I once owned thousands of cd's. By 2016, I realized the era of physical media was ending. These days, most of us have digital collections. Here's how to build and organize it!
- Try to go lossless
Lossless music means retaining quality. Store your music files in FLAC format. Use a free program called Trader's Little Helper to convert files. There are many other programs as well - I've used "TLH" for over a decade.
Yes, mp3's are smaller files but hard drives aren't expensive. A 1-4 TB external hard drive will cover even a huge music collection - and more.
- Quadruple backup!
Backup your music files to two external hard drives, a laptop or two, and whatever other storage media you have at home. I have a few old hard drives that I don't actively use - because they are old - but I occasionally take them out and backup new content on them as long as they are working.
- Meet the Micro SD Card
Micro SD cards are the best way to catalog your music. I have mine cataloged by band and genre - Beatles, Led Zeppelin, World Music, Jazz..
The Micro SD card sits inside an SD card shell, so you can easily put it in your laptop and it doesn't have a "tail" (wire) like a hard drive.
- FLAC and Wav
Store files in flac on backups and wav on the SD cards. When I get a new cd or set of music files, I copy to the SD card in "raw" wav and then to backups in flac format. This is the most efficient way to retain lossless music while saving space.
I tried using the highest level of flac on a few songs and it doesn't make a difference - only a few k saved. Stick to level 5 or 6, whatever the default is.
- Mix Your Backups
I can't store everything on Google Drive, so I picked my favorites and uploaded them. I put others on a spare laptop. These secondary backups aren't complete, but they would help me a lot in an emergency.
- Files Names
This one is a pain - many music files names are "track01", etc.. Take it slow.
- Get a Digital Audio Player
Stop playing music from your laptop and phone and spend $100-$200 on a digital audio player. The difference in sound quality is astounding, even on average speakers you will hear the difference. The digital player works at home and in the car. Just plug it into your soundbar or car stereo via regular aux cable!
Think of it this way - we used to own huge stereos. The component pieces are replaced by the digital player and the speakers are your soundbar. But you were never able to take your same stereo with you on the road!
- Enjoy the Music!
At this point, there is less for me to buy, less to download. Checking all of the bootleg sites (which are legit - no released songs on these sites, which is why they've lasted) daily became a game of diminishing returns. Once you have the essential concerts and demos of your favorite bands, slow down a bit. Honestly, I'm afraid to download even music files from pirate torrent sites.
Music is a hobby. Whether you go with lossless, lossy, whatever genre you listen to and collect - it's all good. Enjoy it!