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pc vs mac, eac vs itunes

Multi part question: (1) Thinking of going to a musicserver rather than a wall full of cds. I have not been a mac user and would lean toward a pc based system. However, I have not completely closed off the mac option. Main concern is not degrading or changing the data. I have heard that EAC is the best option to insure this and I am wondering if the mac options will ensure the same integrity. I am not concerned with cost of external drives, my plan is to store on a number of external drives and make backups to a spare set of external drives. Looking for feedback on comparison of EAC with a mac option (or is it possible to use EAC with a mac?). (2) Goal is to be able to access everything from sitting on the couch. Any suggestions - both pc and mac based - would be appreciated.
musicnoise
seditious3
183 posts
 
And 1 cd = about 500 megabytes uncompressed (wav), so 1000 is about 250 gig in wav, 125 gig in flac. Of course, it depends on the length of the individual cd.

I archive in flac. Or you could use windows media lossless or apple lossless, about the same size as flac.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
3,575 posts
 
Sufentanil - I'm not sure why you need RAID. Single disk is fine and Firewire 400 works great. You need to keep backup disk outside of your residence in case of burglary, fire etc - I keep it at work.
sufentanil's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
sufentanil
776 posts
 
Kijanki,

My statement was that you might need RAID if you have a lot of media files (ie, multi-terabytes). With some of the computer-based movies, this is somewhat of a reality. For music-only, it's less likely that you would exceed the 1-2TB / drive capacities seen now.

Either way, I agree with the offsite backup (I keep mine in the safe deposit box). And while Firewire 400 will work fine, you'll appreciate the faster interface when it comes to making the backup (which can take hours to days depending on several factors).

Michael
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
3,575 posts
 
Sufentanil - Safe deposit box is a great idea since i won't touch this drive after I'm done ripping. You are right that backup takes long (forgot about that) - I have only firewire 400 and have to do it overnight.
musicnoise OP
377 posts
 
Sufentanil: You raise an important issue as to going with a RAID. As between RAID and concantenating individual drives (JBOD) RAID is probably a better idea. My understanding is that RAID or JBOD has the primary advantage of allowing the system to see one large partition rather than a number of different partitions. Say that one had, for eg. three external 1 terabyte drives (with the artists separated alphabetically i.e. A-H drive J, I-P drive K and Q-Z drive L) and was willing to simply look at the respective drive to grab the music, would the only advantage of having the single large partition be that you didn't have switch between drives, or am I missing something more fundamental here - such as software limitations in accessing the music held on separate partitions.
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