laptop for music storage

[MaxInValrico]

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.

there are many NAS manufacturers out there (Western Digital, Synology, Dell, Buffalo, Asustor all which have at least 2 bays and drives of various capacities. I run a WD MyCloud device with 2x2Tb drives configured RAID 1 (mirrored). Have yet to have a drive failure and the device is 4 years old. I've ripped well over 1000 CDs to it as well as having may downloads stored in it. I've changed laptops and O/S version twice since I bought it and it's still available as a network drive and gets recognized as a media server by all my audio units. Also, the drives are SATA drives.

 

[Bucknekked]

WMP ? That's a Windows Media Photo File - not Audio. I think you meant WMA.

"The WMA format is a lossy audio file — similar to MP3. WMA is an acronym for Windows Media Audio and was first released in 1999 by Microsoft for use with their Windows Media Player."
I suggest you go to FLAC or at least another Lossless File Format.
"A FLAC file is an audio file compressed in the Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) format, which is an open-source lossless audio compression format. It is similar to an .MP3 file, but is compressed without any loss in quality or loss of any original audio data.
Try Ripping to FLAC and compare it to WMA (or MP3). You will hear the difference on decent equipment.

@-Jim-
I hope the OP reads your message. If the OP is indeed ripping to WMP or even WMA, that's a step down from the best formats for the same amount of work. I spent a fair amount of time investigating and reading the technical specs before I chose my ripping format. For non-Apple folks, FLAC is indeed the choice with the most upside and the smallest downside. For dedicated Apple fans, ALAC is the same as FLAC with the added benefit that iTunes will play ALAC natively (iTunes will not play FLAC natively). Of course there are many formats that will work and most folks would be hard pressed to tell the difference when played with most pop music.

If you choose either FLAC or ALAC, it is a simple process to convert from one to the other since both are lossless. The only real difference between the formats is the wrapper and meta data that describes the file. Within the file, the audio information is exactly the same.

 

[Eppie]

WMP ? That's a Windows Media Photo File - not Audio. I think you meant WMA.

"The WMA format is a lossy audio file — similar to MP3. WMA is an acronym for Windows Media Audio and was first released in 1999 by Microsoft for use with their Windows Media Player."

I suggest you go to FLAC or at least another Lossless File Format.

"A FLAC file is an audio file compressed in the Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) format, which is an open-source lossless audio compression format. It is similar to an .MP3 file, but is compressed without any loss in quality or loss of any original audio data. " The File size for any given tune is significantly larger than a wma or mp3 file but it sounds exactly like the original.

As for RAM, if you end up buying a Laptop, just make sure it can handle 16 gigs so you can add to it later. If possible spec the Laptop with one 8 Gig stick, and one slot vacant. Often OEMs will put a couple of 4 gig sticks in which means you have to replace them both later. IT's half the cost to add a single stick into a vacant slot.

Try Ripping to FLAC and compare it to WMA (or MP3). You will hear the difference on decent equipment.

Op probably meant Windows Media Player as a software solution to rip to MP3?

Do yourself a fovour. If audio quality is a concern, get a copy of Exact Audio Copy (it's free). It performs an error free read of your CDs for the best quality rips. Some scratched CDs may take long to rip as it will re-read many times to avoid error-correction. It can rip to FLAC or MP3 or whatever format you want using external compressors. It comes with MP3 support and I installed LAME into a subfolder for FLAC rips. It will also look up CD cover art and download it and will search public databases for CD song lists and artist info. You can customize the format for the file names as well.

If you are new to FLAC:
The default settings for FLAC work well. For MP3 256k should be a minimum. Anything lower and you can hear artifacts in the higher frequencies. I use 320k for MP3s which gives close to FLAC quality (you won't hear a difference between FLAC and MP3 at that bit rate). Slightly larger file but good sound quality. I keep two libraries: one of FLAC files and one of MP3. The MP3 I use to store on my mobile phone or other portable devices to save space. That will be less of a concern as memory storage on phones continues to rise. The FLAC files are served up with either Roon or Plex for home audio playback.

Why FLAC? MP3 is lossy. FLAC is not. You can convert FLAC files to MP3 using VLC or other software and the original FLAC file will always be CD quality. Another big advantage is gapless playback. If you play back a live album in MP3 broken down into songs, it will pause between tracks which is very annoying. The same files in FLAC will play back seamlessly.

 

[Dude#1279435]

Op probably meant Windows Media Player as a software solution to rip to MP3?

Yep Media Player. Thought at one time you could rip lossless but currently doesn't appear you can rip to flac.

 

[Eppie]

Yep Media Player. Thought at one time you could rip lossless but currently doesn't appear you can rip to flac.

Haven't used WMP in a while except for playing music at work. I think it might extract WAV files for lossless but those are huge and need further processing. LAME is a good FLAC encoder but it is command line only. You can point Exact Audio Copy (EAC) to the lame.exe location and it will send the appropriate command line arguments and do the encode in a pop up window. Might take a little digging to find the LAME exe but I believe that it is also included with certain versions of Audacity.

 

[Dude#1279435]

Haven't used WMP in a while except for playing music at work. I think it might extract WAV files for lossless but those are huge and need further processing. LAME is a good FLAC encoder but it is command line only. You can point Exact Audio Copy (EAC) to the lame.exe location and it will send the appropriate command line arguments and do the encode in a pop up window. Might take a little digging to find the LAME exe but I believe that it is also included with certain versions of Audacity.

Did finally find the info. Media Player does rip to FLAC.

 

[-Jim-]

If you are new to FLAC:
The default settings for FLAC work well. For MP3 256k should be a minimum. Anything lower and you can hear artifacts in the higher frequencies. I use 320k for MP3s which gives close to FLAC quality (you won't hear a difference between FLAC and MP3 at that bit rate).

I disagree that "you won't hear a difference between FLAC and MP3 at that bit rate". I will agree that some folks won't hear a difference between FLAC tune and the same MP3 tune at 320 Kbps bit rate. For those folks, there is little reason (other than to have an archival quality files to manipulate ) to go to FLAC or any lossless format.

For those who can hear it, go for FLAC. For those who can't, save some space and go MP3.

@Bucknekked By the way, I read somewhere, some time ago, that Apple is going to phase out iTunes in favor of their Spotify like subscription service - Apple Music. I don't know if this will affect the use of ALAC, but iTunes is definitely going away.

I thought I said Windows 10 Media Player will rip to FLAC natively. Must be losing my mind...

 

[Bucknekked]

I disagree that "you won't hear a difference between FLAC and MP3 at that bit rate". I will agree that some folks won't hear a difference between FLAC tune and the same MP3 tune at 320 Kbps bit rate. For those folks, there is little reason (other than to have an archival quality files to manipulate ) to go to FLAC or any lossless format.

For those who can hear it, go for FLAC. For those who can't, save some space and go MP3.

@Bucknekked By the way, I read somewhere, some time ago, that Apple is going to phase out iTunes in favor of their Spotify like subscription service - Apple Music. I don't know if this will affect the use of ALAC, but iTunes is definitely going away.

I thought I said Windows 10 Media Player will rip to FLAC natively. Must be losing my mind...

@-Jim-
You are correct about iTunes being phased out. It already is "retired" sort of. Its future is "muddy".
I have been in the Apple ecosystem for a dozen years or so. I know a lot of people fell out of love with iTunes or Apple and ended up hating it. I planned ahead for that. I still use it and still love it, but I know that someday it might either be gone, or, I might fall our of love and hate it or Apple altogether.

What I started doing when I rebuilt my library was future proofing the whole thing. Not only do I maintain 3 copies on 3 separate sets of media to prevent data loss from killing me I also do both formats : ALAC and FLAC. The hours invested in building the library matter to me. Its a LOT of hours and losing that would suck. I also have a lot of other valuable files so a data storage strategy to prevent loss or corruption is important. But also knowing Apple could be on my poop-list anytime in the future means not locking myself in to a proprietary file format or app. Hence, when I rip I rip in both FLAC and ALAC. I put ALAC in to the iTunes hierarchy and i put FLAC in my PLEX hierarchy.

Data storage is so cheap the file space means nothing in terms of cost. Having both PLEX and iTunes systems is also just as simple as which icon I click on to use. The Apple Music choice is just another icon to click on. It feeds off the same file structures as my iTunes.

This is all probably TMI for this thread but it might be helpful to someone to realize that file formats matter. A data storage plan matters. Not locking in to a single app or provider matters. And most of all, loving your music and enjoying it matters most of all. I do love my tunes and my system (data and music) makes it a pleasure.

 

[Bucknekked]

Do yourself a fovour. If audio quality is a concern, get a copy of Exact Audio Copy (it's free). It performs an error free read of your CDs for the best quality rips. Some scratched CDs may take long to rip as it will re-read many times to avoid error-correction. It can rip to FLAC or MP3 or whatever format you want

Why FLAC? MP3 is lossy. FLAC is not. You can convert FLAC files to MP3 using VLC or other software and the original FLAC file will always be CD quality.

@Eppie
All great points. For a casual user, this business about file formats may seem silly or excessive. It turns out to be pretty important once you start investing your time (the most precious thing you have) and looking at the return for that investment. A good ripper, one that's easy to use, consistent and has a long lifespan is a very nice acquisition. EAC is used by a lot of folks and it is a good one. i happened upon dBPowerAmp some time ago and it is also a pretty good ripper and audio toolbox. Apple also provides an excellent ripping function.

Why settle for crap when you can drive a Cadillac?

 

[Dude#1279435]

I thought I said Windows 10 Media Player will rip to FLAC natively. Must be losing my mind...

You probably did. Think I was using its lossless version but not FLAC. What's the difference?

 

[Eppie]

You probably did. Think I was using its lossless version but not FLAC. What's the difference?

Depends on which format you chose. Some formats offer better compression (smaller files) and better compatibility. It can get confusing for some, but you also need to distinguish compression formats from container formats. A file container can contain different types of compressed files, so the 3 letter file extension isn't always an indication of what's inside. A utility like MediaInfo yields more details. Most of the time, though, the contents will match the file extension.

Microsoft's version could be fine if you're only playing back on the PC, but if you start copying files to other devices or get into network music streamers, you may end up with file format issues. FLAC and MP3 are pretty widely accepted standards.

 

[-Jim-]

You probably did. Think I was using its lossless version but not FLAC. What's the difference?

I think you are confused, so here's a quick version of how to Rip a CD to FLAC files (or whatever option you choose) using Windows Media Player (using Windows 10). I'm assuming you've set Windows Media Player as the default player for CDs in Windows 10. You also need to enable the default settings for Windows Media Player, or customize them to allow it to retrieve any missing data from the web.

1-Open Windows Media Player in Library View (Default)
2-Pop in a CD to Rip to FLAC.
3-On the second row, select the Rip Settings Tab. (red arrow 1 below)
4a-You can select More Options here (red arrow 2 below), and reset your defaults, as Windows has it set to WMA if I remember correctly.
4b-Or You can select FLAC (or whatever you desire) and leave the defaults alone.
5 - Select Rip CD.(red arrow 3 below)

This may be helpful:

By the way, I really don't use Media Player for Ripping but I typically offer it first as it comes with Windows and therefore available; and of course free on Windows PCs. I either use dBpoweramp (when doing multiple CDs) or EZ CD Audio Converter. But each to their own.

I hope this is helpful.

 

[Dude#1279435]

I think you are confused, so here's a quick version of how to Rip a CD to FLAC files (or whatever option you choose) using Windows Media Player (using Windows 10). I'm assuming you've set Windows Media Player as the default player for CDs in Windows 10. You also need to enable the default settings for Windows Media Player, or customize them to allow it to retrieve any missing data from the web.

1-Open Windows Media Player in Library View (Default)
2-Pop in a CD to Rip to FLAC.
3-On the second row, select the Rip Settings Tab. (red arrow 1 below)
4a-You can select More Options here (red arrow 2 below), and reset your defaults, as Windows has it set to WMA if I remember correctly.
4b-Or You can select FLAC (or whatever you desire) and leave the defaults alone.
5 - Select Rip CD.(red arrow 3 below)

This may be helpful:
View attachment 51261

By the way, I really don't use Media Player for Ripping but I typically offer it first as it comes with Windows and therefore available; and of course free on Windows PCs. I either use dBpoweramp (when doing multiple CDs) or EZ CD Audio Converter. But each to their own.

I hope this is helpful.

I was able to set FLAC without doing a rip. There's also Groove Music on the computer but haven't really tried it.

 

[lovinthehd]

@-Jim- any concern for Windows' audio mixer when using WMP these days?

 

[-Jim-]

@-Jim- any concern for Windows' audio mixer when using WMP these days?

Sorry @lovinthehd but I don't really understand the question.

I have no issues using Windows Media Play although I don't use it exclusively. I use VLC, PowerDVD, etc., as the mood strikes me or media fits. I use Windows Audio Mixer just to set the relative levels of the various sound source (programs) on the PC. Is there something specific you are wary about?

 

[lovinthehd]

Sorry @lovinthehd but I don't really understand the question.

I have no issues using Windows Media Play although I don't use it exclusively. I use VLC, PowerDVD, etc., as the mood strikes me or media fits. I use Windows Audio Mixer just to set the relative levels of the various sound source (programs) on the PC. Is there something specific you are wary about?

Well from my understanding it (the windows mixer) degrades certain audio functions, one reason there was a plugin on foobar2000 to avoid such. I was hoping you could fill me in

 

[-Jim-]

That's all new to me.

 

[lovinthehd]

That's all new to me.

Like some of these talk about https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=windows+mixer+foobar2000+&atb=v136-1&ia=web

 

[-Jim-]

By my quick glance, it looks like a Foobar2000 software glitch starting way back in Windows 7. I've tried many media players over the years (anyone remember WinAmp?) but must of missed Foobar2000.

 

[lovinthehd]

By my quick glance, it looks like a Foobar2000 software glitch starting way back in Windows 7. I've tried many media players over the years (anyone remember WinAmp?) but must of missed Foobar2000.

More like a glitch in Windows from my understanding (what's new?). You can download a component to solve the issue with foobar2000, a wasapi/asio alternative. Over my head but. Foobar2000 I've used for several years now, pretty handy. Beats hell out of the iTunes app I used before that....