Congratulations on taking the steps to having a music
server. This has the potential to open
up your collection to entirely new ways of enjoyment, and allows for the discovery
of hidden gems you forgot about. In
addition, it might make carrying your collection with you (on a smartphone) a
reality.
I agree with the response from a prior poster that you
should look at a general-purpose computer rather than a purpose-built music
server. It is less expensive to use
off-the-shelf computer hardware and software, and allows for maximum
flexibility and future-proofing (and not to mention well-established mechanisms
for making backups).
I’ve been evolving my media server over the past 15 years,
and now have an “entry level” commercial-grade server running Linux. I use FLAC as my lossless format, and I wrote
a simple program to automatically create 128k MP3 equivalents of all FLAC music
files for use in iTunes, and subsequently for syncing with my iPhone. The lossless data is served using both
Logitech Media Server and Plex Media Server, which allows arbitrarily streaming
music to virtually anywhere in my house.
I back up the data on locally-attached backup volumes, other computers
in my home network, and remote offsite locations (Crashplan Central). (Yes – the data is backed up to at least 3
different locations.) It’s slick and
works great, but it’s taken years to achieve this.
While Linux represents an excellent bang for the buck (it’s
infinitely flexible, very stable, and completely free), it’s not the choice for
everyone. I used to work in computers,
so I have the necessary background to do this.
For most other people, however, I recommend a Windows- or Mac OS – based
solution. They will work fine, and most
people will be much more familiar with using it.
Here are some of my takes on things you should think about
up front to save you some hassle later:
1)
Music
file format. 12 years ago, I switched
from WAV to FLAC. I have never looked
back. It’s been one of the best
decisions I’ve made, as FLAC files are lossless yet more compact than WAV. Importantly, however, they fully support
tagging, so you know what that particular song actually is, and how it fits
into your collection, and therefore allows it to be played when you so
desire. It’s also the most universal of
the tagable lossless formats, supported on a wide variety of computers and
devices (with the sole exception of iTunes)
FLAC also supports high-resolution files, and many sites, such as
Bandcamp and Magnatune, allow downloading music files in FLAC format.
2)
Filesystem structure. Are you going to create directories, etc, to
organize your music files, or put them into an application to automatically
organize them? (There are pro’s and con’s
to each.) Does your software know to
avoid putting special characters (such as a slash) in filenames that are
disallowed by the particular operating system?
3)
Tagging.
a.
You’ll need to be consistent here. Are you going to make a differentiation
between Pop and Rock, for instance?
Newgrass vs Bluegrass? Subtypes
of Jazz? (Smooth Jazz, vocals, instrumental, etc). Rap vs Hip Hop? Ambient vs electronica?
b.
Cover art.
I’ve come to standardize on 600x600 pixel jpg files. iTunes (at least versions in the past)
sometimes had a problem with large image files, so I scale all of those images
down to 600x600 in Photoshop before adding the image to a music file. I feel that jpg is probably the most
universal image format, and 99% of the cover art images you download form the
Internet are already in that format.
c.
Unicode support for accented characters,
etc. Although my Linux-based programs
had no problems using characters outside of American English, importing them
into iTunes was always problematic. So
now I tend to omit accented and special characters.
d.
Compilation albums. Are you going to tag each music file with the
actual artist, and then set the Album Artist to something like “Various Artists”? (That’s my recommendation, actually.)
e.
Classical music.
Oh goodness, where do I even begin here?
Are you going to assign the composer to the Artist tag (since it’s more
universally supported than the Composer tag), and then the soloist and/or
orchestra to the Album Artist tag? Or
put the soloist in the Artist tag and hope for the best with the Composer tag
being recognized? Do you organize the
different movements in a piece in a consistent fashion? Do you spell it Rachmaninov or
Rachmaninoff? Do you just lump
everything into the catch-all genre “Classical” or do you sub-divide them into “Chamber”,
“Concerto”, etc? And how do you handle
classical complilation albums? (One of
the real challenges when it comes to tagging.)
4)
Ripping CD’s.
Software like EAC, dbPoweramp, and MediaMonkey can check rips against a
database of known rips to assess whether it was successful or whether any of
the tracks had errors. (This is
especially important when buying used CD’s that have not been well taken care
of.) I suggest using them. Do you have a “staging area” where you take
newly-ripped music files, and then go over all of their tags to ensure they are
consistent with your standards, and then add them to the collection?
5)
High-resolution files. If you download a 24/96 FLAC file, are you
able to use it on all of your devices?
Do you also have a non-24/96 version (ie, straight Redbook CD) that you
want to also keep? If so, how do you
tell the difference? (Perhaps adding
something like “24/96” to the album name?)
6)
Data integrity.
What are you plans for backups?
You will need automated backups, as users can’t be trusted to reliably
and consistently do this. It needs to be
set-and-forget to make it really work, and you should have both local and
online (offsite) backups, as they guard against different things. (Local backups defend against accidental
deletion, hard drive crash, etc, while offsite backups defend against equipment
theft or destruction from a fire, for instance.)
7)
Future upgradeability. This is where using a general-purpose
computer will greatly make your life easier.
You can probably just add a newer/bigger hard drive, or upgrade the
computer in several years to a faster/more capable machine, and have it be a
straightforward upgrade.
I know, I know, that sounds like a lot. But the key to this process is consistency
and appropriate planning. Ask yourself
how you might want to utilize this. Do
you want to have it play U2’s Joshua Tree album? Any random country music? Beethoven’s 5th conduced by
Leonard Bernstein? Any cello music? Smooth jazz recorded before 1980? All music available in high-resolution
format?
Once you delineate how you anticipate using your music
collection, this will largely dictate how you tag and lay out your music for
your media server.
Don’t fret, however.
Having a functional media server loaded with your own music is one of
the more rewarding experiences in audio.
You can listen to your music anywhere, anytime, however you like. And don’t forget to occasionally tell it to
just “have fun” (ie, randomly select any songs without any restrictions). You’ll be pleasantly surprised with the
results.
Michael
