Hi all, as I have set up an old laptop + USB disk (500G) as file/print-server, I've started to rip our 800+ CD collection on there. The idea is to have the collection available for multiple clients : Squeezebox via SlimServer (which will be running 24/7 on the laptop), my wife's iPod and our XBox 360.
I therefore already decided to go for MP3 (VBR 320kbps) rather than FLAC.
Currently this is my workflow :
* Rip and Encode via EAC+AccurateRip+LAME. Before starting the rip, I review the tags in EAC (since quite often there are some typos in the cddb source data) and correct where necessary.
* Then in WMP, I add the album art (I just look via Google for the best quality cover images) which apparently embeds the images inside the MP3s.
* As a result of the embedding, the artwork is then also available when I add the album's directory into iTunes.
The main issue I currently have is performance:
* Ripping/Encoding typically takes up to half an hour per CD. Also my Windows PC is not quite responsive during that process.
* Adding the art in WMP again is very slow, taking up to 15' per CD. I suspect this is due to the fact that WMP embeds the images in the MP3 files which all reside on the network fileserver. Again WMP is anything but responsive during this process.
* Finally, adding in iTunes (which I do on my wife's XP laptop) again is pretty slow as it seems to analyze the embedded album art and then again goes through all MP3s for retrieving some information related to gapless playback ?!
Anyway, my main question is whether there are some steps in the process that I could do better/quicker.
Additionally, I have a small issue with SlimServer. Apparently there are a few albums already for which it cannot display the album art. But rather than showing the gray folder icon that it shows when it does not have the album art, it shows this icon with a black square background. Any idea why it does that ?
Tnx!
I therefore already decided to go for MP3 (VBR 320kbps) rather than FLAC.
Currently this is my workflow :
* Rip and Encode via EAC+AccurateRip+LAME. Before starting the rip, I review the tags in EAC (since quite often there are some typos in the cddb source data) and correct where necessary.
* Then in WMP, I add the album art (I just look via Google for the best quality cover images) which apparently embeds the images inside the MP3s.
* As a result of the embedding, the artwork is then also available when I add the album's directory into iTunes.
The main issue I currently have is performance:
* Ripping/Encoding typically takes up to half an hour per CD. Also my Windows PC is not quite responsive during that process.
* Adding the art in WMP again is very slow, taking up to 15' per CD. I suspect this is due to the fact that WMP embeds the images in the MP3 files which all reside on the network fileserver. Again WMP is anything but responsive during this process.
* Finally, adding in iTunes (which I do on my wife's XP laptop) again is pretty slow as it seems to analyze the embedded album art and then again goes through all MP3s for retrieving some information related to gapless playback ?!
Anyway, my main question is whether there are some steps in the process that I could do better/quicker.
Additionally, I have a small issue with SlimServer. Apparently there are a few albums already for which it cannot display the album art. But rather than showing the gray folder icon that it shows when it does not have the album art, it shows this icon with a black square background. Any idea why it does that ?
Tnx!
.
Comment