Data Storage

I've started a huge project. I'm going to convert all of my music into digital files (read: mp3s) and store them on some sort of portable hard drive. I've come to realize that as my degree moves onwards, I'm collecting CDs at an insane pace. The little bookshelf that Megan sent with me to Victoria is already double stacked, and there are even more CDs in my storage locker. I figure I'll actually save money in blank CDs and cases this way.

However, the problem lies in naming all the files. Since I'm a bit type-A with this sort of stuff, I want a format for the naming of song title, artist, composer, album and so on. That in itself isn't a problem, since I've already got a system in place for that. The problem is the CDDB that iTunes uses to look up CD track names and information. It's all programmed by random monkeys, and the classical music data has no consistant naming scheme. Even tracks on the same albums are all screwy. So I can't simply look everything up that way, I have to go in and manually program all the track information. This may not seem like a big deal, but we're talking about close to 30,000 tracks here. I've got over 130 gigs of music, and it's going to need to be organized in some fashion so that I can actually find stuff when I need it.

So I've been slowly doing that this weekend. Unfortunately I don't have a portable hard drive yet, so I've been just dumping in CDs and renaming then in my iTunes library. I'll have to go back and rip them later when I have space. Tim, the trumpet player in my quintet, has a drive that I like, and he might be interested in selling. It's a 400 gig Western Digital My Book; it runs quiet, seems to have a fairly fast access time, and has both USB 2.0 and Firewire ports, which means if I ever need to, I can get a second one and daisy chain them together. I don't really have the money right now anyways, but he's not planning on selling it until he gets a new computer in the new year, so there's no rush. Just nice to plan out...

Got my recital program finalized this week. Still working on a date change, however. There have been some cancellations, so I might be able to shuffle some people around to make it work. Things like this seem to go at a snail's pace around here.

Also been trying to figure out what I'm going to do this summer musically. I'm going to audition for the NYO again, but there are a few other summer orchestras that I'm interested in. There is the Symphony Academy of the Pacific, which is in Powell River, BC. Sounds like it's about the same as NYO without the touring across Canada, but there seems to be less scholarships floating around for that one. I'm also looking at auditioning for the Aspen Music Festival, in Colorado. The trumpet prof here, Lou Ranger, teaches at the festival every year, and mentioned that I should try for the audition this year. That'll be interesting, since my bass trombone hero, John Rojak, is also there every year. That's an expensive one, however, and I can't seem to decipher how the scholarships/fellowships work on their website. There is also the Music Academy of the West, which is in Santa Barbara, California. That one is very much like the NYO as well, but on a beach. I'm very interested in this one, since it is all paid for if you get in. Not only that, but you can send in taped auditions, so I can do as many takes as necessary to get the best recording!

Other than that, not much new around here. Been doing lots of playing, I'm subbing for a local orchestra tomorrow in one of their dress rehearsals. Nothing too fancy, but I've moved up the sub list around here, so that's good to know. The UVic orchestra has a concert this coming Friday, which should be great. The Sibelius Symphony No. 2 is coming along well, and I don't have to count too many rests through it, so that helps keep me interested. I'll hopefully have a recording of it shortly after the concert, and I'll see if I can put it up for download.