Another Check my Proceduresque thread.

[Wolfmansbabymama]

I ask of you kind sirs to bless me with your knowledge...
didn't want to thread jack, and have some specifics that i can't sort out.

My goal is to obtain, archive(in the backup sense) and share lossless music. Maybe this could help others as well.

I use Azureus to torrent. Files are going to my external HD.(300gigs almost full now)

I never delete any of the files(MD5, checksums, text documents, etc.)

i typically convert flac files to wav using Traders Little Helper.

Question 1) I didn't have my Itunes set to Apple Lossless until i had maybe 20gigs on my Itunes. If i played the wav. file from the folder i torrented and converted, is this lossy? Should i start over? :?

I have a lot of studio albums as well. these are all in mp4 format. does it matter if they were lossless? are they ll? is mp4 ll? if i didn't import a file just played it through itunes and uploaded to ipod it will take up much more room right? i'm confused.

Question 2) My itunes folders are saved in F:/ drive. Torrented files in my G:/drive.  The itunes 25%full, the external HD is 85% full. Is this how i should have it set up?


I know this is a lot to ask/read. Ultimately i'd like to contribute back with seeding help, etc.

This is part 1 of a 4 question series.  :mrgreen: :lol: :?

[jephrey]

Wav is not lossy.  If it's in iTunes, you can see what format the song is in by showing the "kind" column.  if you were importing as AAC, that's mp4.  Apple lossless is also mp4 because they're both based on the same codec, one's just lossless.  So you should find out what you have in iTunes.  If it's wav or apple lossless, that's great.  Now, if you want a lossless copy and also a lossy copy, you can do that, but until you delete or move one they should both be shown in itunes.  But all this also depends on if you let iTunes manage your library or if it just keys off of a fileset of wavs in a folder somewhere.  What's your final goal, and what's your current situation(more exactly as it relates to iTunes)?

[Wolfmansbabymama]

+k for the 'kind' hint!

I don't want a lossy copy. I only have a Ipod Nano, and i want to be able to put as much music as i can on it. I've noticed if i put a show on my ipod that is not imported(converted i guess) it takes up a lot of memory. Now that i have it set to Apple Lossless i thing i should convert a show to AL and then put it on the ipod.

Thanks Jephrey!

[Wolfmansbabymama]

Ok, a good majority of my music files are AAC. So this is lossy, right? Converting now in itunes is not going to better the quality i assume?

[tet]

correct.  once it has been made lossy, that information is, for better lack of a word, lost.  a lossless conversion of them would be a perfect reproduction... of the lossy file...

[Wolfmansbabymama]

so it seems that if i want to put a show on my ipod i should just rip the wave files to cd, then import apple lossless to itunes, and put in the info. otherwise it will look like gd850630d201 on my ipod.

Next line of questons: :-D

Backing up files

I've read threads on this on this forum and others. I just tried to back up 4 shows to DVD in Nero 7. There were problems with the backup. I followed this order DVD>Make Data DVD>Add Files(i added folders, didn't open and highlight all)>Burn(with verify data at end).

it stated Sector on Disc has different content to source and Data Verification Failure

[Marmar]

DO not sweat that kinda stuff......

Data discs have what's called CRC Data Correction......DO NOT trust a "verfiied content" check.....every DVD I've burned has this error when I check it......yet, all my shn/flac files passt fingerprint and md5 checks....

Burn the data, then check the md5's (for shn) and do a test decompress from the discs for flac's......

if THOSE fail...then ya got a bad burn.

[Wolfmansbabymama]

ok, on my data disk i burned: ph1989-10-26shnf, ph1992-03-13dsbd.flac16, and ph1992-03-20shn.

the shn's are ok, the flac files look like this?. :?

[Marmar]

looks like you just don't have the flac frontend installed?....or that you just don't have an icon associated with FLAC files.....

[Wolfmansbabymama]

After i torrent i use Traders Little Helper to decompress flac to wav. I have been skipping the Verify Checksum Files step.  :oops:

I know a lot of this is already covered in thread in this section, but again this may help others as well. Thanks for bearing with my etardness guys.

[jephrey]

I might shed some light with the way I control my shiz.

1.  Download and after a check archive that fileset.

2.  Convert from flac to Apple Lossless (or ALAC), or from flac to wav to ALAC depending on the utility used.

3.  Tag that stuff proper and let iTunes control my library.  A combination of how it's tagged and how iTunes works allows me to have an organized library of shows.

4.  I also archive those files right out of the iTunes library because I have a pretty in depth tagging style which is tedious.

Anyhow, since you're not trading your .m4as, you can really do what you wish with them, but technically, you can convert them back to flac, and with the proper text file/folder name/other files (md5, fingerprint), you'd be able to seed that (of course you'd verify against the original checksum). 

I rotate stuff in and out because I just wanted to standardize and stick with lossless.  As drives both in iPods and computers get larger, there's less and less a reason to even think about lossy.  Sounds like you've got a similar idea.  It's really not hard to rotate stuff, but then again, I've got the 60G classic.  But honestly, 60G is the sweet spot for me.  Once there's a 60G touch iPod, it's mine.  It's really all I think anyone would need, even with an all lossless library.

Good luck

[Wolfmansbabymama]

That does help a lot. I guess i could have said, "how do you guys go from flac/shn to your ipod, in detail) and backup to data, and seed. This is great info.

I am currrently deleting every wav file in my itunes that is pulling from my harddrive cause it doesn't allow much room, and also dumping aac files of shows(albums sound fine) and burning wav to disc, converting to itunes ALAC. sounds a lot better already and feel i'm on the right track.

Just want to get data disk backup and md5/verification under control to free up some room now.

[nab]

I don't know Macs, but it sounds like you're on the right path to archive.  It can be a bit daunting at first, but is easy as pie once you get the hang of it.

[Wolfmansbabymama]

I'm on a PC. Yes is a bit daunting, well frustrating that i didn't start off correctly. But thanks to some help i think i'm heading the right direction.

specifically what really got me here is listening to the Great Went in my car and it sounded like crap, digi noise and such. i remember it as an awesome chunky tower-show sbd. i've now removed the lossy and thrown the AL back on and it sound fanfreakingtastic!

[Marmar]

we need to get this man some of the shows I've mastered.......