Edward CR

Thoughts that have been prompted by what happened to an unfortunate aquaintance of mine last week. His problem relates to his business - but it could equally apply to anyone with stored music files. He works from a home office; has a very good NAS server in place; went on holiday; while he was away his house was broken into and ALL his personal and office computer equipment was stolen. Of course he is insured, but he had no offsite backup of his data. This prompted a couple of thoughts, and then I found this thread - so I thought I should add my 10 cents worth! If you value your music files (and we obviously all do) don't just rely on a single storage and backup solution. Offsite storage is essential! We read many comments here about the extremely low cost of hard drive storage in relation to using uncompressed or lossless compression files, but this comment applies equally to backing up your files. After considering the various posts on this site and elsewhere, I'm now convinced that storage of music for actual playback should be done in an uncompressed format. However, there is no reason why an offsite backup shouldn't be done in lossless format to save disc space. An external drive for this purpose would just need to be portable and have a USB connection. Speed wouldn't be a factor - but reliability would. As an example - a library of say 1000 cds at an average of 600meg = 600gig. Compressed in FLAC or ALAC, this would require around 250 gig of storage space. Cost (in Aust) of a 500 gig external drive - around $120-130. Very cheap security! Another less high tech alternative is to simply burn the compressed backup files to good-quality DVD-R discs as you download them - by far the cheapest alternative!! The above example = 60 discs. Cost - around $25!! PLus slimline cases if you want to be really exotic!! This would take up 30 cm of shelf space - I'm sure your children could spare that!! There is another reason that backup of a main NAS server is essential. Everyone raves about RAID - but it is not 100% reliable! Sure - if you are using RAID 1 or 5, and a hard drive crashes, you can replace it, and your data will be re-created. However, if (for example) the RAID controller in your NAS dies all your data could be irretrievably lost. I was a computer consultant in a previous life, and in a business situation we would NEVER suggest that a client rely on a single NAS backup. I am in the very early stages of building my first computer-based music system, and haven't decided on a final system yet. However - I have decided on my backup strategy! And yes - confession time - I once lost 15 months of business records due to a failure to have a reliable backup strategy in place. So now I am a little paranoid about it - but just because you're paranoid doesn't mean it won't happen!! 1. 4 gig NAS server - 4x1 terabyte drives in RAID 1 - music storage 2 terabytes. Files in uncompressed format - WAV or AIFF. This will be placed in my home office, well away from my listening room. 2. 1 terabyte internal hard drive on my business computer. This computer will form part of my network, which will include my music computer, and will be used for downloading files, converting files, burning cds when necessary and general maintenance of the music database. My downloaded music files will be placed straight onto this drive before they are converted, and this drive will form the first line of backup. 3. 1 terabyte external USB drive. This will form my offsite backup. Overkill?? Maybe - but I don't think so! A cost of around $AU250 for the external drive, and $160 for the internal will give me complete peace of mind. Plus, of course, I will use 2 and 3 for backup for my business backups anyway!! Edward CR

Hi Julienne I seem to be narrowing my DAC choice down to either the DACMagic or the Stello DA100, both of which get great reviews. Amazingly, I've found local retailers for both products this morning - and by local I mean less than 2 klm from where I live!! Although I don't know what your price limit is for a DAC, you might be interested in the prices for both. The DACMagic - $AU599 retail (which compares quite well with the US retail price of $399). But I've been told it won't be available here until November. The Stello DA100- $AU895 (only $200 more than the US price!). This looks like really good value! If you're interested in finding out more, it's available in Melbourne from Caxton Audio, 38a Johnston St Fitzroy, phone 03 9495 6500. And now, to complicate the whole thing, I've just had a call from yet another local hi fi store - and in the course of this conversation I discovered that they sell the Benchmark DAC10, which everyone seems to rave about. US price - $1575. Price in Oz - $1875 - a surprisingly small price difference. This is way above my proposed DAC price limit of $AU1000 (which is why I hadn't even put it on my list of possibles) - BUT it's also a pre-amp, so when I upgrade the rest of my system, I wouldn't have to buy a new pre-amp!! So economically it would make lots of sense (or so I could tell myself)! Re the PC vs Mac dilemma - although I've never used a Mac in my life, I am very computer literate, so I don't think I would have too many problems if I went with a Mac system. And I love the design!! The only problem will be ascertaining exactly what I need! Edward

Hi Chris Thanks for your welcome to the site. Could you please clarify one thing for me? I think I have made my decision regarding ripping my existing cd collection - I'll probably go with AIFF (especially as I've decided to use I-Tunes, even if I stick with a PC). However, what's the situation with downloaded music, for example, from HD Tracks or Gimell Records? If I download CDs in FLAC format, would I gain anything by converting them to AIFF? Surely it would be sufficient to convert these to ALAC? On the HD Track site I found the following comments regarding their CDs: "AIFF: CD-quality uncompressed music files offering seamless integration with iTunes. FLAC: CD-quality "lossless" compressed music files that sound as good as AIFFs, but can be downloaded faster; compatible with Media Monkey, VLC, Songbird, Mac Flac, Toast, and Winamp, but not compatible with iTunes or iPod." Is FLAC truly "lossless", and does the result sound as good as an uncompressed AIFF file? If not - surely there would be no point in converting from FLAC to AIFF once the original CD has been compressed to FLAC for downloading purposes. Why not save space and use ALAC? Or am I missing something here? Edward

'Sort of' - in the sense that I'm not new to computers (I was a computer consultant (PCs) for some years - but changed direction 2 years ago - decided to get a life!!), and I'm not new to audio ( I owned a hi fi store in the 80's). However - I am completely new to computer audio!! Don't even own an IPod!! My tastes run to hi fi that sounds 'musical' - warm, involving, having presence etc. I have a system that provides all these things: IMF Reference Standard Professional Monitor MkIV transmission line speakers - purchased in 1982, and extensively rebuilt with high grade crossovers, and Space and Time internal wiring; Linx Audio hand built pre- and power-amps - top-grade components and Van den Hul internal wiring (built in NZ in 1986); Denon DCD 3560 cd player - purchased in 1996. It's probably obvious from the above that I'm not a great believer in changing my audio gear for the sake of it, so a move into computer audio will be a radical one for me. I'm hoping to assemble a system that will allow me to create asound that's similar to what I have now - using my existing speakers and amps initially, and possibly changing these later (if I can bear to part with them - they really are part of my family!!). I am interested at this stage in the comments on your site on the more budget-oriented components - I don't feel that it's necessary to spend a fortune to achieve a the type of sound that I'm looking for. Also - my buying decisions will also be governed to some extent by the fact that I live in Australia, and the range of products available here is somewhat narrow, and the prices are higher. Now to the business end of my first post. I've spent 3 days or so reading the posts on the site, and have found myself thoroughly confused!! But I'll clarify my thoughts, and hopefully pose some highly detailed questions for you all down the track!! My first question, though, is related to the on-going one of PC or Mac. I'm a PC expert, and I've never used a Mac, but I love their design, and could easily be seduced for audio purposes. I don't have to make this decision right now, but I do want to start ripping my 1200+ CD collection as soon as possible. I have more or less decided to rip in an uncompressed format - WAV or AIFF (although Chris does appear to like the Apple lossless format, and this might be worth a look). Is there any inherent benefits or otherwise to either of these formats, and could I use either of them without it impacting on my future PC/MAC decision? That is - if I decide to rip in WAV could I use the files easily on a MAC, or if I rip in AIFF could I use these on a PC?? What a fantastic site this is, with a great group of members! Congratulations Chris. I work from home, and discovered the site only late last week, and it's already proving to be a great distraction from my business activities!! Incidentally - are there any other members from Australia? If there are I would love to hear from you. We could have a whinge about equipment availability and prices (and anything else that's relevant, or irrelevant, or irreverent.) Edward CR