but we're moving and they're going in the bin too. Will keep the CDs in a few wallets in the attic. Couldn't bring myself to chuck them.

Only advice I can give is to give Spotify or Tidal (if you have a decent setup) a go. Its a free trial with no obligation to continue.

squawker

beauf wrote: »

You get to explore more music with a streaming service

I use

https://www.music-map.com to find similar artists/music I like

Found lots of great stuff using this site

beauf

CD's are worth nothing. Can't give them away. Only use them if I'm using the car which still has a CD player, or some CD players in the house.

The Nal

squawker wrote: »

I use

https://www.music-map.com to find similar artists/music I like

Found lots of great stuff using this site

Feel like I've shares at this stage but Spotify in particular do this very well for you based on what you listen to. The Discover playlist on a Monday morning is a thing of joy.

seachto7

I couldn’t see myself throwing out the cases but can see how it would practical to just keep the discs.
I’m on Spotify as well

dr.fuzzenstein

The Nal wrote: »

I chucked mine in the bin. Awful format.

Absolutely not. At 44100 kHz, 16 bits still superior to mp3 or streaming (which is mostly 128 kbits), so no reason to chuck them.
My CDs are sitting on a Pi that makes them available via DLNA or Samba. There's flac, wav and mp3. And mp3 is easily the second or third worst format, but they're handy on the go or in the car. You won't hear the difference.
The worst format actually is tape cassette.
Every device in my household picks that up.
A copy sits on a memory stick connected to my Android head unit in the car, so I have them on the go.

Vinyl is the best sound available.

I find that a bit of a "man down the pub told me" myth. Vinyl has a terrible signal to noise ratio compared to CDs. People go on about the "warm, analog sound", but nobody knows that that comes from the analog master tape. You can digitise an old master tape and it will sound stunning. You can take some new, mostly digital music and slam it on vinyl and it will sound terrible.
Besides, modern vinyl is most likely a digital file scratched into a master anyway. At the end of the day it's a generational copy that adds hiss, crackle, pops and signal degradation.
So, the best sound available is an analog magnetic master tape. Very, very good, but hugely impractical on the move.