laptop for music storage

[Dude#1279435]

I'm leaning towards a Dell but was trying to get recs on storage as well as ram and the usual office programs. How much space do you recommend for ripping CDs that could run into the thousands. SSD and a separate drive for saving. Any recommendations? Much appreciated.

 

[Brettc]

I built a desktop that mounts in my rack. 4T of music and movies


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[highfigh]

I know of a 'high end' audio dealer who uses Mac Mini for music storage at the store for demonstration of Roon, which manages the library. I have heard it and it sounds great.

I think a NAS would be better than a laptop, especially if it would be used for anything other than media storage- I know it could be used for controlling a system as well, but having a drive that just sits in one place would seem to be a good option- if it's never handled or moved, it's far less likely that anything bad will happen to it.

Are you thinking about ripping your media to the drive and selling the hard copies? If I were to do that, I would want at least one backup and probably use some version of a RAID drive.

 

[Dude#1279435]

I know of a 'high end' audio dealer who uses Mac Mini for music storage at the store for demonstration of Roon, which manages the library. I have heard it and it sounds great.

I think a NAS would be better than a laptop, especially if it would be used for anything other than media storage- I know it could be used for controlling a system as well, but having a drive that just sits in one place would seem to be a good option- if it's never handled or moved, it's far less likely that anything bad will happen to it.

Are you thinking about ripping your media to the drive and selling the hard copies? If I were to do that, I would want at least one backup and probably use some version of a RAID drive.

Ripping but not selling. I lean towards Dell due to their reliability. My mother has been an HP person her whole life but has recently gone Dell because her laptops keep breaking down.

 

[highfigh]

Ripping but not selling. I lean towards Dell due to their reliability. My mother has been an HP person her whole life but has recently gone Dell because her laptops keep breaking down.

I had a Dell- it was fine, but the cover hinge broke and repairing it was too expensive because it was made of Magnesium. I bought an Acer after that and it fell off of the top of my ladder about 3 months after I bought it, but it still works after almost ten years, although I don't use it much anymore. Slow to boot, the wireless is buggy and only supports 802.11a/b/g, so I got a USB network adapter that can do 802.11n which is now behind the times, too.

I just had to do some setup on one of my computers and in the process, became more curious about connecting some kind of drive to my router since the old ones never seemed to work. I went into the menu, activated DLNA and a few other things, stuck a thumb drive into its USB port after moving some music onto it and it streamed nicely to the computer I'm using as well as to my Yamaha WXC-50, using the GUI on my computer to control it.

How do you plan to control what you'll listen to?

 

[Dude#1279435]

I had a Dell- it was fine, but the cover hinge broke and repairing it was too expensive because it was made of Magnesium. I bought an Acer after that and it fell off of the top of my ladder about 3 months after I bought it, but it still works after almost ten years, although I don't use it much anymore. Slow to boot, the wireless is buggy and only supports 802.11a/b/g, so I got a USB network adapter that can do 802.11n which is now behind the times, too.

I won't ask why it was on the top of your ladder.
Any recs on ram and space for holding the music, general surfing and youtube? My ma gets 365 but not sure I need all that. I can do fine with free office programs.
Raid's nice but not really looking to spend a lot. I dunno $3-500 hopefully on sales this xmas. I already have a separate drive for backup.

 

[highfigh]

I won't ask why it was on the top of your ladder.
Any recs on ram and space for holding the music, general surfing and youtube? My ma gets 365 but not sure I need all that. I can do fine with free office programs.
Raid's nice but not really looking to spend a lot. I dunno $3-500 hopefully on sales this xmas. I already have a separate drive for backup.

I needed to look into the space above the finished ceiling in a basement when I was trying to see where I could run cables during the pre-wire stage of the installation- my scope camera doesn't have a long cable and if the computer was farther away, I wouldn't have been able to see much detail.

At this point, I see a central storage unit as a good thing- computers come and go, but moving data and rearranging it is a royal PITA, to me. With an internal drive failure without backup, a laptop is great until it isn't and I don't really enjoy the process of backing up my data.

 

[lovinthehd]

I've only had laptops (i.e. no desktop) for many years now, last few have been HPs but don't think any brand has any particular super-longevity or quality of construction claims, they are what they are. The one I'm using at the moment has recently developed a hinge issue so it's staying permanently open now until something else fails (I've worn the coatings right off several keys on the keyboard and its several years old so not bad as far that goes....I've twice prematurely ended the life of one myself, too).

I have a newer one standing by....this time instead of just a HDD opted for a hybrid SSD/HDD combo. The older one had a 2TB drive, the new one is 256GB SSD plus 1 TB HDD....but my music files still are only around 500 GB total (mostly FLAC to save space) so it works fine. I don't save much in the form of video, tho if I did I'd probably want a desktop/raid setup to handle the extra volume if I started ripping all my video discs.

I think using one of these has extended the life (and comfort) of using the last laptop, too (as opposed to directly on laps, beds, where you suck up fibers/reduce cooling from what I've pulled out of older failed laptops).

 

[Bucknekked]

I know of a 'high end' audio dealer who uses Mac Mini for music storage at the store for demonstration of Roon, which manages the library. I have heard it and it sounds great.

I think a NAS would be better than a laptop, especially if it would be used for anything other than media storage- I know it could be used for controlling a system as well, but having a drive that just sits in one place would seem to be a good option- if it's never handled or moved, it's far less likely that anything bad will happen to it.

Are you thinking about ripping your media to the drive and selling the hard copies? If I were to do that, I would want at least one backup and probably use some version of a RAID drive.

@highfigh
I too use a Mac Mini for my music library as the brains of the outfit. I also use a Synology NAS unit for the backup copies and for the non-Apple copies of the music. The whole thing works great, sounds great, and so far after several years of work it hasn't lost a single song. A laptop will work of course. I just happened to choose the Mac Mini at the time I decided to digitize and rip.

The OP suggests 1,000's of songs may be ripped in to the library. That's not an unusual situation as I think most folks who decide to build a ripped library have at least a couple thousand songs. Music serving and storage is a pretty easy load for just about any computer. Just make sure whatever gets chosen has the DAC's for playing your tunes that meet your bit rate goals. It would be hard to find something today that didn't measure up.

In today's world, the shared library across all of your devices is so easily achieved it hardly justifies specialized hardware anymore. I chose the Apple ecosystem and after all these years I still love it for the flexibility and simplicity. One can achieve the same results with generic hardware costing just hundreds of dollars or step up to specialized dedicated devices costing thousands. The good news is you have lots of options.

 

[-Jim-]

This is right in my wheelhouse. I've been Ripping Tunes since the technology was first developed, and have thousands and thousands of Albums converted to various File Formats. (For example I have over 4000 Albums in FLAC format on this PC. 1.6 TB consisting of over 60,000 tunes. I strongly recommend FLAC to anyone just starting out.) I also have a hobby of building and repairing Computers (Windows PCs only - no Apple) including some Laptops for Close Friends and Family.

My suggestion is to go for an LG if you can afford it, but Dell is about the same reliability, as is HP, at the same price point. You really do get what you pay for these days. All OEMs are using components from everyone else. If you've ever dismantled a Laptop it's quite obvious. Dell & HP don't really manufacture anything. There are assemblers of the efforts of others. They source motherboards, Hard & Optical Drives, Power Supplies, Screens, RAM, etc., from various OEMS. They just design the package. I doubt they make their own plastic / metal cases but I have no documentation on that. (I'm just speculating.)

As for storage, as a NAS seems undesirable - which I understand as I've avoided them as well => I'd go for two USB-3 portable Hard Drives. Everything would be ripped to one and then copied to the Back-up. There is far too much effort required to re-rip a whole CD Library if you lose it when a drive fails. And they all fail - it's just a matter of when. I tend to buy Seagate or Western Digital (WD). Don’t bother with the software that comes with your external hard drive. Buy 2 drives as large as you can, as you'll be amazed how fast you'll fill it up.

I hope this is helpful.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Ripping but not selling. I lean towards Dell due to their reliability. My mother has been an HP person her whole life but has recently gone Dell because her laptops keep breaking down.

My wife has and had a Dell, had issues with it. Warranty came out twice to replace stuff but still issue came back.
She had a Lenovo before the Dell that I inherited when she went to the Dell. I had it for a good number of years but it took forever it seemed to boot up.
I replaced it 2 years ago with another Lenovo with SSD, 512 gig memory and 8 gig ram. Boots up in 10 seconds.
But, you want to rip Cds so are you planning to have an external CD/DVD connected to laptop to rip? My new Lenovo doesn't have a CD player in it.

 

[mtrycrafts]

This is right in my wheelhouse. I've been Ripping Tunes since the technology was first developed, and have thousands and thousands of Albums converted to various File Formats. (For example I have over 4000 Albums in FLAC format on this PC. 1.6 TB consisting of over 60,000 tunes. I strongly recommend FLAC to anyone just starting out.) I also have a hobby of building and repairing Computers (Windows PCs only - no Apple) including some Laptops for Close Friends and Family.

...

And I bet there are songs there you will never listen to again.

I just cannot imagine 60k tunes.

 

[Dude#1279435]

My wife has and had a Dell, had issues with it. Warranty came out twice to replace stuff but still issue came back.
She had a Lenovo before the Dell that I inherited when she went to the Dell. I had it for a good number of years but it took forever it seemed to boot up.
I replaced it 2 years ago with another Lenovo with SSD, 512 gig memory and 8 gig ram. Boots up in 10 seconds.
But, you want to rip Cds so are you planning to have an external CD/DVD connected to laptop to rip? My new Lenovo doesn't have a CD player in it.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!! They don't come with CD drives anymore?!

My Dell tower is doing good. The usual small bugs but nothing preventing it from booting up and running normally.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!! They don't come with CD drives anymore?!

My Dell tower is doing good. The usual small bugs but nothing preventing it from booting up and running normally.

Not sure of course but none of the ones at Costco had one as best I know. So, just make sure and look for it.
The laptops now are fairly thin, no room for a player.

 

[Verdinut]

You can get a factory approved refurbished IBM designed Lenovo T530 Thinkpad for about $300. It's a 2012 model sturdy laptop which you can find on eBay. This model doesn't always come with an optical drive, but some do. Just look for a reliable seller with money back eBay warranty.

I purchased one last June from a Toronto seller. It came with a 250G SSD, an optical drive and a new Windows 10 OS.

 

[-Jim-]

And I bet there are songs there you will never listen to again.

I just cannot imagine 60k tunes.

You are right on!

 

[-Jim-]

You are right on!

 

[-Jim-]

You can get a factory approved refurbished IBM designed Lenovo T530 Thinkpad for about $300. It's a 2012 model sturdy laptop which you can find on eBay. This model doesn't always come with an optical drive, but some do. Just look for a reliable seller with money back eBay warranty.

I purchased one last June from a Toronto seller. It came with a 250G SSD, an optical drive and a new Windows 10 OS.

I'd never buy, nor recommend a Laptop (or a Desktop) that's 9+ years old. Consumer PCs just aren't built for that type of longevity. Current models would be like warp speed compared to it, and the electronics are subject to fail anytime. If someone has go "used" stay to a couple years old maximum. In the corporate world the IT department kept statistics on our Laptops, and would change them out at 3 years. They'd never get permission to do that if the data said it wasn't cost effective.

Friends give me their old laptops when they purchase new ones, and sometimes I patch them together with new RAM, Power Supplies, and usually an SSD to run Windows 10. I give them to my Son to use as it's mostly just a Web Surfer.

 

[Verdinut]

I'd never buy, nor recommend a Laptop (or a Desktop) that's 9+ years old. Consumer PCs just aren't built for that type of longevity. Current models would be like warp speed compared to it, and the electronics are subject to fail anytime. If someone has go "used" stay to a couple years old maximum. In the corporate world the IT department kept statistics on our Laptops, and would change them out at 3 years. They'd never get permission to do that if the data said it wasn't cost effective.

Friends give me their old laptops when they purchase new ones, and sometimes I patch them together with new RAM, Power Supplies, and usually an SSD to run Windows 10. I give them to my Son to use as it's mostly just a Web Surfer.

The Lenovo is not a consumer's PC. It is a PC that was designed for office use and a lot sturdier than a Dell laptop for instance.

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[-Jim-]

I have had numerous Lenovo Laptops since 2005. My last one was in January 2021.

Lenovo is a Chinese company that bought IBM's Thinkpad lineup in 2005, when IBM decided to exit that business as it wasn't profitable enough for them. I've taken apart many Lenovos (just not too many in the last year) but they were no more durable nor had any "industrial" construction than other OEMs have produced. I remember the last one had a Hitachi Hard Drive, so they too are buying components from others. I took apart a Panasonic Toughbook and although the case was more durable, the insides were still the same as everyone else. The current LG Gram's case is made out of magnesium alloy but doesn't feel like metal. Lots of OEMs advertise there stuff is Tough but they don't guarantee it against perils at all - just manufacturing defects for a year. Extended warranties can be obtained, usually for a premium. You don't buy a Laptop because it's built like a Tank and heavy, you buy it because it's light & portable. That makes it subject to damage.

I've seen many Lenovo Laptops (and a few Desktops) die in the workplace as they are extremely common in business. Screen failures, Hinge failures, Hard Drives, power supplies, charging circuits, motherboards, etc. Just like all the others. Those are the ones that companies change out at 3 years. They get huge discounts and buy them corporatewide because they are cheap.

My comment still stands: I'd never buy, nor recommend a Laptop (or a Desktop) that's 9+ years old. To buy one would be foolhardy.