I've spent the last month looking into a ton of current options for managing my music collection, after giving it up for a couple of years as hopeless. Things look much more interesting now, but there are so many pieces of the puzzle to really get all of the features I want that it is still rather tricky and time-consuming to setup, and isn't as automated as it should be to use either.
I'm looking for suggestions - any pieces you think I missed or shouldn't bother with, better alternatives to what I'm using, automation tips/tricks, whatever. I'm wary of one-off tools that aren't well supported though, as things are still changing very rapidly and I don't want to have to rethink things or look for new tools every few months.
Here's what I've currently got going:
- iTunes for my iPod, also syncing contacts, calendar, etc
- WMP for my wife's PDA, using ActiveSync for non-music content
- Media Center for...well, mostly just because it came with Vista (since I have it, I occassionally use it for something)
- MusicBridge to keep iTunes and WMP/WMC in sync
- a SqueezeBox that I use to play both my local collection, mostly using MusicIP, and then primarily Pandora through SqueezeNetwork for music I don't own (wouldn't it be nice if I could include my local music in the mix with Pandora/Rhapsody/Last.FM stuff?)
- SlimServer syncs with the iTunes library
- MusicIP, which I run headless mainly and sync with SlimServer using SpiceFly (is this redundant if I'm syncing with iTunes?)
- Last.FM monitors SqueezeNetwork, SlimServer, and iTunes/iPod via a plugin...I probably need a plugin for WMP/WMC too, but MusicBridge might take care of that by syncing playcounts to iTunes - I'll have to check (I'm not really harvesting this data from Last.FM yet, but I think the potential is worth the investment of sending them the data...)
- I occasionally use Rhapsody's free plan for playing particular songs that I don't own, since you can't do that through Pandora
- I use dBpoweramp to rip CDs to both Apple Lossless (ALAC) and MP3, including ReplayGain info which SlimServer/SqueezeNetwork support (still working out some minor issues http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=16287 with tagging inconsistencies from the dBpoweramp CD Ripper , but it seems like it will work great, with AMG support and even more tagging options coming)
- ALACs get uploaded to MediaMaster for archival and then deleted from my PC (ALAC is the only lossless format that MediaMaster allows you to upload, hence that choice. this is awesome though - with AccurateRip and other secure ripping features in dBpoweramp to rip them to lossless, unlimited uploads to MediaMaster, and no risk of losing them if a hard drive fails, or need to keep buying ridiculous amounts of storage to hold them and back them up, I hope I can finally put my CDs away for good)
- MP3s get uploaded to MP3Tunes and retained on my PC for the iPod and MusicIP (I would use SqueezeNetwork to access my MP3Tunes songs, but MusicIP won't work that way - yet. One annoyance is that MP3Tunes limits file sizes to 10MB, or 50MB if you pay, which are both too small to fit a decent-bitrate track that runs a whole CD...hopefully they'll raise the limit at some point.)
I think that covers it. That's enough though, believe me. It takes a long time to get this whole setup configured and working, and then there are still some holes currently that keep it from being really seamless. But, it's coming together slowly, and I think it's close enough now not to drive me crazy.
You guys are doing great work, and I look forward to the future! Thanks!
-Jesse
I'm looking for suggestions - any pieces you think I missed or shouldn't bother with, better alternatives to what I'm using, automation tips/tricks, whatever. I'm wary of one-off tools that aren't well supported though, as things are still changing very rapidly and I don't want to have to rethink things or look for new tools every few months.
Here's what I've currently got going:
- iTunes for my iPod, also syncing contacts, calendar, etc
- WMP for my wife's PDA, using ActiveSync for non-music content
- Media Center for...well, mostly just because it came with Vista (since I have it, I occassionally use it for something)
- MusicBridge to keep iTunes and WMP/WMC in sync
- a SqueezeBox that I use to play both my local collection, mostly using MusicIP, and then primarily Pandora through SqueezeNetwork for music I don't own (wouldn't it be nice if I could include my local music in the mix with Pandora/Rhapsody/Last.FM stuff?)
- SlimServer syncs with the iTunes library
- MusicIP, which I run headless mainly and sync with SlimServer using SpiceFly (is this redundant if I'm syncing with iTunes?)
- Last.FM monitors SqueezeNetwork, SlimServer, and iTunes/iPod via a plugin...I probably need a plugin for WMP/WMC too, but MusicBridge might take care of that by syncing playcounts to iTunes - I'll have to check (I'm not really harvesting this data from Last.FM yet, but I think the potential is worth the investment of sending them the data...)
- I occasionally use Rhapsody's free plan for playing particular songs that I don't own, since you can't do that through Pandora
- I use dBpoweramp to rip CDs to both Apple Lossless (ALAC) and MP3, including ReplayGain info which SlimServer/SqueezeNetwork support (still working out some minor issues http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=16287 with tagging inconsistencies from the dBpoweramp CD Ripper , but it seems like it will work great, with AMG support and even more tagging options coming)
- ALACs get uploaded to MediaMaster for archival and then deleted from my PC (ALAC is the only lossless format that MediaMaster allows you to upload, hence that choice. this is awesome though - with AccurateRip and other secure ripping features in dBpoweramp to rip them to lossless, unlimited uploads to MediaMaster, and no risk of losing them if a hard drive fails, or need to keep buying ridiculous amounts of storage to hold them and back them up, I hope I can finally put my CDs away for good)
- MP3s get uploaded to MP3Tunes and retained on my PC for the iPod and MusicIP (I would use SqueezeNetwork to access my MP3Tunes songs, but MusicIP won't work that way - yet. One annoyance is that MP3Tunes limits file sizes to 10MB, or 50MB if you pay, which are both too small to fit a decent-bitrate track that runs a whole CD...hopefully they'll raise the limit at some point.)
I think that covers it. That's enough though, believe me. It takes a long time to get this whole setup configured and working, and then there are still some holes currently that keep it from being really seamless. But, it's coming together slowly, and I think it's close enough now not to drive me crazy.
You guys are doing great work, and I look forward to the future! Thanks!
-Jesse
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