I've for a long time struggled with digital music storage. From the first days of discovering mp3s and discovering just how tiny that 1.2GB hard drive that I would "never fill up" is, to dumping data to large hard drive to large hard drive, to losing data to hard drive failures, to building in various redundancy and/or backup solutions, to building a dedicated file storage server, it just keeps growing.
I structure my folders like I'd have things on shelves, a dedicated folder for Blu-Rays, a folder for DVD-A, a folder for SACD that contains iso images, as converting those to flac would be a digital conversion and not a bit for bit copy and expanding to dsd files would greatly increase the size, a folder for CDs with letter folders within that as that is my biggest collection of digital music, a folder for DTS CDs, a folder for boots, a folder for music video materials, a folder for conversions and needledrops, a folder for Box Sets.
Of course, organizing my digital music library into folders is nice for computer browsing, but does little good when it comes to media server software. But, that's no problem - media server software sucks big time anyways. I've yet to find any way to build an easy to navigate way to tie in the server to my receivers. Roku sticks are cheap pieces of garbage that are locked down. Fire sticks are awful devices that are unpredictable. Plex won't deal with multi-channel all that well - it might pass through dolby digital stuff. Kodi - a nightmare to get to work on fire stick devices, their devs tried to assist, they threw their hands up in the air and gave up. Ultimately, the bottom line is, I keep wanting something that acts like a computer. So, my receivers have computers. Put a wireless mouse and keyboard on the coffee table, take an hdmi out to an hdmi in, boom, easy navigation, tons of software at your fingertips. It's not elegant, but it's functional. Firesticks are good for youtube videos to fall asleep to, and not much else.
But, that's not the topic to discuss.
The boxset - how to archive it.
I remember when the In The Court Of The Crimson King 40th Anniversary Box seemed over the top. Although I suppose it wasn't that much over the top since there were no marbles or coasters. A rather simple humble deluxe box by today's standards, only 6 discs, book, promo photos, cover artwork, and a few pins. And now that box set is over 10 years old, and an even more ridiculously over the top box has come up that puts it to shame, the complete 1969 recordings.
I used to grumble a little bit at ripping discs and having the overlap of materials between the CDs and hi-res discs. Doubling up on space. But, my music server is a dump truck, not a series of tubes - so I just kept piling it all on. But disecting this 1969 box, and it's like - where do I draw the line? And then how to deal with the overlapping materials between the 2 boxes? And, how many stereo mixes of an album do I need - am I really going to listen to them all? When do I ever go to sit down and think "hmmm.....today feels like a 2009 stereo remix today" or "you know....I'm getting that 2002 remastering of the original mix vibe today". Which, ok, having the best available digital copy of the original mix is probably a good idea, but the 40th anniversary box had that in hi-res on the dvd-a. The new box only has it in CD quality.
So I find myself making folder structures of the disks in the box, but then if better audio exists, I grab that - so I grab a copy of the 2002 master edition from my ripping of the 40th anniversary set, and throw a copy of that into the Disk 8 folder I've made for this box. But - now I have 2 copies of the same audio? Maybe I remove that from the 40th box? Maybe when I'm done sorting out the complete box, any leftovers in the 40th box that weren't in there, I move into that folder? Make a master box set on my hard drive? (note - after this rambling, I found the 2002 master edition is included on the 2019 blu-ray. Not the most logical place, but, I suppose that's where there was room).
Although, it really doesn't matter all that much - as if I'm ever like, I want the original mix, I'll probably take the opportunity to grab the original vinyl copy I have, I'm probably just filling up space with data that will never be used.
But, I'm probably one of the lucky ones. As much as I like King Crimson, they're not one of my top favorites. Don't get me wrong, I greatly enjoy King Crimson, bought my vinyl copy of In The Court when I was in college - never bought any other King Crimson vinyl though. Never bought any King Crimson CDs actually. I didn't start picking up any other King Crimson until the 5.1 issues started coming out. But was never one of those fans that picked up live recordings they were releasing, so I'm kind of the perfect target audience for these boxes, I haven't bought all this material multiple times already. I'm not just buying it for the atmos mix.
But even then, is there a perfect target audience? I mean - that these box sets are still focused on the CD as the primary format shows that they're not exactly targeting an audience that's "with it" as far as todays standards go. But....those that are "with it" don't even care about owning their own copy of anything, let alone physical copies - just sign up for spotify, and who needs to manage a file collection or lug around archaic discs? But certainly they're targeting beyond the outdated crowd that still buys CDs with the inclusion of the blu ray discs - but then they include dvds that double up on the stuff on the blu rays? It's rather comical what a compromised product they have to put together when putting these boxes together - packing in the latest and greatest technology has to offer with hi-res dolby atmos 3d mixes, with 20 CDs which are about as relevant as 8-tracks were in the 90s.
Is there any point to this post? No, not really. Just a random rambling of random thoughts that needed someplace to go as I try and make sense of this box set. I haven't been keeping up with the boxes, and realized - crap, I ought to pick up a Sailors Tales box to fill the gap between the 1969 box and starless box. And of course it's out of print. So, it's like - grab a used copy while you can before it goes up to ridiculous prices. But, it's like, damn....maybe you should listen to some of the boxes you've bought over the past 10 or so years that are looking really pretty on your shelves, but haven't been fully listened to yet, and then pick up the next one.
Anyways, I suppose that's enough wasted time rambling a bunch of nonsense for now, gotta get back to the disc ripping.
I structure my folders like I'd have things on shelves, a dedicated folder for Blu-Rays, a folder for DVD-A, a folder for SACD that contains iso images, as converting those to flac would be a digital conversion and not a bit for bit copy and expanding to dsd files would greatly increase the size, a folder for CDs with letter folders within that as that is my biggest collection of digital music, a folder for DTS CDs, a folder for boots, a folder for music video materials, a folder for conversions and needledrops, a folder for Box Sets.
Of course, organizing my digital music library into folders is nice for computer browsing, but does little good when it comes to media server software. But, that's no problem - media server software sucks big time anyways. I've yet to find any way to build an easy to navigate way to tie in the server to my receivers. Roku sticks are cheap pieces of garbage that are locked down. Fire sticks are awful devices that are unpredictable. Plex won't deal with multi-channel all that well - it might pass through dolby digital stuff. Kodi - a nightmare to get to work on fire stick devices, their devs tried to assist, they threw their hands up in the air and gave up. Ultimately, the bottom line is, I keep wanting something that acts like a computer. So, my receivers have computers. Put a wireless mouse and keyboard on the coffee table, take an hdmi out to an hdmi in, boom, easy navigation, tons of software at your fingertips. It's not elegant, but it's functional. Firesticks are good for youtube videos to fall asleep to, and not much else.
But, that's not the topic to discuss.
The boxset - how to archive it.
I remember when the In The Court Of The Crimson King 40th Anniversary Box seemed over the top. Although I suppose it wasn't that much over the top since there were no marbles or coasters. A rather simple humble deluxe box by today's standards, only 6 discs, book, promo photos, cover artwork, and a few pins. And now that box set is over 10 years old, and an even more ridiculously over the top box has come up that puts it to shame, the complete 1969 recordings.
I used to grumble a little bit at ripping discs and having the overlap of materials between the CDs and hi-res discs. Doubling up on space. But, my music server is a dump truck, not a series of tubes - so I just kept piling it all on. But disecting this 1969 box, and it's like - where do I draw the line? And then how to deal with the overlapping materials between the 2 boxes? And, how many stereo mixes of an album do I need - am I really going to listen to them all? When do I ever go to sit down and think "hmmm.....today feels like a 2009 stereo remix today" or "you know....I'm getting that 2002 remastering of the original mix vibe today". Which, ok, having the best available digital copy of the original mix is probably a good idea, but the 40th anniversary box had that in hi-res on the dvd-a. The new box only has it in CD quality.
So I find myself making folder structures of the disks in the box, but then if better audio exists, I grab that - so I grab a copy of the 2002 master edition from my ripping of the 40th anniversary set, and throw a copy of that into the Disk 8 folder I've made for this box. But - now I have 2 copies of the same audio? Maybe I remove that from the 40th box? Maybe when I'm done sorting out the complete box, any leftovers in the 40th box that weren't in there, I move into that folder? Make a master box set on my hard drive? (note - after this rambling, I found the 2002 master edition is included on the 2019 blu-ray. Not the most logical place, but, I suppose that's where there was room).
Although, it really doesn't matter all that much - as if I'm ever like, I want the original mix, I'll probably take the opportunity to grab the original vinyl copy I have, I'm probably just filling up space with data that will never be used.
But, I'm probably one of the lucky ones. As much as I like King Crimson, they're not one of my top favorites. Don't get me wrong, I greatly enjoy King Crimson, bought my vinyl copy of In The Court when I was in college - never bought any other King Crimson vinyl though. Never bought any King Crimson CDs actually. I didn't start picking up any other King Crimson until the 5.1 issues started coming out. But was never one of those fans that picked up live recordings they were releasing, so I'm kind of the perfect target audience for these boxes, I haven't bought all this material multiple times already. I'm not just buying it for the atmos mix.
But even then, is there a perfect target audience? I mean - that these box sets are still focused on the CD as the primary format shows that they're not exactly targeting an audience that's "with it" as far as todays standards go. But....those that are "with it" don't even care about owning their own copy of anything, let alone physical copies - just sign up for spotify, and who needs to manage a file collection or lug around archaic discs? But certainly they're targeting beyond the outdated crowd that still buys CDs with the inclusion of the blu ray discs - but then they include dvds that double up on the stuff on the blu rays? It's rather comical what a compromised product they have to put together when putting these boxes together - packing in the latest and greatest technology has to offer with hi-res dolby atmos 3d mixes, with 20 CDs which are about as relevant as 8-tracks were in the 90s.
Is there any point to this post? No, not really. Just a random rambling of random thoughts that needed someplace to go as I try and make sense of this box set. I haven't been keeping up with the boxes, and realized - crap, I ought to pick up a Sailors Tales box to fill the gap between the 1969 box and starless box. And of course it's out of print. So, it's like - grab a used copy while you can before it goes up to ridiculous prices. But, it's like, damn....maybe you should listen to some of the boxes you've bought over the past 10 or so years that are looking really pretty on your shelves, but haven't been fully listened to yet, and then pick up the next one.
Anyways, I suppose that's enough wasted time rambling a bunch of nonsense for now, gotta get back to the disc ripping.
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