Moving house has made me re-think physical media

[boxerfan88]

Make sure to back up that 3TB of data because SSDs can and will fail. We have had a few take a dump.

I’ve had experience with HDD failures and usually have some warnings (bad sectors) before total failure. I do not have experience with SSD failure, could you share your experience?

 

[GD Fan]

I personally love my physical media, both CDs and (especially) books. They occupy places of pride in my homes.

The trouble, in my mind, isn't the stuff it's the moving of the stuff. As a consequence for the moves I've done in the last 18 years (two) I paid up to have the movers pack, move, and unpack all my shit. It's the only sensible way to go.

 

[JeffS7444]

Me during previous moves:
"Why do I own so many heavy/fragile things?!"

Vortexbox works great as a CD autoripper. But even better is being choosy about what to rip, and what to simply dispose of! I also periodically browse the contents of my NAS and delete music and videos that no longer interest me. This has allowed me to get by with a 2 TB NAS for years, and until recently, 256 gb SSDs in my PCs.

I pretty much gave up on ripping DVD, B-D and 4K media, because retaining all of the quality and features means dealing with inconveniently large file sizes, and it'd pretty much force me to stick with 3.5" SATA hard drive storage which I don't want to do. But I can nevertheless downsize the collection by ditching generic disk cases. I tentatively think my next NAS will have ~6 TB of available space on 4x 2TB NAND SSDs, mirrored to an external USB drive.

LPs: Even in my most vinyl-crazed years, I don't think my collection ever got much larger than 200 albums, because I'd periodically weed out stuff which no longer interested me.

Music in general: Maybe it's just me, but I feel that I have maybe a half-dozen albums in regular rotation at any given time. And out of 200-album collection, easily 150 are mostly dead weight.

 

[pderousse]

A problem many present-ists don't get (esp, some in that infamous long-running vinyl forum) is that the ability of even recently past artists to make their data sound their way is lost, and tech has far outstripped the desire (or abilities) of archivists to store that data onto the next great medium.

Just google “recension”, and if you are diligent, you will see within page one that even the internet has lost sight of what this very old word even means, because the medium ‘internet’ it is still too new. Add to this the fact that better/anachronous media are constantly added into the mix, and at an exponential rate (tape, cassette, CD, DAC, DVD, MP3, etc), and it is clear that WE have a recension problem: most recordings, as in the Alexandrian library, will not make it to the next celebrated medium. And even if they do, the next generation will suffer a pale version of the original. Many will not bother to rip, and that >>> is the largest source of loss.

Those of you warning of data-rot problems already agree. Those of you who will not be tacking laser-printed Picasso replicas to your appartment walls also agree. Those struggling just to move, are coming around.

Maybe consider keeping a few things from the old days. Maybe consider that scientists have have not yet learned everything from the old days. Doubters, please click here first before replying to get where I come from.

 

[watchnerd]

Music in general: Maybe it's just me, but I feel that I have maybe a half-dozen albums in regular rotation at any given time. And out of 200-album collection, easily 150 are mostly dead weight.

Huh.

Definitely not me. While I certainly have my regulars, I also usually listen to an album every day I've never heard before.

Last night it was Sarah Vaughan Live in Berlin. Tonight it's Pacific Quartet doing Ornstein piano quintet.

 

[5-pot-fan]

I can go one further. I'm in the UK and it's illegal to rip music (and video) even if the disc is in your possession!

Unless the UK law on this has changed in the last 15 years, it is/was legal to make a copy of vinyl or CD for security/safety purposes (not sure about video).

 

[WillBrink]

I hate moving house

Can't stop thinking about the fact that copious boxes of books, records, CDs and DVDs could be replaced by a NAS, a couple endpoints and a Kobo.

Sorry. Just wanted to rant a little

I hate moving house

Moving truly sucks. Last time I moved it was from MA -> FL, 10 years ago. I had a few thousand CDs. I narrowed it down to a few hundred of my favorites, sold the rest to a local place that had used CDs. With modern streaming, would have sold them all as I never play CDs any more myself.

 

[Vacceo]

And you could look at every piece of art in your house on an iPad instead.

Not the same

I got a lot of record booklets signed by the musicians. It is not, indeed, the same.

 

[MattHooper]

Huh.

Definitely not me. While I certainly have my regulars, I also usually listen to an album every day I've never heard before.

Last night it was Sarah Vaughan Live in Berlin. Tonight it's Pacific Quartet doing Ornstein piano quintet.

This is why, despite my high enthusiasm for playing records and the fact I’ve accumulated probably over 1000, I would not want to be vinyl-exclusive in my listening. For me, I would feel trapped by my collection in terms of limiting the music I’m listening to. And then the only way out of that is just to keep buying more new vinyl records. But then that leads to problems of storage, expense, etc.

Much better for me to combine the two: streaming and vinyl (and my ripped CD collection). Streaming I get to do all sorts of music exploration. Vinyl is for the music I really want to own on vinyl, so only the most compelling and favoured music for the most part.

 

[JeremyFife]

I have a rule for moving now: if I take a box out of the loft/garage in one house and plan to put in the garage/loft in the new house ... it's time to sell/donate/bin!

Music is almost entirely digital now (some ripped or purchased, mostly streamed on Amazon) no real regrets. I kept my small vinyl collection (500 LPs) for nostalgia.
I did rip all my CDs and got rid of them. I do regret that but mostly because I forget what I had - I used to enjoy browsing the titles and finding nice surprises. Not a big regret.

Books now ... they are in storage, couldn't get rid of them - just too many memories. We don't have the space now, and I find reading on the Kindle perfectly good ... still, I'd have wall to wall bookshelves if I could. Would probably help the room acoustics too!

 

[threni]

Unless the UK law on this has changed in the last 15 years, it is/was legal to make a copy of vinyl or CD for security/safety purposes (not sure about video).

Ripping music and films illegal again after High Court overturns new law

It's now illegal - again - to copy CDs or DVDs you've bought onto your MP3 player, your computer or other devices.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[OldHvyMec]

right that’s me considered it and decided it’s not an issue.

At least you know one difference between you and me.

No pre-nabbed Napster stuff on my property. I paid for it and I'm entitled to archive the content into any of my systems or take it to a private party.

78/45/33, RtR, cassette, CDs, through new records from our collection are mine to do with as we please, as long as I don't sell or give away duplicates.

Regards

 

[Timcognito]

NAS is worth the effort if you have a single dashboard on a large dedicated mobile tablet where just control music, radio, blogs when/wherever you want. There key is the app with cross platform GUI driving it. As an early adopter of Roon and Bluesound I would have forgotten about many of the 1200 CDs now on my NAS I've procured over the years, without them. Ripping is easy as 97% of the CDs were recognized by dBpoweramp and other 3% were a PITA to retag. Also I find new music constantly and rediscover rare nuggets from streaming and my collection. Because of music discovery features some treasured music is now blaze as I find new artists and genres, also many old favorites are right at my fingertips. I could never go back to loading albums on a platter one by one analog or digital. Being a technology junkie has been part of my DNA in with all physical things forever.