Practical ideas about backing up computer files

I read a thread on an audio forum about backing up audio files.  Many of the posts seemed rather theoretical rather than practical.

I was self employed for ~20 years and had to be sure that I didn't lose data that mattered to my business.  I'm retired now but now I have an even increasing collection of music files and photographs to worry about.  Some practical ideas from my experience:

- There are different scenarios for needing to use your backup data: Human error, equipment failure or s/w bug, theft, malware attack, fire/flood for example. An area wide disaster like an earthquake is a rather different scenario.  You need to think about each threat and evaluate whether you plant addresses those scenarios.  You may choose not to address some scenarios because of cost or feasibility.  Do your thinking now.

- If you don't know in detail how you'll recover from an event that requires recovering data, you are asking for trouble.  You need to think about the hardware, any software needed and any information like URL's and passwords.

- Anyone who has dealt with disaster recovery knows that you need to rehearse the recovery process.  Even if have thought the process out very carefully, you'll find some glitches when you rehearse the first time.  And the second.

- Think about the time you will need to get up and running.  If you need to order new hardware (like a tape drive, hard drives or a new computer), how long will it take to get it in your hands and installed?   For me, the weak spot of online backup is the time needed to download all my data to my local system when I have to restore it.  Sure, backing up a single hi-res file to the cloud is fast enough but how about downloading hundreds or thousands? Using any exotic hardware for backup creates extra burdens during recovery.   Is the tape drive you bought 4 years ago even available for sale now?

- Don't count on any storage device to be usable if you haven't tried it out in years.

- The more automatic you make your backup process, the more likely that you will have what you need when trouble arrives. 

- Backup your system disk as well as your data.  Create a recovery drive on a USB thumb drive and an image backup  of the drive that contains the operating system and applications.  Reinstalling all the software takes time and if there are licenses for purchased s/w, it can get messy.  Do you have a record of the licenses or product keys for all the software that you bought?

- If your data backups can fit on a single USB hard drive, that is the basis for a simple, practical solution.  Right now, I'm using 6 Terabyte backup drives.

- That solution: Keep one backup drive nearby for daily differential backups.  That exercises that drive.  Keep a second backup drive offsite and swap it with the onsite drive at convenient intervals.  Both drives will be used often enough to warn you of any problems.  If you have trouble with a backup drive, get a replacement immediately.

- After a few years, you data backup needs may have grown.  By then, you should be able to buy larger capacity devices.  That takes care of increasing storage needs and it replaces 3-4 year old devices with new ones.

- You can't count on being able to read data from old storage devices after 20-30 years.  Technology moves along and old interfaces may not be supported.  Plant to move your data every few years so that it is always on devices that can be read with current computers.

- Moving to a new generation of computers is a good way to learn about the recovery process. 

AirBnB for cats

A few days ago, I was weeding in our back yard when I sensed a motion beside me. I turned and saw a large black cat coming toward me. It brushed against me, got petted and then jumped up on my legs. I was kneeling with one knee on the ground, so neither the cat nor I was very stable but he persevered. A real attention junkie. I didn't get much weeding done. The next morning we discovered that the cat was sleeping across two chairs on our covered patio. (Large cat!) It stayed there sleeping well into the afternoon. More petting was needed after it got up. It spent the next night sleeping in the same chairs. When I opened the garage door, it conducted an extended inspection of our garage. We began to get worried that it didn't have a home and wasn't getting fed. After a couple of days of posts on the NextDoor website, I got a lead on a possible owner. Their cat had been gone for several weeks. I called the phone number given and the cat's "mom" arrived. The cat was indeed her Dickens.

Dickens wasn't that interested in jumping into her car. Under the car was fine, in front of the car was interesting and the read of the car needed checking out. Dickens then went for another trip around our back yard. I disappeared into our house so that Dickens mom could be the focus of his attention. After 5-10 minutes, she coaxed Dickens into the car.

We enjoyed having Dickens around even if we didn't get much weeding done. However, we were worried about him and were glad to have him returned to his family.

Blown highlights and exposure Compensation

On a neighborhood walk, I photographed a white flower backlit by bright sunlight and against a dark background. As usual, I took a shot at 0 EV compensation and then with some negative EC. I decided to keep taking shots with increasing EC. Those shots were taken with center weighted metering. Then I switched to spot metering. All pictures were taken with a Panasonic FZ1000 bridge camera in P mode and Automatic white balance. I'm posting these OOC Jpeg images  as visual examples of how EC changes the final image.

EC values: 0, -0.33EV, - 1.00EV, -1.66 EV, - 2.33EV, - 3.00EV, -3.66EV.  The last image with spot metering has 0.0 EV with the cross hairs on the bright part of the flower.

As I added negative EC, I reduced the blown highlights.  However, I also reduced the sense of light on the flowers.  With too much negative EC, the image doesn't look like what I saw through the viewfinder.

Changing to spot metering takes a bit more time (and I have to remember to switch back to center weighted meting) but for a difficult subject like this one, it is often the most reliable method of dealing with blown highlights.

I read a post about the joys of "vinyl" and its superiority over digital music formats on a mostly photography blog site and felt the need to express a different opinion.

After decades of experience with LPs, turntables, phono stages, tapes and tape drives (starting in the mid-60s, I had vivid memories of the practical problems with tape and LPs. I was happy enough to see a new medium with far fewer problems and much better real world sound.

Tape noise, LP surface noise, warps, wow and flutter, hum picked up by the turntable to phono stage cable, scratches and defective pressings are still vivid memories. I have no need to experience them again.

All my music collection has been on a computer hard drive (with backups) for about 10 years, indexed so that I can find and play what I like without effort. As always, sound quality is a question of the care with which the recording and the subsequent steps were made and the skills of the people involved.

Most of the recordings that I own has never been available on vinyl. I buy used Cds on Amazon and have few problems getting perfect transfers. I buy Flac downloads and find that ever easier. I listen on YouTube to music that is not available via commercial recordings. I can download concert recordings from that last few decades.

I miss nothing about LPs and the associated gear. This talk about how wonderful "vinyl" sounds like old guys talking about how wonderful film and darkrooms were.

See those wildflowers now, they will be gone soon

Whenever we visit wildflower areas in California, we are conscious that the flowers will wither and fade as the plants cycle progresses. When we visited Antelope Valley and the Carrizo Plain area this year, we saw that solar energy installations had replaced some fields of flowers. We had a sense that we we return in coming years, there will be fewer fields of flowers and more development.

Wildflower field in the Carrizo Plain area

The Carrizo Plain National Monument itself is not threatened but the private land north of the monument is being converted into large scale solar energy farms. The installation of dense rows of solar panels disturbs the soil and the panels shade out vegetation beneath the panels. As more of these developments fill the north end of the plain, the National Monument will be cut off from the land farther north. The Carrizo Plain has been part of a band of undeveloped land that stretched for about 150 miles from the south end of the monument to the edge of the city of Hollister. The value of the monument as part of a larger natural environment is being diminished.

Solar energy farms are replacing fields of flowers in the Antelope Valley as well. We saw new solar installations along Highway 138 and the side roads where we had seen flowers in the past. The Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve is not threatened but many of the best flower areas are outside the reserve. Development for homes and businesses as Lancaster and Palmdale expand westward also threaten to replace fields of flowers. Antelope Valley's flowers can be enjoyed on an easy day outing by the large urban populations of Southern California. If we expect urban Califorians to value California's natural environment, we need to preserve places like the flower fields of Antelope Valley so that people can see experience the beauty of nature for themselves.

For several years, the development of solar energy has had a gold rush character fueled by government land give-aways, massive subsidies and short-circuited review processes. The result has been to site installations without adequate consideration for the effect on the natural environment. It will take much more public awareness and concern to replace the gold rush by a process that doesn't permanently damage the natural environment in California.

Taking pictures in the last hour of daylight

Several times in a recent 9 day wildflower trip as the light level got low, we saw new and interesting flowers that we wanted to photograph. We got some good pictures but we missed others. Some of our pictures were usable but not as sharp as we normally get.

The low light level resulted in slow shutter speeds and made it harder to see the subject well enough for focusing. There was often a breeze blowing which moved the subject around. Lesley uses a monopod and I use a tripod; that helps keep the camera steady but it doesn't help with a moving subject. When you are down to a 1/8 second shutter speed, a gentle breeze is enough to produce a blurry image. An example:

This one is almost sharp.


This one is less sharp.


A breeze made this image completely blurry.


The experience made me think about ways to improve results.

- Increase the sensor sensitivity (ISO value). We normally use ISO 400 and change to 800 as light levels fall. However, if we are losing shots, why not try 1600 or 3200? Each doubling of the ISO setting doubles the shutter speed.

- Upgrade to the latest and greatest camera model. That might allow us to use 3200 or even 6400 with the same results as 1600 or 3200 with our current Panasonic G6 cameras. This is an easy, obvious improvement but it costs real money.

We usually use aperture values of f7.1 or f8 to get enough depth of field to get all of the subject in sharp focus. However, we could use f3.6 or f4 to get a doubling of shutter speed. At our usual working distances (12-14 inches from sensor to subject), depth of field would be reduced. Backing away to 19 inches would give our desired depth of field at the cost of a small subject on the image.

Carry a small “tent” to shield the subject from wind. We often work close to our car on these trips so carrying a “tent” made of plastic sheeting with short rods to hold the plastic in place may be feasible.

Use flash to get more light and to freeze the subject. The built-in flash isn't great but I could try it. An accessory flash unit would be much better but they cost real money.

Macro photography should not be just a club for technique jocks

Defining macro photography as requiring 1:1 and greater magnification is rather absurd. Few currently macro lenses go above 1:1 and many older lenses only go to 1:2. Do we exclude older lenses and only allow current macro lenses when they are used at their minimum focus distance? Do we require that additional equipment such as extension tubes, bellows, additional lenses be used with a regular macro lens to make it legitimately macro photography?

It seems more reasonable to define macro photography as taking pictures of small objects close up to reveal detail that can't be seen with the naked eye.

I believe there are two quite different kinds of macro photography:

- Still life style pictures of plants and dead or immobilized insects in a controlled environment . (and stamps and coins.) The subject will stay put as long as the photographer needs to get the exact picture that he wants. The environment allows him to use all the equipment for lighting the subject and holding it is place. Getting greater than 1:1 magnification is feasible but it requires skill and good gear. This sort of photography attracts people who want to demonstrate their skill in mastering difficulties. Their discussions focus of technique with harsh criticism of those who post less than perfect images. Arguments about the only correct way to do macro photography break out easily and quickly descend into name calling.

- Nature photography of living plants and insects in uncontrolled outdoor environments. At any moment, a breeze may move a flower out of focus or even out of the frame. An insect may light on a flower, be there for a few seconds and the leave. The emphasis is on getting a photo of the subject while the opportunity exists. Setup for a photo has to be minimal. Carrying extra gear for lighting or holding the subject in place may be impractical. Magnification greater than 1:1 is often infeasible. The emphasis is on capturing a record of what the photographer encounters for the love of the subject matter. The joy is in capturing interesting subjects rather than in a demonstration of skill. Discussions among such photographers focus on the subject matter rather than on critiques of technique.

Technique jocks who practice the Still life sort of macro photography seem unwilling to accept the other kind of photography. On some photography forums, they drive off anyone who posts photos that don't fit the greater than 1:1 criteria. The result is that nature photographers have no place to discuss their concerns and their photos on many photography forums.

Old guy interests

I'm a bit sad that several of my interests (audio gear, camera gear and sports cars) acquired a long time ago increasingly look like old guy interests. And I'm disgusted by the rich guy/conspicuous consumption aspect to those interests.

Gear head hobbies now seem sterile to me and gearhead forums seem populated by people I'd rather not know. However, listening to good music, looking at pictures of subjects I value and driving on winding, country roads are still rewarding activities for me. Those interests attract positive, interesting people.

Collecting recordings of classical music

Someone asked these questions on the computeraudiophile.com forum

Do you settle on one that you listen to? When you buy multiple versions of, say, Mozart's Requiem, are you looking for the one you consider to be the best or do you want different listening options? Or are there times you want to listen to X's version of Mozart's Requiem, and other times you want to listen to Y's version?

In the beginning, I wanted to get a copy of all the classical music that I knew I liked really well. Then I wanted to explore other things by the same composer or similar composers. Decades ago, buying recordings was the only way that I could hear things that were not on the beaten path (radio and cvoncerts.) So I purchased recordings of lots of Mozart and Beethoven and so on. Then I wanted to explore more recordings of favorite works in search of the "perfect" performance. Then I wanted to explore more performances to hear different interpretations.

Initially, I concentrated on orchestral, concerto and piano music. Then I began to explore more chamber music. Piano trios, quartets and quintets wwere easy to love. String quartets required more time and effort from me.

When I found exceptional performances, I wanted to recordings of other works by the soloists, conductors and ensembles that had impressed me in one recording. I'm still filling out the gaps so that I can listen to any classical music that I want to try. I'm still filling out my collection of the relevant recordings by the performers I really like.

All my collection is on a computer hard drive managed by the excellent JRiver Media Center software. When I browse my collection, it is often a voyage of discovery. A composer, a work name or a performer name catches my eye and sends my browsing in an unexpected direction. The particular performance of a work that I choose to mplay may be determined at the last moment.

embedding an actual slideshow from SmugMug

Sample slideshow from SmugMug

A new MusicPC

A few weeks ago, I made some changes to my dedicated MusicPC.  Here are the changes and the things not changed:

old  ==> new configuration

Intel G6300 Core 2 Duo CPU (1.8 GHz)  ==> Intel G530 Sandy Bridge CPU (2.4 GHz)
2 GB RAM  ==> 8 GB RAM
Intel G945 based micro-ATX motherboard         ==> Intel H67 based micro-ATX motherboard
(2 PCI slots)                                                          (1 PCI slot)

Windows XP Professional                         ==> Windows 7 Home Professional
JRiver Media Center 16  ==> MC 17
UltraVNC remote control s/w                    ==> not installed yet

(no KVM switch)                                     ==> KVM switch (USB keyboard and mouse)

Antec Solo case                                       ==> no change
Seasonic SII 380W power supply            ==> no change

Seagate 500 GB 7200 RPM hard drive   ==> 128 GB Crucial m4 SSD (OS boot drive)
Western Digital 2 TB 5400 RPM 3.5" hard drive ==> no change (music storage)

Some notes:

1. I was feeling cheap.  I kept parts that still worked well and chose new parts that were adequately fast and not expensive.  The changes cost about $ 400.  The process took time of building the new system took time and was not fun but it was very routine.

2. The G945 motherboard had been a trouble free sweatheart for over 5 years but a couple of USB ports had failed.  I wanted to switch to a new system before a wider failure occurred.  Windows XP had been fine but I wanted  to have support for > 2 TB hard drives (for backup) on the MusicPC.

2. IvyBridge components were available but I chose a Sandy Bridge CPU and motherboard.  The G530 CPU chip was fast enough and cheap.  The Intel H67 based uATX motherboard was cheap and had a PCI slot that allowed me to continue to use my ESI Juli@ soundcard.  The H77 based equivalent motherboard was significantly more expensive and did not have a PCI slot.

3. I had been operating the MusicPC using UltraVNC software for remote control from other PCs (my PC, my spouse's PC and a laptop.)  Now I'm using a KVM switch to control the MusicPC from my personal PC and JRiver's TRemote functionality to control JRiver MC from other PCs.

4. I did only minimal tuning on the new configuration.  I turned off Windows update, hard drive indexing, no anti-virus and no system restore checkpointing.  I wanted to preserve network functionality and normal support for Windows applications.  I monitored activity using various system tool including the DPC latency checker, Task Manager and Process Explorer.  When I'm playing music with MC, there isn't much else going on.  I am not conscious of a change in sound quality between the old system and the new one.

5. The MusicPC boots and start MC in a bit under 30 seconds.  That's about the same as for the previous more optimized Win XP based system.  Power use is down from 75-80 watts to 35-40 watts.  I think a modern Seasonic G350 power supply would make a difference of close to 10 watts.

I expect this MusicPC system to remain in use for at least 5 years.  When it needs to be replaced, a compact form factor PC like a Mac Mini will be a likely choice.  Either a 2TB 2.5" drive or 1 or 2 SSDs storing 2 TB will be sufficiently cheap.  I'll move to completely USB based audio output on the MusicPC by then.

I've felt for some time that computer based music playback was becoming mature.  Building a new generation MusicPC felt like a concrete step toward that maturity.  The old system worked just fine and the new system works equally well.

Audio gear I've owned

Something that I read caused me to count up the number of audio components I've owned in the ~46 years I've been interested in audio. I try to make careful decisions and live with what I bought until it breaks or until I need more functionality and or a quantum jump in sound quality. Here is my list:

 - 4 turntables and 1 extra tonearm:
     a cheap single play Garrard,
    Thorens TD-150,
    a Sony PS-1800
    and a cheap Sony turntable to record the contents of a few LPs as computer files.

 - 3 CD players:
    dBx ? ,
   Rotel ? 855 ,
   Rotel ? 971

 - 1 dedicated MusicPC: an Intel Core 2 Duo based PC with parts I selected

 - 2 soundcards for the musicPC:
   AudioTrak Prodigy HD2,
   ESI Juli@

 - 3 DACs:
   TC Electronic BMC-2,
   Emotiva XDA-1 and
   an Audioengine W1 DAC+wireless transmitter/receiver

 - 2 FM tuners:
   Scott ? ,
   NAD ?

 - 2 integrated amps:
   Dynaco SCA35 (tubes),
   JBL SA600

 - 1 receiver:
    a Yamaha ?

 - 1 two channel power amp:
    B&K ST-140

 - 3 six channel power amps to power 3 way speakers with an active crossover:
   Kenwood ?,
   ATI 1806,
   Rotel RMB 1077

 - 4 pairs of speakers for the main listening room:
   AR-4x,
   KLH 5,
   Thiel CS2,
   Waveform Mach 17

 - A Sony WEGA provides sound for casual listening at dinner

 - 4+ pairs of speakers for mt home office:
   Boston Acoustics ?,
   Soundworks ? (powered),
   Audioengine A5s (powered)
    (I've forgotten a few home office speakers)

 Not a long list for 40+ years of music in 3 separate rooms.

Classical Music on an iPod - 4

.

Now you are ready to rip a CD.

iTunes will grind away for a bit and then offer to import the CD to its library. (iTunes says "Import CD" rather than "Rip CD".) Click on "No" so that you can do a few things before you let iTunes import the CD. The image below shows the track list after iTunes has looke dup tag values. Note that the composer tag is blank.

Larger Image here.

Right click on the the column heading to the right of the word “Name”, and check “Composer” and “Genre”. This will allow you to view and set the Composer and Genre tag values.

If the CD contains a work that spans several tracks, you should select those tracks. (Click on the first of those tracks and Shift-click on the last of those tracks.) Then Click on "Advanced" menu and then "Join Tracks". If there are several works with multiple tracks, repeat the process of selecting and joining tracks for each work.

As discussed in the previous post, this step serves two purposes: it makes it easier on the iPod to select and play all of a work that spans multiple tracks; and it ensures that if you let the iPod select and play music at random, all of a work will be played and in the right order.

Here is an image with tracks joined for each of three four movement symphonies:

Larger image here.

Look at the values shown for the tags that matter to you. If they are not correct, you can correct them before the CD is imported.

Select one or more tracks for which you want to set a tag value. Click on the “File” menu and then on the “Get Info” command. A dialog window will appear. Any changes you make here will apply to all the files you selected. Click “OK” when you have entered the changes that apply to the selected files. Repeat this for each set of files for which you want to set a particular tag value. If you are making a change to a tag in one music file, you can simply click on that cell (row and column) until you get an insertion point cursor and a small text box. Edit the old value or type a new one in the text box and then press return.

Now you are ready to import the CD. On the left side of the window under devices, you should see a line for the CD with the album tag value for the CD. Right-click on that line and choose “Import CD”

The importing process will take several minutes. When it finishes, the CD will be ejected and you are ready to import another CD.

You can click on “Music” under Library to see the music files in the library. You can edit tags there to correct any mistakes using the techniques just described. This image shows a sample library listing:

Larger image here.

When you have finished imported your CDs, you can transfer them to your iPod. (Sync with your iPod.) Here is a link to an explanation of the process in Apple's documentation:

Good luck!

Classical Music on an iPod - 3

Setting Preferences

Click on the “Edit” menu and choose “Preferences”.

Click on the “General” icon near the top of the Preferences window. To the right of the text “When you insert a CD”, select “Show CD”. Then click on the “Import Settings” button and select the file format for the music files you import from a CD. (Wav, AIFF and Apple Lossless all retain the full audio quality of the CD. The MP3 and AAC formats require much less disk space at the expense of audio quality.) For the case where you are copying music files from many CDs to an iPod and do not expect to play music from iTunes itself, choose AAC and then the iTunes Plus setting. Checking the “Use error correction...” box may allow iTunes to identify and work around some errors at the expense of extra time for the importing process. Click on the “OK” button to finish with this dialog.

You should be back to the Preferences window (labeled “General”). Click on the “Advanced” icon and note the location of the media folder. This will help you find music files in Windows explorer. If you check “Keep iTunes Media Folder organized”, iTunes will store music files according to the rules described here. If this option is not checked, iTunes will still store music files from imported CDs, according to similar rules.

Now you need to insert a music CD and make a few more settings.

Insert a CD. Itunes may display a message asking if you want to import the CD. Check the “Do not ask again” box and then click on the “No” button. (You need to do a few things before importing the CD.)

You should see a list of tracks on the CD with values filled in for some tags. (If your computer isn't connected to the internet, iTunes can't look up these tag values and the list will be blank.)

Right-click in the column headings area and be sure that the following tags are checked: Composer, Album, Artist, Genre and Name. You can rearrange the columns as discussed above for the music library view.

The iTunes window should look like this image. (screen 3).

Larger image here.

The tag values are specific to the CD you inserted.

Classical Music on an iPod - 2

This post goes through some setup steps before we can start importing CDs.

Get the view of your library that you need for classical music.

Click on Music under Library at the left side of the window. Click on the “View” menu and then on “as list”. Click on the “View” menu again and then on “Column Browser” and then on “On Top”. Your iTunes window should look similar to this image

Larger image here.

The number of columns and some column headings may be different on your screen..

Hide the sidebar panel on the right side of the iTunes window. This will give you more room to display columns.

Slide the mouse pointer over the vertical line at the left of the file list. Hold the left mouse button down and drag the vertical line to the left to get more room for the file list area.

Right-click on the upper set of headings (Artist, albums, etc.) Be sure the following tags are checked: Genres, Composers, Artists, Albums.

Right-click on the lower set of headings above the file list. Be sure that the following tags are checked: Composer, Album, Artist, Name, Time and Genre. After you have all the tags checked, you can rearrange the columns by holding down the left mouse button over a tag name in the column name and dragging it to the left or right. You can adjust the width of columns by dragging the vertical dividers between column headings to the left or right.

Your iTunes window should look similar to this image.

Larger image here.

Classical Music on an iPod - 1

A person unfamiliar with computer based audio asked about setting up a simple HiFi system for a family member with a 200 CD collection of classical music. He wanted something that would play music from computer files and be easy to use. I suggested a combination of Audioengine A5 speakers, an Audioengine W2 iPod to speakers wireless transmitter and an iPod to hold the music. The person doing the project liked the idea and I volunteered to provide some tips.

I long since ripped my CD collection to computer files and more recently copied a subset of my music files to an 80 GB iPod. I had used the J. River Media Center software (JRMC) for all but one step and the Foobar2000 software for that step. However, I wanted to recommend a simpler way for a beginner to accomplish the same thing. I looked at using several different pieces of software before deciding that iTunes would be the simplest tool for this job. The job would be complicated enough that I needed to provide some detailed instructions for using iTunes. That is the subject of this post and the following one. Some questions and answers first.


How much space will be required?

A CD can contain over 70 minutes of music. That requires over 700 Mbytes of space. When the CD is ripped to profuce music files, the amount of storage required depends on the format used:

Wav or AIFF format – requires the same 700 Mbytes.

Lossless format like Apple Lossless format (ALAC) – compresses the data in a way that allows it to be exactly reconstructed. The amount of space varies but is usually half to 2/3 the space of the data on the CD. My rule of thumb is 3 CDs to a Gigabyte since some CDs are are shorter than 70+ minutes of audio.

Lossy formats such as MP3 or AAC – These sacrifice exact reconstruction to allow for smaller storage requirements. A good choice for this project might be AAC with 320 Kilobits per second. Our 70+ minute CD would take 175 Mbytes. My rule of thumb might be 5.5-6 CDs per gigabyte.

What format do we pick?

200 CDs might require ~ 50 Gbytes in ALAC format and 25-30 Gigabytes in AAC format.

Your choice. Storing audio in lossless files means that you won't have to repeat the ripping process again (unless you fail to back up your data.) Storing data in lossy files mallows you get get more on an iPod of a specific size.

How to we label the music files so that we can browse and select what we want to play?

We will choose folder and file names that describe the contents of the music files. However, the iPod will rely on tags stored in the files for browsing the collection on the iPod.

The process of transferring music from audio Cds to music files is called ripping CDs by many people and importing CDs in iTunes. The CD doesn't contain a description of what's on the CD so iTunes looks up the descriptive tags in an online tag database. You can edit the tags values before the CD is imported. The tag values will be used to create folder and file names for the music files and will be stored in the music files.

For classical music, we need a tag to describe who composed the music and a different tag to describe the performer(s). Online tag database aren't very good at providing tag information that is consistent in format or spelling. In addition, the form of names is often wrong for use in browsing music files. You have to be prepared to edit the values returned from the online tag database.

Before I specify the content of individual tags, I'll describe how we browse for music on the iPod.

Many classical music lovers have their CDs arranged by Composer and by work for that composer. If we have several performances of a work, we file them by performer for each composer and work. On the iPod, we would select a Composer, then an work (album) and then an individual track (which might identify an particular artist's performance or identify an individual work in a set.)

We might also have some compilations of short works performed by a star soloist. Those CDs would be filed by Performer then by CD album name and then by individual work.. On the iPod, we would select a performer (Artist), type of work or CD album name (Album) and then by individual work (Track name.)

What tags do we want to use and what do we put in those tags?

Tag name - what we want in it

Genre - classical, rock, jazz, etc. This will be useful for random play within a genre.

Composer - last name of the composer (unless we need a first name appended to make it unambiguous)

Album - the name of the work performed in the music file. If the work is a single track and is part of a set of similar works by a composer (such as waltzes by Chopin), we would use waltzes as the Album tag value.

Artist - the performer(s). For an orchestral work, this would be the conductor's name followed by an underscore character and then the orchestra name. When possible, use a last name for the conductor and a shortened orchestra name. For a concerto work with a soloist, we would specify soloist's last name_conductor's last name_orchestra name.

Track name - for small works contained in a single track, we would put the name of the work here followed by an underscore and the Performer's last name. For works that span several tracks on the CD, we will do a trick to compensate for the deficiencies in the iPods features. We would put the composer name_work name_perofmrer last name in the track name tag for such a multi-movement performance.

For works that span more than one track, we are going to combine the tracks so that the while performance is in a single music file. This lets us select a single track name asd an additional browsing and selecting step. It also ensures that when we let the iPod play music at random, it will play entire works rather than single movements of works.

That's what we want to do. The next post describes how we do it.

Why I don't own an Apple Mac

When I need a new computer, I always do thorough research before I buy a PC. I look at alternatives from Apple as well as Windows PCs and Linux based systems. Apple Macs are never on my short lst for several practical reasons:

1. The price difference is unreasonable. Some commentators compare list prices for Dell PCs or some other name brand PC to Mac list prices. On any day, Windows PCs of all kinds will are be available at huge discounts and Mac will be stuck at list price. I expect that the laptop I buy soon will cost $ 500 or less while the less satisfactory Mac alternative would be $ 1000 or more.

2. Apple does not offer what I need. They offer no reasonably priced desktop computer with expansion slots and room for more hard drives (3.5" as well as 2.5".) I can't buy a 3 pound Mac laptop with more than one USB port.

3. Software I depend on is not available for the Mac OSX environment. The next few programs I want to use will probably be available only for Windows. In general, software choices are more limited in the Mac OSX environment.

4. Hardware I use has no Mac support.

I can get the same basic functionality from a Windows PC or a Mac and I have no trouble using Windows PCs, so I make the practical choice.

My path to PC audio playback

Around 2001, I started thinking about putting our music collection on a computer hard drive and using PC software to browse our collection and play music. I had to wait until hard drives got large enough and cheap enough. Finally, in fall of 2005, I felt that my plans were feasible.

I had worked for 20 years writing computer software (including audio and video device drivers) so I had a good understanding of the underlying technologies. I didn't know enough about the choices available for soundcards, DACs and software.

I started by researching tools: software for ripping CDs, tagging the resulting music files and playing those music files. I had a good idea about what I wanted to do and how the software needed to work. At that time, about 60% of our CD collection was classical music and another 15% was broadway musicals and showtunes albums. Being able to browse by Composer as well as as Performer was essential. Having a separate tag for a Work Name was also essential. Finding the tools that fit my needs wasn't easy but I felt it was necessary. I didn't want to accept a clumsy dis-functional solution because a software developer had not thought about my needs.

Once I had some alternatives in mind for each kind of tool, I experimented with a subset of our CD collection. That subset varied from 30 to 100 Cds.

I tried very hard to find a way to use iTunes but found it wanting. I rejected lots of other music player programs as being inadequate for classical music. Then I found J. River Media Center. (MC) It had the features I needed to rip, tag, organize, browse and play classical music.

I chose the lossless Flac format so that my music files had the same audio data as our CDs.

I started ripping my CD collection about 3 years ago. Ripping nearly 2000 CDs was a long, grinding task. I worked on it for about four months. I knew why the effort was worthwhile to me so I persevered. I continue to find small erors and inconsistencies in the tags but there have been no significant problems. Keeping up with our hundreds of CD purchases since then has been a very manageable task.

After our CD collection was in transferred to a library of music files, I selected a subset of those files, made MP3 copies and copied them to an iPod. It is a permanent collection of the music we like best. We use that iPod to make music available in our cars.

Having our music collection in a well organized PC based library has been a success. It is easier to select and play music now, so we listen to more music. The MC database remembers what we own so we frequently discover music we had forgotten. We can listen in our home office, in our library (room) and in our living room and dining room. I conceived this project and I feel a sense of accomplishment now that it is implemented.

An introduction to my blog

I chose my blog's name to reflect some of my interests: driving for fun, listening to music and appreciating nature. I'll also write on technology, especially as it relates to thse interests.

I enjoy driving sports cars and other cars that are fun to drive. That has been a shared interest for me and for my wife Lesley for over 40 years. We have always tried to pick cars that were fun to drive. They haven't all been powerful, fast or great looking but almost all of them made driving enjoyable. Great handling were always important than power. We keep cars for 10-13 years so we pick each car carefully. I do most of the research to narrow the field but Lesley is fully involved in test drives and making the final choice.

My parents didn't have any interest in music so I had limited exposure to music as a child. I certainly knew nothing about classical music. I wandered into that interest at the end of my undergraduate college years. Lesley had more exposure to classical music than I did so she aided in my education. As a graduate student, I had friends who liked classical music so we played recordings we owned for each other. During those years, Lesley and I spent a lot of time going to concerts and shopping for cheap LPs in record stores.

I'm an audiophile because I enjoy listening to music. Faithful reproduction of recorded music makes listening more enjoyable for me. I reached adulthood at a time when having a good stereo was a goal for many people my age. When I started, I could barely afford any stereo components. The top of the line equipment such as Marantz and McIntosh preamps and amps were out of reach. As time passed, I could afford to spend more money on gear but starting in the 70s, prices for high end audio gear went up faster than my ability to afford that gear. Great sound is just one interest competing for interest and funds with the rest of our lives.

Lesley and I share an interest in and love of nature. We walk regularly in our city's 2700 acres of open space and other nearby parks. We have worked in habitat restoration projects in our city's open space since 1991.  Many of our vacations have a focus on wildlife watching or wildflower viewing. Taking photos of what we see is a natural extension of our interest in nature. We have a gallery of photos of flowers, insects and other wildlife at  http://naturelover.smugmug.com/ .