Schinckel.net

I’ve ripped a fair chunk of my CDs to AAC format, using iTunes. I used AAC 128kbps, but since I’ve just bought a new 250GB Hard Drive to use for Movies/Television, I can have the 160GB one used almost solely for Music (and data backups for the various computers on my network). I’m thinking of re-ripping my CDs to 192kbps AAC, which will make the files about 1.5 times their current size. I currently have 43 GB of music, but some of this is downloaded (iTunes Store and Podcasts), so the whole database won’t increase by this much. I’m also going to make some other structural changes. I’m not going to have iTunes manage my music files, just the tags inside of them. That way it will play nicer with a variety of clients. iTunes moves files around when you change the ID3 tags, so another version of iTunes, or Xbmc, or whatever, can’t find them anymore. It might mean the filenames are wrong, but I think every system I use will have a database of the tags, rather than the files themselves. I just hope the various systems update the tags when they have been changed. I’m also going to stop using my Wireless Router as my DHCP/DNS server. I just don’t like the inflexibility that Netgear’s system has in this regard. I want to be able to add static IP addresses, and have the hostnames resolve. Which I know the SpeedTouch modem did using it’s DHCP/DNS setup. And then I can isolate the wireless segment of the network a bit more. Not that that’s too much of an issue using WPA, but you never know…