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Giving up on Itunes! Alternatives? I want to run my hardrive with a dedicated tablet.

After having my archives completely disorganized by itunes once again i’m throwing in the towel. I want to know everything about setting up a Tablet as a player for my digital music on a remote hard drive so i can do it right the first time.
I want a simple player (not Itunes) that can handle all file types, I have everything from mp3’s to lossless cd rips, over a thousand albums, not looking to spend alot of money, I work on my own equipment.
Lots of newbie questions! Why a dac? is there any real benefit or is this just a way to get people to spend more money. seems like this is more for av equipment? Cables? What are the benefits in terms of fidelity, should i be using usb to run my system? I’m currently running my digital through .999 silver minijack to rca and it definitely picks up noise from a computer or phone power cord and case. Seems like a lot of newer digital equipment gets signals pretty dirty, but i don’t know anything about it.
What kind of tablet, any fidelity drawbacks as far as this goes? I use Macs but don’t care if It’s an Ipad or whatever, just want the best sound, least interference. Does the material of the cables connecting the tablet to the hardrive or dac have an effect on sound?My system; It’s a pretty crazy set up of whatever I could get my hands on, predominately set up for vinyl but I have a huge collection of rare albums on digital and would like to begin archiving from vinyl. I’m running a Dynaco St70 (tube) through a dynaco pat5 (ss), JBL’s, all plugs are rca, solid silver interconnects, no shielding, ferrite beads.
The sonic qualities that are important to me are imaging and range, don’t want to sacrifice the extreme highs and lows to rule out a little emf interference, my amp is ancient anyway. You know, the vinyl sound. Please give me all the help and advice you can, brutal honesty preffered! There are just too many opinions and too much unhelpful information out there to wade through, just want to get started with something simple that sounds good. Not into expensive toys just listening to great sounding music!
eviesevielevie
ljgerens
157 posts
 
Are you running iTunes on an iPad or a computer? 

Which OS are you using and which version of iTunes?

Exactly what is happening to your music files?

How are they getting disorganized?

I ripped my CDs (about 400 CDs) lossless over 10 years ago to my Mac and have been streaming my music wirelessly to 4 different systems ever since. I am currently using a Mac Mini running headless as my music server. I have a stand alone DAC in 3 systems and an integrated amp with an internal DAC in the 4th system. You will definitely want a DAC.

I use iTunes and have never lost any files or had any disorganization. In fact it works perfectly and I have never had any issue. We use our iPhones or iPads as remotes to control our music selection.

All 4 of my systems are dead quiet with absolutely no noise. I have never had any EMF noise. 
bluorion
479 posts
 
I gave up on iTunes a few years ago and went to Spotify. Easy to use and you can use your iPhone or iPad. 
sfar's avatar
sfar
1,761 posts
 
The OP is right about iTunes/Apple Music's disorganization. Everything looks organized within iTunes itself but if you look at the folder structure in iTunes Media within the Music folder at the Finder level you'll see that the original album structure has been completely scrambled. Individual music files, regardless of format or the album they originally came from, are scattered across multiple folders in a structure only iTunes can navigate. That's all fine if you want to continue use only iTunes/Apple Music for playing from your Mac but if you want to use an application like Audirvana or JRiver you're out of luck. Both those will show that same complete jumble of music files and albums.
bachemar
14 posts
 
Dacs do not need to be hugely expensive. Audiosciencereview.com (ASR) has shown that there is almost no correlation between price and performance when it comes to Dacs. Use the component browser on that site and the reviews to find a dac with good performance at a price point you are comfortable with, and you’re off to the races. 
ljgerens
157 posts
 
I have looked at the iTunes music file at the finder level many times and my files are all well organized. My album structure is not scrambled but is in alphabetical order under the artist name. If you have an album with multiple artists, than the album can be placed into a compilation folder when ripped or each individual artist in the album would have its own folder, whichever you choose. 

There is a separate folder for artwork and there are two .itdb files and one .itl file. These files keep track of song ratings and how many times a song has been played. These files can simply be recreated if missing.

I can see where this arrangement can be a problem with Classical music, but I don't have any Classical music.
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