sans dieu rien

The Music Archive Project

The music archive project aims to preserve all the tracks that I’ve bought so far, in a digital music database.

The main motivation for this project came from listening to Frank Sinatra one day on the bus, and thinking that one day, they’d stop publishing his music, or that my CDs may not be able to hold out more than a decade more.

While it isn’t the situation now, in future, I expect to be able to purchase equipment that can accurately reproduce sound from a CD. Therefore, I should store as much information with as little loss as possible from these CDs because I would be able to actually hear the difference one day.

Aims

  • All music is to be ripped and stored in formats that are universally accessible.
  • As much information as possible must be stored, but not more than what I can possibly extract from my CDs – I should store what my CDs can offer me, but not more than that.
  • If possible, I want to store meta data with my tracks, while this meta data is still free (tracks names are freely available on freedb and Gracenote)

Setup

  • Music is ripped by EAC, into the FLAC format
  • Storage comes in the form of a single 320GB hard disk
  • Playback is currently restricted to my desktop, that is, a Pentium 4B, 3.06GHz, via a Creative Audigy 2 ZS, and the Creative 5200 5.1 surround speakers configured for stereo surround (that is, 2 channels played over both front and rear channels).

To-do list:

Cataloging work – Setting up meta info capture system, index track names, and meta information on a Confluence stand-alone wiki running off the same disk.

  • Set up Confluence (personal licence)  - done (6 November 2007)
  • Catalogue!

Music

The following albums are currently backed up:

  • Billy Joel – Greatest Hits Volume I
  • Billy Joel – Greatest Hits Volume II
  • Billy Joel – Greatest Hits Volume III
  • Billy Joel – No Man’s Land
  • Billy Joel (performed by Richard Joo) – Fantasies & Delusions – Music For Solo Piano
  • Cranberries, The – Stars! The best of 1992 – 2002
  • Damien Rice – O (with B-Sides)
  • Daniel Powter – Daniel Powter
  • Dido – Life for Rent
  • Erich Kunzel (performed by the Cincinnatti Pops Orchestra – Epics
  • Frank Sinatra – My Way, Frank Sinatra’s Greatest Hits
  • High Society – Classical Lounge
  • Itzhak Perlman – Cinema Serenade
  • John Legend – Once Again
  • Maroon 5 – Songs about Jane
  • Matchbox Twenty – More than you think you are
  • Michael Bublé – Michael Bublé
  • Moby – Play
  • Moby – 18
  • Norah Jones – Come away with me
  • Oasis – Heathen Chemistry
  • Various Artistes – Help