2. pc-audio
  3. 1102828063

Large Audio Libraries

My question is fairly simple - is there a PC-based "jukebox" (WMP, iTunes, etc.) that handles a large music library efficiently? I have about 1500 CDs (16K songs) currently in WMP 10 - it does okay, but it takes a long time to manipulate the interface on a lot of tasks, given the size of the library. This wouldn't be the first time that MSFT released software that was, um, sluggish on early releases and then let the hardware catch up. I'm wondering if there are other players that would handle a library of this size efficiently.

Second, what are the key things to do to ensure performance in WMP 10? It seems disk bound, so I'm assuming just having fast drives is the only real help, but does a significant addition of RAM help, for instance?

Finally - any good resources (links) on audio PC libraries and how to get good peformance?

Thanks, Kirk
kthomas
extra_action
52 posts
 
squeezebox, squeezebox, squeezebox. I have around 8K and its smooth sailing. Handles key word title searches in a few seconds as apposed to minutes. And open source server side software ensures that the OS keep current
ultraviolet
105 posts
 
What you want is a library that searches and manages by filename (or compiles a database) rather than ID3 tag (this is, of course, assuming your filenames are up to snuff). I'm not sure what WMP does, but guessing from the slow speed you report on "only" 16,000 songs, I bet it searches and manages via ID3 tag. I'm using private noncommercial software so I'm not much help because I don't know what's out there, but in your search, the above qualities are what you need (hint: winamp is about the worst, foobar I reads filenames and is faster, but about the least user friendly GUI if you're not used to it).
doctorcilantro
59 posts
 
You need J. River Media Center, period. The BEST there is. Try it for thirty days. Once I started seriously archiving my collection of cd's and records I needed the same thing. It's a great progrma and supports multiple codecs, burning, secure ripping, tag editing right there on the spot. Support is GREAT through the forum. I was impressed, now all my friends use it. Email with any questions, it's so powerful you can get lost in the features.

DC
kthomas OP
911 posts
 
DC - Thanks! Since initiating this thread, I have continued to look for and keep my eyes open for a better jukebox - they're relatively easy to try and see how easy they are to break. Anyway, I had come across J. River MC and you are absolutely right - this is the best, period. It is so intuitive - after several months with my library loaded on WMP, and struggling to do anything much advanced in a way that I thought was intuitive, J. River is a revelation. Easy to set it up to let you look at your music collection in any / all ways that make sense. An easy $25 to pay. Thanks, Kirk
ejliu
109 posts
 
I have about 150gig of Apple lossless on iTune in Windows XP environment and it runs fairly fast. That's about 500 cds. I think iTune runs on mp3 ID3 tag as well. Maybe it has its only internal database system.

I tried the same on WMP and it is not great. foobar 2000 was very fast but I don't like the interface much. Slightly better sounding than WMP and iTunes though.
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