To those with Digital Libraries - Some Questions...

@jbhiller 

How do you like get your media? Purchase/Rip

I started off by ripping my CDs.  That was before streaming services existed, and before you could purchase flac files.  When I learned about ponomusic.com (went belly up), I started purchasing flac files.  Then I started purchasing from 7digital.com

How do you store them and access them? 

I store my flac files on my laptop's internal SATA SSD.

It is a ~10 year old i5 laptop, purchased just around the time that NVMe SSDs were becoming all the rage.  But for feeding flac file data to my DAC, that i5 laptop with a SATA SSD was overkill.  I use that laptop for nothing else.

I access my flac files via JRiver's Media Center.

I love that program.  But in the spirit of full disclosure, I have an old version.  JRiver was constantly releasing new versions.  After paying for several upgrades, I realized that I was using nothing new in the upgrades.  I am mentioning this, because I cannot vouch for JRiver's current Media Center version.  But I suspect that it is probably very good.

What have you learned that you wish you learned sooner? 

USB is not a good choice for streaming from a computer to a DAC.  I did it for years, and it sounded very good.  But after going the AES/EBU route, there is no going back.

So my laptop feeds a re-clocking box, via USB, and the re-clocking box feeds my DAC, via AES/EBU.  That was an expensive upgrade, between the re-clocker and the AES/EBU cable.

Like everything in life, prices are all over the place.  The better re-clockers cost more.  The better AES/EBU cables cost more.

One other item I learned, before the re-clocker upgrade:

My laptop was connected directly to my DAC via a mass produced USB cable.  It brought my stereo to its knees.  I replaced that mass produced USB cable with an Audioquest USB cable, and my stereo rewarded me with eargasms.  The re-clocker took the wonderful sound quality to the next level.

The last box that feeds your DAC (the box that is directly connected to your DAC) will have the biggest impact on sound quality.

What type of things make maintaining and using the library better? 

There is nothing for me to maintain.

And if I make a change to a Media Center setting, and I can't figure out how to undo it, I just restore the library.  Media Center dumps the library's settings, each time you use it.  So you just point Media Center to one of those dumps (files) and it will restore all of your settings from whatever was in that file.  You can also manually dump the settings into a file.

Do you see advantages to dealing with a certain format, vendor? 

Avoid lossy formats, such as mp3.

I have mostly flac files and wav files (the latter is not good for metadata, but Media Center has a way of storing the metadata somewhere).

So go with either flac (Windows / Linux) or alac (Apple).  Both will sound identical, because both are lossless, and both will store the exact same pulse code modulated bits, within.  You can convert back and forth, and they will sound identical, because the bits will remain identical.

Backups? I’ve notice Qobuz (maybe others) allow you to always redownload purchased works in case of a crash. "Anti-crash guarantee". 

Rely on no one for backups.

Since you will have the music files on your own computer, copy all of them to an external drive or a flash drive.

If your computer's drive fails, you will not have to download everything from the service, again.

Also, you cannot depend on any service to offer the files, indefinitely.  Several of my purchased flac files are no longer available for me to download from 7digital.  Why?  Who knows?  They did not renew a contract?

But I do not care, because I have the files, and made copies of the files.

Note that playing files that are stored on your own computer should sound better than streaming them -- so I have been told by people that I trust.  I have not confirmed it for myself, because I never connect my laptop to the internet.  I use it for a singular purpose -- to feed my re-clocker / DAC.

I purchase flac files on my daily driver computer, and copy my purchases to my laptop via a USB flash drive.

What I do takes more effort.  But I have peace of mind, and rely on no 3rd parties.

One of these days, I will subscribe to Qobuz, in order to expand my collection into other genres.  And I will probably find better sounding versions of many of my songs.

Wow.  Usually, I jump back into my own posts. Here, you folks provided so much information that I need to digest. 

With regard to sound quality, it does make sense that the less you are moving around bits/data, the better--potentially.  The more machines processing it, the more you increase the chances of noise/gear adding into the equation.  More variables. 

Owning music is a huge plus as well.  

My concern is over organization, process, adding yet another clerical element to my hifi hobby. And questions arise, will I be able to maintain this?  It may sound lazy.  

Owning digital intrigues me again.  I donated about 400 CDs in the 2013 era--kept my vinyl.  Now, I have purchased some discs back and enjoy a CD spin here and there. As wonderful digital streaming is for exploration, it feels impersonal to me and that plays a role in how I use, consume and keep music. 

I recently put some money into my digital side and do appreciate how different topologies and implementations make differences.  

Sorry for the rambling... just still soaking up your excellent responses. 

I appreciate the candor, as well, from those who discuss futzing with things.  I get it--any time you maintain something it takes time, money, engird, patience, and on some level virtue. 

 

 

 

The most important tool for me is the tag editor. MP3Tag is the basis of my library. Without it my library would be a jumbled mess of genre chaos. And I have 100K files on an 8TB SSD in my main HQPlayer Ubuntu music server, as well as on a NAS with Plex for remote streaming.

I mainly get files via downloads these days, particularly from Bandcamp and from Qobuz.

For ripping CDs, I use Foobar at FLAC8. For DVD-Audio, DVD Audio Extractor. For SACD ISOs, Sonore’S ISO2DSD, using Sony’s DSF so that the tags can be edited.

For Blu-rays, I use MakeMKV and start a journey reprocessing via the first MKV to MKAs and MP4s and up to 16-channel WAV-files with decoded ATMOS in them, using MKVToolNix followed by XMediaRecode (for MP4) and MusicMediaHelper, which in turn depends on the Dolby Reference Player for ATMOS into WAV. As a final ATMOS touch, I also like having the MLP files, which I crack out of the MKVs or MKAs via MKVCleaver.

All these except the MLP files go through MP3Tag in the end for tag editing.

Bandcamp is the best source of cover art for me, followed by Amazon (I check across global sites for the right version) and Discogs.

XRecode, with its stellar variety of output formats, including DSD, also should get an honourable mention.

And that is my music file toolkit.

99% of what is in my digital library was ripped from CD's, and I used a $30 external CD drive from Amazon into the Music app on my Mac Studio, and have it backed up in the cloud and in an external drive.

But I don't use it in my main system, which is CD's, LP's, and YouTube vids, only for my desktop system when working in Photoshop, and I just leave it on shuffle; connecting my Mac Studio to my Ruark MR1 V3 powered speakers via USB via PinePlay. Tried Audirvana, which sounded great, but Photoshop is too much of a resource hog and there were constant sound dropouts. 

I'm somewhat confused.  I have what I consider to be a good system that includes Accuphase components - A-48S, C2300, and my newly acquired DC-1000 DAC -  and an Innuos Pulsar Streamer. For 3 days my internet in rural Ontario has been down so I haven't had access to music as streaming is my only source for music.  

I was told by AI that Innuos recommends using WD Red SN700 2TB with a Sabrent EC-SNVE. FWIW, I can get both from Amazon.ca

So basically this is a high-performance solution for external music storage. It's my intention to formulate a local library of curated music. And when the internet is down I'll have music.  So how well does this actually work or should I just buy a CD transport and play cd's and basically start a CD collection.  

Sound quality is critical! I'm hoping someone with experience can jeep direct me.  Thanks