itunes

I was thinking about the iPod’s fifth anniversary, and how the iPod and the MP3 have revolutionized how we interact with recorded music. I thought I’d offer up 5 things I’ve learned about keeping a digital music library in the last 5 years or so. (I’m told that numbered lists make great blog entries.)

1. Use MP3. Although file formats like OGG and AAC/MP4 offer some advantages in quality (OGG) and features (AAC/MP4), nothing is as portable as the MP3 file format. I can play the same MP3 file on any computer, in the car, on my iPod, and on almost any mobile device. Other file formats don’t offer the same “encode once and forget it” possibility.
2. Go big. While on the “encode once” theme: Encode at the highest possible bit rate you can afford in terms of storage space. For the longest time I encoded at 192k out of concern for file size and drive space. I now encode at 320k knowing that hard drive prices continue to drop dramatically. More importantly, at 320k the audio fidelity of a well encoded MP3 file is absolutely indistinguishable from CD audio. At 320k I’ll never rip that same file to MP3 again.
3. The MP3 encoder in iTunes is not great. Use LAME instead. It’s open source and free. Blacktree (maker of Quicksilver) even makes an iTunes interface for LAME (iTunes-LAME Encoder) so you can encode with LAME from within iTunes. Couldn’t be easier.
4. It can be a real housekeeping chore, but it’s crucial to be meticulous with your files’ ID3 tags. Meta data is your friend. Make sure you fill in the ID3 info religiously. ID3 tags will help tame the largest of digital libraries and they’ll make perusing your MP3 collection a pleasure. Use an application like Media Rage to get your meta data in ship shape. Once your ID3 tags are in order set iTunes to “Keep iTunes music folder organized” and “Copy files into iTunes folder when adding to library” (preferences/advanced) and your iTunes library will look a thing of beauty.
5. Back up.