Trey’s Blog|brain spillage!

I know most people prefer the use of application for all of their needs, but I’m the type of person who thinks that sometimes better results can come out of using specialized software. This is not always the case, but for my situation is works out better for me. I have my CDs backed up on my Linux box which can be seen from any device on my network including my Mac. I’m also very keen on keeping my naming convention the same for new directories and files. iTunes may be able to do all of this, but for me, I like the idea of trusting a separate application to give me exactly what I want. I found Max, and it appears to be one of the better encoders available at no cost. It can encode to FLAC, OGG, and MP3. I still prefer MP3 because of device compatibiliy. It also has the ability to connect to amazon.com and retrieve album art to be embedded in the meta data for each song. This helps if and when I add the album to my iTunes Library.

How I do things against the norm: Rather than using iTunes to encode my CDs straight into the iTunes Library, storing them locally on my Mac, I’m using Max to encode them locally. I then double check the files for quality before moving them to the music share. My wife would love nothing more than to be listening to some music downstairs and have the song full of JITTS and SCWARBLES. Once the album is moved into the appropriate genre folder, I manually add it to the iTunes Library. I don’t use the automatic feature, because I’d like to have the say of if and when something gets put into the Library. Ultimately, my music storage is easy, clean, and logical as is my iTunes.