In your opinion, is going to a server worth the time invested?

[blownsi]

I'm really starting to wonder whether the convenience of selecting any song on the fly is really worth it compared to the ease of use a CD player provides. Just spin a disc and push play vs the hundreds of hours I've spent on ripping, tagging, sorting my collection plus there's the updating the playback PC's OS, antivirus, etc. Don't get me wrong, being able to call up nearly anything nearly instantly is awesome but is it worth the hours and hours lost in your opinion?

 

[RichPA]

In my opinion, yes, it's worth it. You can queue up hours of music, construct and save custom playlists, quickly switch between albums for comparison, and so on. Furthermore, in my experience, FLAC files ripped from CDs and played back from the server sound better than the original CDs played on my transport.

 

[N8Nagel]

I'm in the "yes" crowd as well.

I can batch convert my library to mp3 and load it on a thumb drive for a road trip.

I can back up my collection on a RAID 1 server so neither bit rot nor HDD failures can make it go away.

I can store my CDs away in a safe place and not have to take up tons of shelf space in the living room.

I can listen to items from the same library on two different devices in two different rooms.

I don't have to worry about the quality of my transport. If I ripped it once and EAC said it was good, that copy is bit perfect. Playback quality only depends on the quality of the DAC, interconnects, preamp, amp, and speakers. I can use a crap laptop for most ripping, only "problem" discs require a good optical drive.

So many things make it worthwhile...

 

[uofmtiger]

Yes, it was worth it.

 

[RickB]

Yep.

 

[slow_jazz]

You don't need a server. Just buy a Mac-mini and load it up.

Hook a dac up to it and feed it into your stereo.

 

[JoeESP9]

That Mac mini will be functioning as a server. Any computer dedicated to music is a server. Not being a Mac person I use a Netbook. Currently it has a 1TB HDD connected via USB all going into a USB DAC. In the near future I'll be going to a NAS (2 x 4TB HDD).

 

[sKiZo]

Depends ... define "server" ...

If you're talking a dedicated box to store and play your media files, then yes, it's well worth the effort. THAT would be better described as an HTPC (home theater pc). Not all that difficult either once you build or buy the box. Good front end software automatically rips disks, looks up all the tagging info, gets cover shots, and organizes the music per your preferences. jRiver Media Center is the sh!t for that, using EAC ripping software and giving you pretty much infinite sorting. I figure if jRiver can't do it, it don't need to be done!

Now, if you're talking a dedicated box that also acts as a distribution point for other computers or portable devices ... then no, not my cuppa tea.

*One big advantage for me anyway ... can't make up my mind what I want to listen to, put on a playlist of favorites, and if a track grabs my ear, go for the album ...

Also, how do you store your CDs ... artist, album name, genre ... lot's more options with digital storage. Get into thousands of albums, and you can see where it can make a real difference.

PS ... real fanatics rip their vinyl too. Took me a while, but I got er done! I still cue up the TT, but it's nice to have instant access when I'm feeling lazy.

 

[rwartner]

I am a computer programmer. I work remotely from home. Basically I am a hermit. I listen to music 24/7. I have a dedicated laptop to play music. Now with big disk drives everything has changed. I now have the jukebox player I always wanted. With the ability to research everything on the internet, I am enjoying music more than ever.

The downside is I have become a collector of CDs to rip. I filled the guest room dressers and now have to figure out what to do with all the CDs.

The answer is yes.

 

[chicks]

Haven't used my ripped tracks in ages. Had them on a NAS, then moved them to a thumb drive plugged into the router, but given that online services are extremely cheap, have 30 million tracks instantly available, searchable, with tagging of all kinds, local storage is pretty much passė. So, no, not anymore.

 

[robgmn]

I'm really starting to wonder whether the convenience of selecting any song on the fly is really worth it compared to the ease of use a CD player provides. Just spin a disc and push play vs the hundreds of hours I've spent on ripping, tagging, sorting my collection plus there's the updating the playback PC's OS, antivirus, etc. Don't get me wrong, being able to call up nearly anything nearly instantly is awesome but is it worth the hours and hours lost in your opinion?

1. Spinning a disc gives you the songs on that disc only. You can shuffle or not, but that's it. If the disc ends, you have to change it or listen to all the music over. Not convenient.
2. Ripping, tagging, etc. didn't take hundreds of hours in my case - Insert disc and auto-rip completes the job and ejects disc. Insert next disc and repeat. (And I was listening to music while the music was being added.)
3. My PC was running WinXP until a recent update. It had home network access, but that was it. No updates were needed and it ran non-stop for years (save for blackouts). I expect the same of the new one.
4. My PC can stream to all of my devices on my network when I choose. It also feeds an FM modulator for listening on radios on/near my property.
5. I can make unlimited playlists, smart playlists, etc., or listen to all songs in any order I choose (alpha by track title, artist name, album name, by year produced, genre, etc., etc.)
6. If I need a physical disc without using my original, I can burn one from the music server.
7. I can load/unload/reload my portable devices from the "music server" (as I call it) at any time I want without having to rip each time.

There's more, but I'd call having a server a WIN !

 

[Jeffery]

The way I look at it, ripping a disk is very little more trouble than playing a disk. One and done.

 

[Djcoolray]

You know, I guess it is fun to get into something that we enjoy. Then there is the sence of accomplishment of looking back at what we have done. It's the equipment that reproduces the sound and so it is the sound that matters. Corporations have us believing that what they are selling is the best thing since sliced bread. I'm sorry, but it is a quest for the best possible sound and learning about all the equipment and listening to the difference is the journey to the ultimate enjoyment.

 

[jasn]

Haven't used my ripped tracks in ages. Had them on a NAS, then moved them to a thumb drive plugged into the router, but given that online services are extremely cheap, have 30 million tracks instantly available, searchable, with tagging of all kinds, local storage is pretty much passė. So, no, not anymore.

As an obsessive, NAS-based library tinkerer, you're scaring me Chicks.

 

[ldatlof]

I still use the server despite Chick's logic because most of my new music is downloaded live concerts that are not released on CD. So I still need the server and it wasn't and isn't a waste of time.

I don't go to thrift stores anymore to buy CDs because I can get almost any CD on Spotify or Tidal.

My server sits in the corner and runs LMS, BOINC, TOR and other things in virtual machines. It basically runs itself.

 

[sKiZo]

Yup ... you GOTTA HAVE a front end for playback, and jRiver is the sh!t!

Pop quiz ... which do you prefer? A bit more work that way, but the results are worth it. Some track titles assigned on a CD are just bizarre ... fortunately, they only get 256 characters. Here's the track listings for disk 24 of the Toscanini box set. I renamed the disk "24", as the disk name was just as bad. I've seen DARPA passwords that are less convoluted.

OR ... titles edited for clarity. All the "missing" stuff is available in the other standard tags. The original file names and organization on the hard drive are untouched.

* One nice feature is being able to bypass the craptacular cuts you'll find on most albums. I don't delete those .. I just renumber them so they're at the end of the file list for that album. 2=22, 3=23, 4=24, etc.

PS ... I've got this particular album cross referenced under Symphony #5 as well ... as Dvorak intended it!

 

[BadassBob]

I'll say, it depends on the individual. I've been using a media server the last decade and couldn't fathom not having one. Then again, mine also does much more than simply store music. For most out there, the various streaming services negate the implementation of a server.

 

[Yamaki]

I don't feel like I lost a thing...in fact, the time savings far and away exceed the time it took me to rip the CD's. And with a dedicated music server, the music got that much better.

I would not hesitate to do it again.

 

[blownsi]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I guess I am just OCD with this stuff and need to let go of imperfectly imported tags and such. I have nearly 6tb of flacs and have spent a great deal of time correcting tags & file names, placing files in the correct directories, etc. With the recent advances in streaming sound quality it has really made me question whether it's all been worth it. Honestly, I think I am headed towards chicks' concept in the near future anyway.

 

[onwardjames]

Wait.....did you say SIX TERABYTES??

Damn.