A survey: your digital music collection

[MikeP]

The '<a href="topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2714">How Many?</a>' topic got me to thinking about the digital music collections we've all amassed so far. So...

-How big is your digital music collection?

-How much of it comes from your own library vs. downloading?

-What do you use to organize it?

-What are your software rippers/players and portable players of choice?

-Any other tidbits you'd like to share?

-Your thoughts on the future of digital music:
Do you get the feeling that your CD collection is going to be dead weight in the next few years? Will the 'album' format as we know it become obsolete?

I currently have 16,000 MP3s (and a handful of iTunes trax) occupying about 88GB of disk space, mostly ripped from my own collection (~95%). I wish I had more time to download rarities on SoulSeek, etc., but I've been going non-stop with my own collection and I'm still only 70% there!

I organize my physical files by decade (and partly by genre) rather than the default artist/album folder arrangement (I'm kinda anal about chronology[:o)]). I use Audiograbber in conjunction with the LAME MP3 encoder to do my dirty work. I use iTunes as my primary player, but still use WinAmp from time to time for small tasks. I have an ancient 1st generation Creative Labs Nomad player, but I'm holding out for 80+GB portable monster.

The idea of tens of thousands of songs at my fingertips is exciting, but I often feel that the urge to randomly shuffle between songs will dilute the 'album' experience. I like the idea of a music server in the home, but I still enjoy the tactile experience of holding an album or CD in my hands, appreciating the artwork and liner notes, etc., though I find my CD collection is getting less and less attention these days.

[fritzb]

I never really gotten into building a huge mp3 collection. I currently have about 2400 songs on my computer (over half of which are New Wave related), just stuff I want to listen to regularly. I've never seen much point in ripping any large portion of m

[devildog]

You can call me a late bloomer in terms of getting started with mp3s. I only have several dozen in my computer, mostly from here and a few other sites. I plan on getting an iPod soon so I can travel with alot of tunes at my fingertips.

However, altho

[beatschool]

I've got 111 GB of digital music. About 105 GB is my own collection, about 2 GB purchased AACs from Apple's Music Store, and 4 GBs of Soulseek downloads, largely of files I haven't had time to convert from vinyl. I started encoding files as 192k AACs, b

[oneno]

80 gigs of mp3's about half ripped from my own collection, the rest is either from my bro or downloaded from soulseek. I use Nero 6 to rip, winamp to play and musicmatch to print my cd sleeves.I have some stuff organized in folders three deep. Such as a f

[human clone]

I just purchased an iPod. I don't know how I lived without it. Thus I have been ripping cds to my computer like mad, it is a long arduous process...

[:(]

[skinnytie]

I only have a little over 1 GB of music in my computer, coming mostly from my own CD's and vinyl, with a tiny amount coming from Soulseek and the Songs of the Week. Most of it is in WMA format, 64 kbps, 44 kHz. For my own listening pleasure, this format

[Panorama]

I downloaded about 25 gigs of music from Napster when it was going full blast. Since Napsters' demise I occasionally use Limewire to find a few songs, but not nearly like I did when Napster was going in 2000. Also, I'm finding a few sites on the web that

[harleytexas]

Hardly any mp3s at all. I prefer to burn songs in wav on cd from my vinyl so I can play the cd's anywhere and for anyone. I had an offer to have an mp3 player bought for me and would never make the time to use it if I had it. I rarely use my mini disc any

[ekahob]

Mike I can see why your CD collection is getting less and less attention these days. Mine too.

My problem with digital music is about preparing for the future. What format is best for archiving? For some it will be mp3. For others wav or aiff. A n

[scramjet]

I've got about 8000 mp3's, mostly downloaded. Some are ripped from the collections of friends, relatives, or even the public library. They're stored on 40 data CD's. I have a master list, that I generated with a series of unix ls -R1 commands piped to a