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Subject: Re: AIFD:new computer music system
Much could be said (and has
been) on this subject. We use a Dell Inspiron for dancing, and Poikosoft to rip
CDs and convert .wav files to .mp3s. We have the files archived on a separate,
external hard drive (both wavs and mp3s) as well as another archive copy
on CDs (besides the original). Mike Hefner was the one who really structured
this system, and Susie Thennes the good little footsoldier who copied the 600? songs that weren't already on CDs from the original source.
She used SoundForge for editing clicks and pops. About that time I took over,
but I have just been doing CDs and working on the naming conventions in the
database. Mike found Poikosoft
I think that the main
reason that our system is so dependable is that we only use it for
dancing. It only holds copies of the mp3 files. We don't use it to rip CDs, or
convert files, or store files. It was something that I insisted on, from years
of experience in computer test, design and manufacturing, i. e.: if you
have a system that is supposed to consistently do a particular job, DON"T
do design and/or modifications with it, as it can affect the performance of the
test system in unexpected ways. Every once in a while one of us will bring it
home and download updates for Windows and Windows Media, but usually it's not
ever online. Mike and I have Poikosoft and SoundForge on our home computers,
and I keep the external hard drive and backup CDs because I'm the Program Chair.
The only problem I've seen is caused by people not seating a CD down on
the locking spindle of the DVD/CD drive, which causes the CD player software to
lose its tiny mind. You fix it by going back to the previous Restore Point.
As to music quality, I
can't hear a discernable quality loss from wav files to our mp3 files,
which are all recorded at 128 kbps. I was having some recording sound
quality issues in the beginning (tunes were skippy), which were resolved
when I added a lot of RAM to my computer motherboard. There is an excellent
free document online called the McFadden FAQ about every aspect of digital
recording. Check it out. My main test for music quality is to put the music on
a CD, put it in your home stereo system and crank up the volume. If that works,
try it in a boombox. If it skips or the sound quality is bad, get a clean copy
before you convert it to mp3. Poikosoft has a repair/record setting. I think
that people record these things and only listen to them on their PCs, so the
sound quality issues are not apparent until the first time you run it through
an amp, and then Yowee.
Sorry this is so long. I
know it sounds like I have an axe to grind, but actually I have needed to write
this down for a long time for the DIFD archives. So take that into
consideration, and allow your mind to wander freely if something strikes you as
not interesting. Maybe we will see you at Camp?
Wende