A better method to managing CD Ripped library?

Operating Systems & Open Source Windows
1

To start off, Yes, I'm 'one of those people' who hasn't found an alternative to WMP/IE that they like and just 'deal' with any system backlash. While I Do have some digital only music, it's very little as I dislike having no control over bitrate, etc. I've been a musician in the past and my 'musical ear' has a hard time tollerating the tinny sound one gets from poorly encoded MP3s. I read through this and got a general sense that people on here like this 'Foobar' app, but I'm not sure it's what I want either.

So I have an 'interesting' and evolving method to madness when it comes to my music library. Part of the 'fun' is that I make a custom stash of MP3 CDs for the car as well. That'll change whenever I pin down what digital alternative I think works best for me, but anyway.

Here's an overview of the steps that go on with my 300+ CD library on a fresh start.

1) Use WMP to RIP CDs at highest/lossless quality and organize the music in Artist/Album format. Making sure that the album art and songs match the album in hand. I have some that don't always line up plus foreign albums and have adopted a specific format in those cases (using my handy dandy word document). I also listen to each album afterwards to check for skipping;

2) Make an 'Album Art' folder using copies of all the 'folder.jpg' files for use later;

3) Create Playlists based on artists, soundtracks, etc. I keep my music in chronological order on the artist playlists. Use said playlists for templates to be used for creating the Car CDs;

4) Use Roxio Easy CD/DVD 6.0 to down-sample a copy of the music for the car as some artists have upwards of a dozen albums or more. This is partially manual as Roxio uses the encoded album information to create destination folders that are not like the source folder layout. I end up having to do one album at a time for some due to duplicate songs or songs that have the same name, but aren't identical. I use this version of Roxio because it keeps my prefered "01 Song Title's.ext" format while retaining punctuation (key in the international music);

5) Use Roxio to create simple Data CDs based on playlists. Create an ISO/backup of each RIP in case of damaged disc or adding an album. I have Roxio 2010 as well, but it doesn't seem as easy to deal with when it comes to this.

I've considered a handful of other programs to try to do All of this in one package, but nothing seems to hold up to my restrictions. The newer Roxio doesn't handle punctuation during conversions and Roxio in general isn't as convenient as a player as WMP is. Yes I could change the default player, but I like the visual interface that WMP's 9 & 10 have. I can't STAND iTunes, but deal with it on my mostly neglected G4 as the WMP tool doesn't work so well on Leopard. My primary concern right now is compatibility with x64 OS'. So far the older Roxio seems to cooperate with Win7 (complains during the installer about known compatibility issues), but it'd be nice to have something more native.

Some added info for those that are curious:

Like everything else, I keep a backup of all of this on secondary drives.

My current WMP RIP settings:

Windows Media Lossless, Best Quality

01 Song Title's.ext

"Rename music using rip music settings."

"Rearrange music in rip music folder, using rip music settings."

My current Roxio conversion settings:

"Keep original files"

Custom: Lame MP3 Encoder; 44,100kHz; 16Bits; 192000kbps CBR; MP3; Joint Stereo

File Structure: \<Album>\<TrackNo><Blank><TrackName>

Thoughts on the Conversion settings would be appreciated as I'm not sure what a factory multi-MP3-disc player is capable of outputting. If I'm remembering correctly, I chose Constant Bit Rate and Joint Stereo for file size.

In case you're curious, that's >90Gb of music at max quality or ~36Gb when I was doing 320kbps. My music tastes are quite varied so it's hard to choose settings to cover everything. I gave up on equalizers, but would be interested in having my music output at the same base volume. My electronica is fine on 10-12 in the car, but I have to pump it up to 14-16 with things like Pink Floyd. If it helps, I have a Ford Freestyle and the audio equipment is factory.

If you made it this far, then you need a cookie or atleast a good stiff drink.

2

Foobar2000

3

Can't you just find a way to play music in your car from a smartphone or a flash drive? I think using CDs in 2013 is, well, unreasonable, inconvenient and pointless. 

 

4

Like, can't you do something like this to listen to music like a human being? For me it seems like a way better kind of insanity. 

http://www.drjason.com/2007/08/add-a-dashboard-jack-for-your-car-stereos-rear-aux-input/

5

Again, on the list of digital 'to-do', but I've yet to come up with one that will use the car's built in RPM volume adjustor (not right term). In the end it'll likely be some generic, high capacity, music player, but then again I may have a car that'll be able to handle it all by then too. That's why this is in the 'down the road' section and not a priority, yet.

6

After looking at the info on their site, it does look like it would meet most of what I want, but I'll have to spend more time reading up on it. I didn't see anything about where it pulls album info/art from and similar stuff, but again, more reading.

7

Trying to bring logic/science into this emotional/artisan discussion? Shame on you. :-p

But seriously, I've asked about it with the guys that installed the last A/V job in the car (when I thought I had money), but there's so much other stuff out there that needs higher budget priority for now. *le sigh*

Then again, I could cop-out and use a $40 FM transmitter, but I'd still need bigger than a 4Gb sd card on my phone. Cell data signal drops in a known area so even pandora's an iffy thing. Not to mention that...*cuts of list of why's*

Either way I see what you're saying, not disagreeing.