[Closed] Music storage question.

Copy them to the phone you actually use rather than an old one?

Copy them to the phone you actually use rather than an old one?

If you spend more than £100 a year on CDs then perhaps consider one of the streaming services? I know spotify allows you to download locally so you're not relying on data. Google Music also allows you to upload your own tracks. Not sure if you can then download locally but I think so.

I've tried spotify and deezer and don't get on with them as I do enjoy the physical ownership of the disc.

Even without a storage card you should be able to store a couple of weeks worth of mp3 music on the internal memory of any decent phone.

The phone I actually use doesn't have a removable storage card.

So? It'll still have storage. Plug it in to a PC, it should appear as a drive.

So? It'll still have storage. Plug it in to a PC, it should appear as a drive.

I find iTunes on a mac is a good way of managing my collection.

(I've cleaned up the other discussion as requested and will raise the issue with the tech bods.)

Can't get all my music on my phone either.
That's got 64gb.

If I could it'd take about a year to listen to anyway.

I just download a selection.
Or stream.

I've tried spotify and deezer and don't get on with them as I do enjoy the physical ownership of the disc.

Neither actually stop you from buying CD's though. If you spend time ripping and transferring to 3 different places then having a streaming service does pay for itself. Have you tried Tidal? Think that's still on 3 months free trial?

I still buy CDs. I rip them using Exact Audio Copy on my PC, ripping to FLAC format and then store them all on my NAS.

If I want them on a phone or whatever I can convert to MP3. In my case with Win Phone if I just dump them in my OneDrive music folder, they're automatically available for streaming on the phone with option to make them offline so don't need a good signal or consume data while playing. Google and Amazon have similar things.

Though mostly I play on my amp at home, playing FLAC files directly.

FLAC - because it's CD quality with compression and no loss. That's why I'm not keen on downloads as still most services only offer lossy MP3 or DRM files.

Sadly streaming has shifted the focus from quality. CD isn't the best either and we've had much better quality formats in offering but the vast majority of people don't care about quality it seems.

And the problem I have with the likes of Spotify is they can hit rights issues and found a few times a particular album is missing a track because it comes under different rights. Also there is always the potential for them to lose the rights to a track/album you want. Bit like Netflix/Amazon for video. You basically don't own the stuff to play/watch whenever you want, forever, you're dependent on the streaming service.

captainsasquatch - Member
I've tried spotify and deezer and don't get on with them as I do enjoy the physical ownership of the disc.

CDs get moved onto a Synology NAS. Can use multiple networked devices to access - Stereo receiver, DVD player, PC, phone app to chromecast to other hifis (wifi).

For car drag n drop onto phone sd card, or CDs!

There will be some clever cloud solution I'm missing.

There will be some clever cloud solution I'm missing.

Playlists on spotify, I can download and dump what I want as I go,

Spotify newbie question - how do you dump stuff, i.e. delete the downloaded track you don't want?

Thanks all, I don't want to go the Spotify/Deezer route. I've tried them both and just didn't get on with it.
Mostly I listen to 6 Music and ocassionally I like to dip into my albums.
I'll just keep on doing what I'm doing.
The only other soution I can think is using Dropbox and see if I can do something that way.

Why don't you "get on with it"?

I moved on from CD's to streaming and file storage in the same way I did to CD's from vinyl. With trepidation.

Soon, with a bit of application, I got used to it. I use the Tidal (CD-quality lossless) service. I have all my CD's ripped to a usb stick inserted into the streaming box. Also I can Bluetooth my Tidal downloads to the system from my mobile (currently doing that for some deLucia/diMeola/McLaughlin flamenco) or stream from my lists/favourites on the Tidal sight. The downloaded "offline" facility using Tidal is great on my commute with a pair AKG NR headphones.

Honestly, it's like going to a personal iMax after years of making do with a black and white portable telly.

The instant access to a planet-sized choice of quality recordings is staggering. Make the move. You'll not regret it... 😀

i've reverted to storing and collecting my music on 12" flat round black vinyl discs, they are very good. ; )

trying to be polite but get with it grandad....
if it's important then you can probably get some CD's to pop on the shelf but streaming is the future for the cost of 1 CD per month I have all of spotify available to me.

i've reverted to storing and collecting my music on 12" flat round black vinyl discs, they are very good. ; )

[quote=captainsasquatch ]Thanks all, I don't want to go the Spotify/Deezer route. I've tried them both and just didn't get on with it.
Mostly I listen to 6 Music and ocassionally I like to dip into my albums.
I'll just keep on doing what I'm doing.
The only other soution I can think is using Dropbox and see if I can do something that way.

Google Music.

If you've already got the music on your old PC, you can "upload" your collection into the Cloud and stream YOUR music collection on YOUR phone whenever you want. You can even download some of it to your phone (assuming you've some space) so you can listen to it offline.

Noting that Google will match your music to a rip on their server and prefer that. Makes it fast uploading as it may not have to upload much, but what you get streamed may not be the same quality and potentially might be a slightly different version if there is a difference (regional, censored, etc). They accept many formats but convert to their optimum MP3 format and rate. What you upload can only be downloaded to copy out of their storage twice and that's it. You can still stream and keep offline to play in their app whenever you like though (there are device limits, and you can't share), but they are keeping property of your music with restrictions. You do however get 50,000 uploads for free.

OneDrive also has a 50,000 limit of uploads, but what you upload just goes into your OneDrive folder as is. No messing with it. That means it's longer to upload as there's no matching system, but what you download/stream is exactly what you uploaded, and there are no limits. It's your files, your music. Big downside is it counts against your storage limit which isn't much for free, but anyone with Office 365 will have 1TB of storage, which is quite a lot and can do way more than music with it. Apps available to stream for Win desktop / phone, web, Android, iOS, Xbox and apparently Sonos.

With any cloud service, I'd store FLAC originals on a NAS or backup, and upload MP3s to cloud services to stream. Don't trust the service to the originals.

You can get 50Gb free with Mega.nz cloud/sync service, if you trust Mr. Dotcom with your data. I do. Probably.

I'm guessing you phone is an iPhone? - if so you can use iTunes to stream over 3/4G in the car. Once you've hooked up the phone to your laptop and it knows about your music library then iTunes will play your music off the cloud.
I was surprised when mine did this - I just put a bunch of albums on the phone and then my library was available. No Apple Music sub either.

I'm guessing you phone is an iPhone? - if so you can use iTunes to stream over 3/4G in the car. Once you've hooked up the phone to your laptop and it knows about your music library then iTunes will play your music off the cloud.

Is a NAS out of the question?
All my music goes onto my NAS for streaming to devices around the house.
The QNAP apps for it are pretty good, quick to connect and very reliable over 3G.
Sync music folders from your laptop to the NAS multimedia folder. Fire up the app on your phone, start the music. Really is that easy.
Costly to start up, but definitely worth it.
Will NEVER use Spotify!

As no-one seems to have mentioned it yet I'll point you in the direction of bandcamp.com

You buy per album, with the option to buy a physical copy if you prefer. All purchases come with the ability to download (Can't remember if there's a limit) and downloads have a choice of quality (including FLAC!)
You also get unlimited streaming of any albums you've purchased through their website and app so you don't need to carry all your collection around with you.

You even get a number of free listens to albums before it starts prompting you to purchase.

They also have an amazing weekly podcast which is done by an ex radio 6 DJ 🙂

Ipod nano. small and light and with a great amount of storage.

Is a NAS out of the question?

Playing in the (unscratched!) car will need mobile data, that's the only cost...
what else you want to know?

Playing in the (unscratched!) car will need mobile data, that's the only cost...

That's it - mine also has an HDMI output, so if you have it by the telly, you can stream direct. I don't, I have Plex for that.

But yeah, I have a QNap silent Nas with 4TB of disks stuck in it.
Films are backed up to it and played over the wi-fi using the aforementioned.
I also have Qbackup set on it, which syncs (not really a backup) the files I dump into my music folders on my PC.
They're synced into a sub folder of Multimedia, which makes the whole library available for streaming over QMusic (the mobile app).
I could give you a link to my music and you could connect in a flash and stream off my device too! (You don't even need the app, you can use a browser)
It's a wonderful thang.

OK let's see...

You like owning CDs.
You want CD quality sound.
You don't have enough storage space for all your lossless rips.

Solution 1: Just...play the CD? 😀

Solution 2: Use your PC/MAC as a Network Attached Server to serve your music over wifi to your stereo. Wifi dongles available.

Solution 3: Google Play Music. It adds your library to its library, making all the music you own available for streaming at any time. Don't like streaming? You can tell Google Play to make any playlist available offline. No these will not be lossless, but I'm guessing your Bluetooth speakers are not making the most of those high-res files anyway.

Solution 4: Get a new phone or portable music player that accepts SD cards. Money no object? Get an Astell & Kern AK Jr with a half-decent DAC to make the most of your high-res files. Because what's the point in keeping your music in such an inconvenient format if your equipment isn't up to the task of resolving the detail in the sound?

captainsasquatch - Member
I've tried spotify and deezer and don't get on with them as I do enjoy the physical ownership of the disc.

FWIW, I do the following:
- Rip the CDs to MP3
- Store on my NAS
- Stream through Sonos, sometimes play the CD on my main hifi
- Have an SD card for the car
-...and an MP3 player for other times

Since I now buy CDs less frequently than I did, it's no real hardship to rip a new CD when I get it, and then copy across to a couple of places.
My phone doesn't have expandable storage, and has awful battery life, so I don't bother putting music on it

Amazon Music Player. Buy CDs off Amazon and get the digital download thrown in (they call it Autorip). Download immediately and the CD arrives a couple of days later, without any subscription you still get a lot of storage. Pay £20 a year and store up to 250,000 songs on Amazon whether they sell the CD or not. Amazon Music player app on all my devices, job done. Never rip anything, most CDs these days don't make it out of the wrapper.

EDIT: and you can either stream or download. Local storage never a problem.

I have a nice aluminium rack to keep my albums on.

nicko74 - Member 
- Rip the CDs to MP3

I'd rip to FLAC to store on a NAS. Exact copy of the CD then, best quality. They'll stream as-is on a Sonos/Squeezebox/etc type of device, and over wifi to your phone with the right apps.

Then I have what I'm likely to want on the phone or other portable device converted to MP3. At the moment I dump them in my OneDrive and pick them up from there.

I need an option to hook stuff into my car system though. 2008 Civic and there are no inputs. FM transmitter tried but it's awful. Various third party options but involves ripping the dash apart. Would like something I can use the steering controls and even better the head up display with, instead of just plugging in the phone and trying to change tracks on the phone (which as shown in recent news of lorry driver killing a family doing just that is definitely not an option). There are options to plug in a big storage device as if it's a CD changer but serves MP3s instead. Would be great to get something that can be remotely synced.

[i]They'll stream as-is on a Sonos/Squeezebox/etc type of device, and over wifi to your phone with the right apps[/i]

And FLAC really makes a difference with this type of listening?

My Squeezebox original hooked up to my amp, maybe yes, but depends on the comparable MP3 bitrate quality and what the music content is. I do find I'm able to hear "watery" artefacts in some MP3s. Though more so with a decent system plus headphones.

Streaming to a phone or kitchen radio, then yeah quality isn't a priority. Though FLAC is more about archiving the original CD perfectly. MP3 isn't exactly what I bought, it's lost information. Convert it and a bit more is lost, etc. If my CD is damaged or rots away (is possible) then I have a perfect copy of it.

[i]If my CD is damaged or rots away (is possible) then I have a perfect copy of it.[/i]

Fair enough - although I've [i]lost[/i] more than I've had damaged or rot 😉

I understand your problem as I have similar.
I store my music on a computer and run a upnp/dlna server so I can access this collection, but that eats through my data plan plus I send it reduced so it sounds a bit rubbish. So I copy the files I want to my phone, which is as easy as plugging the phone to the computer and transferring the files. I don't know why you are bothering with the older phone.

I can then play those files via bluetooth audio in the car, but that sounds horrible, so I end up copying the files to a sd card for use in car. Mp3 is probably good enough in the car as the system sounds rubbish anyway, but I can never be bothered to convert them as that's too much hassle so the car storage fills up quickly.

But basically when I get a new cd and want it in other places, I put the cars sd card in the computer and plug the phone in the usb and copy the files to both at the same time and then it's done.

I use a 500GB iPod in the car. Can't beat it 🙂

I'd rip to FLAC to store on a NAS. Exact copy of the CD then, best quality. They'll stream as-is on a Sonos/Squeezebox/etc type of device, and over wifi to your phone with the right apps.

Then I have what I'm likely to want on the phone or other portable device converted to MP3.