CD Archiving 1: It Helps To Become Obsessed
Posted on | September 10, 2009 at 6:14 am | 12 Comments
In the previous post, I talked about how I’m no longer buying CDs and just sticking to digital downloads. But what about the 4100+ CDs I already own? What am I going to do about those? That gets to the heart of the matter of my latest passion and one reason why I haven’t been blogging. I’ve resurrected the CD archiving project.
In previous posts (like here and here), I’ve talked about my desire to transfer all my compact discs to the computer, by ripping them to digital files and importing them into iTunes, my media player of choice because of all the iPods I have. The reasons given back then were:
- Easy access and listening everywhere (the same reason I have for switching to digital downloads for new albums)
- Transferring to iPods
- Backup of my collection in case anything happens to the physical media
- Completion of CD cataloging (completing the disc info in Music Collector)
- Obsessive compulsiveness
Another potential reason is I was probably thinking that by transferring all my music to the computer, I could then get rid of the CD collection and free up space in the house. Of course, to remain completely legal, I guess I would have to destroy the collection rather than sell it or give it away. (Keep in mind that the discs in the collection are stored in individual plastic sleeves along with the booklet and tray card, instead of in the jewel boxes they came in. I sold the jewel boxes long ago. The collection takes up approx 1/4 to 1/5 of the space it would if I had kept the discs in the jewel boxes. But even with that much space reduction, it still takes up a helluva a lot of room, and it’s sometimes hard to find individual discs.)
When I first started ripping my CDs to the computer, I used the Apple AAC codec. But then I quickly decided that was too proprietary, or didn’t have any advantages I could distinguish vs MP3s, or I didn’t like the acronym, or whatever, and I switched to 128kbps constant bit rate MP3s. Then I decided that wasn’t good enough sound quality for permanent archival purposes, so I switched to 256kbps. And that meant starting all over again. But I was bound and determined to do it. Whenever I start over ripping the collection again, I always find there’s more information I want to add about the disc in Music Collector (cover artwork at better resolution, catalog numbers, etc). So that gives me another reason to start over and something more to obsess over.
(It occurs to me that I don’t really need Music Collector these days, since I could probably track all the same information for the discs when I rip them and import them into iTunes, most likely in the “Comments” tag. However, that would take up additional space in each track, and seems wasteful. Plus, MuC formats things much nicer and makes it easier to search for data. And it has that nifty corresponding iPhone app so I can view my collection prettily on the phone.)
Anyway, I started thinking about The Future and wondering if MP3 was really the way to go for archiving my precious CD collection. As I mentioned in the above referenced post, what if a better compression scheme came along later? Technology always marches forward. I think this worried me so much that I put the project on hold.
Then as I started researching the issue more, I came to a decision about what I wanted to do. Therein lies the roots of my current obsession.
But I’m writing this late at night and getting tired, so I’ll have to tell all about that later. I hope I don’t catch any flack for leaving anyone in suspense!
Also, I’m kind of wanting to indulge my obsession a bit before bed.
Latre.
Pet Peeve of the Day: Fast food establishments that don’t have self drink fill/refill stations (I’m looking at you, Wendy’s), and then give you a Coke when you ordered a Diet Coke.
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “do i have to wear my progressive reading glasses all the time”.
Videogame(s) Played Since Last Blog Update: None.
Tags: cd archiving > computers > digital music > iPhone > iTunes > Music > obsessiveness
Across The Digital Divide
Posted on | September 9, 2009 at 7:05 am | 2 Comments
I haven’t bought any CDs this year. Well, that’s not strictly true. I did buy a DVD that came with a bonus CD, but that’s it for physical music media. I don’t think I’m going to buy a regular CD ever again. With 4100+ CDs I don’t have room for many more, even though most of those are stuffed into plastic sleeves instead of jewel boxes, which saves a lot of shelf space. I think I’ve just grown beyond my desire to own the physical media. It’s so much easier and convenient to download new albums through eMusic, Amie Street, Amazon, whatever, then it is actually buy the disc. Not to mention cheaper – the digital version of an album is still usually less than the physical version these days. The sound quality of digitally distributed music is generally pretty good, especially to my aging dynamic range-challenged ears. Computer storage for the digital files is very cheap these days, though I do have to keep good backups. No hard disk lasts forever.
But what about listening? Isn’t it more convenient to have a CD you can play anywhere? Not really. I mostly listen to music in my car (from an iPod), on my computer (through iTunes), or when working out at the gym (a different iPod). On those rare occasions when I actually want to listen on my home theater stereo in the living room, I have a wireless dongle that will stream the tunes from iTunes on my computer to my stereo. And there’s even a remote control application on my iPhone that I can use to control iTunes from the living room. I could also probably transfer the files to my PlayStation 3, which is hooked up to my living room stereo, and listen from there.
I will still probably buy physical media if there’s a compelling reason, like the DVD/CD deal above, special packaging, a sonic upgrade, or wanting to support a favorite artist in multiple ways. I’ll still probably buy high resolution discs in DVD-Audio, SACD, Blu-Ray, and other formats as long as they make them. But those I get as much for the surround sound mixes (not typically available in digital versions) as for the better audio. The other issue is that sometimes an album just is not available for download in a digital version, though that’s pretty rare these days.
So, for the most part, I’m going all digital and not looking back. Am I wrong to do this?
Next: What to do about the existing CD collection.
Latre.
Pet Peeve of the Day: People who never update their blogs.
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “what if i forget to turn off my ihome alarm before i go on vacation?”.
Videogame(s) Played Since Last Blog Update: God of War 2 (PS2, on the PS3). I’ve been stuck on the Euryale boss fight for awhile now.
Don’t Mess With The Big Guys
Posted on | September 8, 2009 at 12:39 pm | 2 Comments
A month or so ago, N and I spotted these lovely and massive creatures while driving home. It’s really not that unusual, as the wildlife in Colorado will venture anywhere. I see deer all the time. It’s the first time I’ve seen two bull elk traveling together around here though. Where’s the rest of the herd?
Latre.
Vision Quest
Posted on | July 13, 2009 at 9:22 pm | 17 Comments
Some of you may remember my anti-LASIK tirade from a few years ago. Since then, my eyes have continued to get worse, both the near and distance vision. The steady deterioration of my near vision means that I have to wear reading glasses for almost any closeup work. My distance vision is still good enough that I can drive without glasses and can get by in most circumstances where I rely on it, but I’ve noticed that I don’t see the sharpness of landscapes and HDTV images and such like I used to.
I’m getting tired of taking the reading glasses on and off all the time. I kind of long for that pre-LASIK time when I had one pair of glasses that I kept on at all non-sleeping times. Sure, it was a hassle trying to find the bathroom in the middle of the night sometimes, but I think that beats trying to read something and having to search out some glasses. I want an all-in-one solution to my vision needs, even if it means going back to wearing glasses “full time”. Oh, I still want to go without glasses when working out at the gym or doing other sports-type things (one good thing about the LASIK), but for everything else, I could definitely go back to the 4-eyes scenario.
So at my annual vision checkup this year, instead of going with another pair of reading glasses to cover just the degradation in that area, I decided to go with a pair of progressive lenses. They have a tall area at the top of the lens for magnifying distance vision, and a gradation of zones at the bottom of the lens for helping with various close-up and reading issues. The doctor said I should be able to wear them all the time. And indeed, they’re fantastic for almost everything. It’s not that big a difference when driving, but it’s enough to be noticeable. I can read street signs and license plates and such that are a bit further away than I used to. But the best thing about using them when driving is I can now read the dashboard and the multi-function display a lot easier, just by tilting my head up a bit. I no longer have to struggle to figure out the name of the song on the MFD playing from the iPod. It also makes texting-while-driving a lot easier. (Just kidding.)
And I’ve also noticed that wearing them around the house improves my TV-watching and videogame playing experience. I feel like I’m getting the full HDTV experience for the first time since buying my plasma TV and PS3/BluRay. I no longer have to sit on a bean bag chair in front of the TV to see all the enemies on screen when playing videogames. And I can actually read while watching TV, without having to take glasses on and off! (Yes, sometimes I multitask.)
I also find that using the new glasses to read in general works better than my old reading glasses, especially for graphic novels. Although that could just be because my prescription has gotten worse.
So, the glasses have changed my life in a very positive way and I adjusted to them very quickly. However, they’re not the all-in-one solution I was hoping for. The one thing they don’t work well for is computer work. In order to read a computer screen with the glasses, I must have my head tilted up at an uncomfortable angle. And even then, the zone of sharpness is not very large, and any head movement at all makes me lose it. This is very headache-inducing. So, I still need to wear reading glasses when I’m at the computer. And seeing as how my work involves staring at a computer screen all day, and I’m also at the computer a lot for personal reasons, that’s a large chunk of time having to wear a different pair of glasses. Bummer.
I talked to the doctor about possibly getting a pair that would also work for computer work, but that would be difficult. They’d have to move the mid-range zone up on the lens, which would take away from the distance zone above and would probably also mess up the closeup zone below.
So I’ve gone from two vision situations (reading glasses, no glasses) to three (reading glasses, no glasses, progressive glasses). Although really the “no glasses” situation applies only to the gym and sleeping these days. I’m having trouble adjusting to switching to the progressives when I’m away from the computer. Keeping a pair of reading glasses next to the computer is not a big deal, but for some reason I always forget to keep the progressives handy too, especially at home. At the office I usually don’t have that problem.
This has definitely caused some mixups. I was playing a videogame yesterday and needed some help getting through part of it. So I went to the computer and looked up something on the Internet. When I got back to the video game, I was having a hard time and getting a headache. I chalked it up to the fact that the section of the game I was playing had a lot of snow obscuring the action. Finally, N walked into the room holding my progressives and said, “Don’t you need these?” I had been playing the game while wearing the reading glasses, which I had put on while at the computer. Ha ha – I’m such a Plugger!
Even though there are problems, I’m looking at this as a positive development. It’s opened up my world in a way that hasn’t happened since I got my first pair of glasses in high school, or right after I had the LASIK operation when I could still read without reading glasses (a time period that didn’t last long).
Latre.
Pet Peeve of the Day: The amount of tweaking you have to go through when changing WordPress themes in order to still get things to work like you want them to. I think I finally got this new theme working okay, but it took a little fiddling around. Good thing I know some PHP and am beginning to figure out stylesheets. And now I don’t feel so beholden to any one particular theme and can probably change themes a little easier now.
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “you crush me 2009″.
Videogame(s) Played Since Last Blog Update: I’m playing an awful lot of God of War 2 lately on my PS3, even though it’s a PS2 game. I never did play it when it came out, so I figure I should finish it sometime before GoW3 for the PS3 comes out next year.
Doubting Faith In Dog
Posted on | June 22, 2009 at 8:05 pm | 2 Comments
Since N got back, we’re trying to catch up on DVDs that we both want to watch. While she was gone, I watched a lot of noisy, violent movies, but now it’s back to the dramatic quieter flicks.
This weekend we watched two features. The first one was Doubt, which is about a scandal at Catholic school in Brooklyn in the 60s. Since I went to a Catholic school in the 60s, I have an interest in such stories. (My attendance at said school was fairly uneventful, aside from developing a great fear of nuns and their punishing superpowers.) I have to say it was one of the most beautifully filmed movies I’ve ever seen. We weren’t even watching the Blu-Ray, just a regular DVD on the PS3, and the colors and detail were amazing. I really believed we were watching Brooklyn from a bygone era, although it looked more like the 50s than the 60s sometimes. The Oscar-level performances by the three leads (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Meryl Streep and Amy Adams) were all brilliant. The story was enthralling, but I think we wanted a bit less ambiguity in the ending. I’m not just talking about the resolution to the central mystery of the story. The final scene, especially the final line, was a bit too abrupt. And even though the cinematography was excellent, the movie still felt a bit claustrophobic and insular, no doubt because of its genesis on the stage.
The second movie, Wendy and Lucy(which I keep wanting to call Wendy and Lisa), felt even more isolated. This despite the fact that most scenes are outdoors, including some in the woods. It was filmed in Portland Oregon, which was standing in for a smaller Oregon town. It’s about a woman, Wendy, played by Michelle Williams, who is having a very bad couple of days. She’s trying to go to Alaska with her dog Lucy and has just enough money to make it, but then things start going wrong, including her car breaking down and her losing her dog. This could have been a more interesting character piece if they had actually gone into the background of the character and told us how she got to this state. But instead it’s more of a short “slice of life” story, one small chapter in the middle somewhere, with no real beginning or end. The whole thing is pretty sad and depressing, but somehow appropriate for watching in bed on a Sunday morning. Williams did a decent job with the material, and the few scenes were she got really frustrated, angry, or scared hinted at what her performance could’ve been and where a more interesting story could’ve gone. Too bad we don’t get to see that story.
Administration Note: I’m avoiding including pix in posts lately until I figure out what I want to do about a new WordPress theme. The fewer pictures I include, the fewer posts I potentially have to go back and edit if I change themes.
Latre.
Pet Peeve of the Day: Waning support for the PlayStation 3.
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “special k has changed from original flakes”.
Videogame(s) Played Since Last Blog Update: inFamous demo (PS3), PlayStation Home.
Upgrade Mania
Posted on | June 21, 2009 at 2:13 pm | 3 Comments
Finally got around to upgrading my WordPress installation for this blog from 2.6 to 2.8. I really hated 2.6, and it looks like 2.8 is a lot better, especially in the post composition department. Upgrade was smoother too – I had database problems with the last one. So far it looks to me like the only thing that isn’t working is the Flickr Badge Widget, which doesn’t appear to be compatible with 2.8. So no random photos from my Flickr stream on the main page for now. If you find anything else that’s not working, please let me know. I hope to play around with changing the theme soon, but I don’t know if I can ever get away from Cutline because of the specific way it does images. But that’s another story.
Also upgraded my 1st gen iPhone to OS 3.0. Looks pretty cool so far. It added a “Voice Memos” icon to my home screen and pushed my “Messages” icon to a screen by its lonesome, so that necessitated totally redoing my screen real estate, which is something I needed to do anyway. Glad to see that copy/paste works, though I haven’t played with it much yet.
And since I upgraded to from WordPress 2.6, I could now finally install the upgrade to the WordPress iPhone application. Finally, no more pesky badge on the “App Store” icon!
More reports from the field as I play around more.
Latre.