My iTunes Server
Updated June 2007

I'm a sound-quality snob. I studied music production in college, own a pair of Genelec 1037 studio monitors and I work at a company that makes high-resolution hardware for audio production. It is safe to say the idea of listening to music encoded with lossy compression is repellent to me. A few years ago, it dawned on me that MP3 is not about sound quality, it is about convenience. At the time, I was dragging CDs back and forth from home to work every day, trying to figure out, in the morning, what I might be interested in listening to that afternoon. I decided to start leaving copies of my CDs, in MP3 form, on my work computer.

This was before iTunes and the iPod. I encoded with a freeware converter, and the quality was abysmal. There was horrible amounts of transient smear and aural fatigue would set in after an hour of listening. Some types of distortion, I don't hear, but feel after prolonged exposure. iTunes came out later, with better MP3 encoding quality and direct support for portable solid-state MP3 players. This was perfect for me because I walk to work everyday.

The first iPods came out and, although loading my MP3 player every time I left work at night was getting old, I waited until I could get a cheap refurbished iPod. By this time, I had encoded a significant portion of my CD library. I upgraded once again when the 3G iPods came out - opting for a second-generation (2G) 20GB iPod - but still, this only represents a portion of the total encoded library I had available.

It literally took years to encode 40GB of my CDs. I did a little at a time, and eventually ended up with 700 of my favorite CDs which could play uninterrupted for nearly 30 days without repeating a song. Whenever I bought a CD, it went first into the computer to be encoded. CDs went home for 'appointment listening' where I could listen to the uncompressed CD on my fancy monitors.

Over time, I became more and more enchanted with how iTunes changed the way I consumed music. I found myself listening to a wider variety of music because it is all equally convenient. Shuffle play is the great democratizer.

Encoding Music
I've met more than one person who encoded their CDs in the absence of an internet connection. The result: a huge pile of 'Unknown Artist' or a lot of typing. If you're new to this, you don't need to type this stuff in manually. When iTunes scans a CD, it matches the CD's attributes to an online database, thus saving you a lot of typing. This is absolutely critical for usable results. Why on earth the original red book CD spec did not include track metadata is beyond me. If you do encounter an obvious error, stop importing. Correct the error, then select "Submit CD Track Names" from the advanced menu. You can only submit CD track names while the CD is still in your drive. If you do it after you encode, you end up correcting the error in two places, or, worse, you allow the error to stand in the online database.

I recommened AAC encoding for general listing, as it yields better results than MP3 at the same bit rate. I also recommend checking the "Keep iTunes Music folder organzied" and "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" options under the Preferences pane. I also prefer to turn off the default of "Create file names with track number" since I'd rather sort alphabetically in the Finder, and iTunes supports track number metadata in the ID3 tags.

Smart playlists were the best discovery. Hard-coded playlists never really appealed to me (except a Beatles playlist that omits every song Ringo sings), but a play list that manages itself is intriguing. Smart playlists make metadata more important and relevant. Genre, ratings, year, import date, play count and when played last all create marvelous opportunities to explore music. I have smart playlists that contain only music I have not heard within the previous year. The categories field allow me to group similar music by a unifying element. For example, you may want to listen to music by Eric Clapton, but only the categories field can group together The Yardbirds, The Bluesbreakers, Cream, and Blind Faith.

Sharing Music
iTunes used to be able to share music over IP, but a few people killed it for everyone by hijacking the technology to allow downloads, not just streaming. With delicate relationships with music media conglomerates to maintain, Apple can't appear to be soft on piracy, so they scaled back the feature to only work locally via Rendezvous...er, 'OpenTalk', no, wait, Bonjour... whatever... Even crippled, this is a killer feature. I enjoy sharing my playlists with my co-workers and enjoy listening to their music. The feature is transparent and effortlessly simple.

There is a product by Bains Software that enables sharing of your iTunes library across the internet. I have not tried it and I don't know how long it will be before Apple's legal department comes down on it, but check out accessTunes. However, check out SlimServer (more below...)

The Slippery Slope
So, by this point, I'm listening to MP3 and AAC encoded music at work, I'm listening to encoded music on the street with the iPod, but I'm still listening to CDs at home. I could justify listening to lossy compression in these other environments as long as I had the un-encoded versions at home for my enjoyment. However, once you're accustomed to a single, monolithic library, it is difficult to go back. For example, I have a massive box set of Thelonious Monk CDs, but listening is quite a commitment. You have to get the box, open that, then figure out which of the 15 CDs you want are in which case. Do you select randomly? How? Do you really want to hear two alternate takes back to back? Now, with the box set encoded, a little Monk can be dropped in every so often like a special forces Jazz bomb.

So, I came to desire iTunes functionality in my house. Apple introduced the Airport Express with Airtunes. Airtunes is really designed for someone with a single laptop who wants to hear music on a single stereo system without a cable dangling across the floor. A neat concept, great for a dorm room, but imperfect for my situation. I have three areas where I want music to be available, and I only want to maintain a single music library.

The benefits of a music server were becoming clear, but I also began to see the drawbacks of keeping the CDs around:

  • 1200 CDs consume a significant chunk of living space. In Cambridge, living space is currently weighing in at $450/sq ft.
  • CDs must be filed in a central location, but listening could occur at multiple stations - so CDs end up strewn all over the house - and impossible to find. With iTunes, I can type in the name of a song I want to hear. With a large CD library, locating a specific track on a specific CD is more trouble than it is worth.
  • My toddler-age son enjoys a more free-form technique of organizing CDs - any CDs within grabbing distance are thrown, disassembled or worse...

I began to devise a method of having a single library in my house, but there are some odd requirements. Namely, a computer (the server) needs to be on all the time. I use the same computer for phone calls. Click here for details. You don't want to run down some stairs and wait for a computer to boot so you can listen to some music. Additionally, a computer is required at every listening point. Well, not really, but read on.

Because I'm a geek (yeah, newsflash, I know), I happen to have both these requirements filled. However, there is still a small problem. The computer I have on all the time is on the other side of my firewall, running OS X Server. (You can use any old Mac that runs OS X and keep it on all the time. You don't have to run OS X server. My server is in the basement so I don't have to see it (or hear it)). iTunes will only share playlists via Rendezvous on the same subnet (there are ways around this, read on...) Comcast pressed the issue by clamping down on IP usage. I'm allowed a single IP, where before I was using two, one for my server, one for my gateway/DHCP. By adding an additional ethernet card to the server, I was able to add NAT/DHCP/Firewall services to my server. Now, I'm only using one IP address - and all the computers in my house can see the iTunes playlists (thanks, Comcast). Hard drives are under $3/gig, so adding a large hard drive isn't cost-prohibitive. So, I began the process of encoding every last CD I own - the ones that receive little love, and re-encoding my favorite CDs with Apple Lossless.

Apple Lossless Encoding
Another technical development which sealed the deal is the arrival of Apple Lossless Encoding. With cheap, big hard drives and lossless encoding, I can justify storing uncompressed music. Out of over 1200 CDs, I think only about 100 could benefit from lossless encoding. If the average CD is 40 minutes, it contains 400MB. Compressed at 2:1 using Apple Lossless, an average CD consumes 200MB, or 5 CDs a gigabyte. So, I could easily afford to spend 20GB encoding my favorite 100 nice-sounding CDs as lossless. With my existing 40GB library, that leaves 60 GB for encoding remaining CDs and future expansion. Both the quality and quantity of music has increased dramatically. Note: early iPods do not support playback of Apple Lossless encoding.

Remote Server Administration
If you have your media server in a location that isn't all that accessible, it can be a problem to administer since iTunes has no way to remotely manage XML data, create smart playlists, etc... Timbuktu seems like a good idea, but I don't own a spare serial number to dedicate to the server... if only there were a free alternative to Timbuktu...

What you need to do is use VNC on your media server, and a VNC client on any computers you want to use to remotely administer the server. Such things exist. Simply enable Apple Remote Desktop under System Preferences > Sharing. You can then use Chicken of the VNC (Client) to access the machine. Now you can manage playlists and perform any administration as if the server were sitting next to you.

What about LPs?
The drag about recording LPs is naming the tracks and waiting for the process to complete. Ripping CDs today is much faster than real time, but recording a record must be a real time process... or does it? Analog Ripper finds the start and end times automatically, enabling it to loop up track data accurately from an online database. Also, it can record 33RPM at 45 RPM for quicker conversions. Analog Ripper should work for LPs, cassettes - any analog source. Hey, you may even be able to take a copy-protected release like the remastered NIN Downward Spiral or DVD-Audio/SACDs and record that in easily. Hmmm. Also, Track Parser may be worth checking out.

CD Storage
Once the server was reconfigured, new hard drive installed and sharing enabled, I could enjoy the same library anywhere in the house. Now, what to do with the physical CDs? My wife, of course, suggested selling them. I can't do that for several reasons:

  • I view the CD as my license to listen to the music. If I sell the CD, I sell my license. This is my own personal belief, I know I'm in the minority because it is fashionable and fun to hate the music industry, but I'm sticking to my principles. Yes, I have a copy of the music at home and a copy at work, but in practice, I only use a single copy at any given time and this, I feel, is the spirit of the license. No different from carting the CD back and forth. Hey, my principles, my rules.
  • I can always reach in a re-encode a CD at a higher rate
  • Continued access to liner notes, etc....
  • CDs are my backup!

So, I'm faced with storing the CDs in my basement. They still take up space, but at least they're not consuming living space, and they're protected from curious toddler hands. I asked a friend what to do with the CDs and he suggested getting rid of the jewel cases. I was thunderstruck. After I got over my initial shock, it made perfect sense. I can save what I consider to be the valuable parts, and store the CDs with a 4:1 physical compression ratio. I spent $50 on 1000 plastic sleeves for protection. (editor's note: I don't actually recommend that link for storage as it is very difficult to put the tray cards in - too tight, and the backing is soft to accommodate two CDs, not a CD and liner notes) Broken cases went to recycling and good ones went to craigslist. Actually, it is via these jewel cases that I met David Mendelsohn, whose image graces the cover of Archetribe Waterworks.

There are also a significant number of box sets and non-jewel case CDs in my collection. This is where I drew the line. Anything jewel case gets tossed. Otherwise, the CD is stored intact with its packaging. I also separated SACDs to store with my DVD-Audio discs which I will continue to play in disc-form.
Continue to Buy CDs?
Now the question: "will I stop buying CDs?" I've eliminated all access to physical CDs and proven that storing them is a detriment. However, even considering that, I don't think I'll stop buying discs. I should be a poster boy for the iTunes Music Store, but I'm uncomfortable with DRM. Apple has started offering some DRM-free selections, however.

I know I can always listen to a physical CD. It is a tangible object. I don't want to keep track of DRM files, and I don't want to buy a compressed product. However, I can see instances where ITMS makes sense - particularly for obscure music which tends to be more expensive and difficult to find - up to $20/CD when it could be purchased for $10 at ITMS. I purchased a song recently from ITMS and it was soooo easy, and the instant gratification was very satisfying. The siren's song can't be ignored forever.

Speaking of the iTunes Music Store, I have three releases available there, Archetribe:Waterworks Archetribe:Earthtones and Blue Forest Mass. Check 'em out! You can also buy them the old-fashioned way at Amazon: Archetribe:Waterworks, Archetribe:Earthtones and Blue Forest Mass.

Remotely Interesting
One of the three locations at my house could really use a remote. Again, I'm a geek, and already had something lying around: a Keyspan Digital Media Remote. The receiver end plugs into a USB port and the transmitter sends IR signals. I can play, stop, adjust volume, mute and skip tracks from across the room. Sweet.

On the bit more expensive side, but totally sweet is the Frontier Design Tranzport. It works flawlessly, does not require line of sight to communicate and displays track names and other information on the remote itself. The big shuttle knob controls volume which is very handy.

Dedicated Hardware Alternatives
With the server in place, the clients are all computers, but this does not have to be the case. Componenet-based devices exist that have ethernet or WiFi in and audio out. The one I'm most familiar with is the Roku Soundbridge. It works with non-DRM AAC files, including lossless encoded and respects Apple playlists. I think you can even walk into Radio Shack and buy one.There is also the Squeezebox, Airport Express and the Sonos system.

OK - so I buckled a got my hands on a Roku M500. For my uh...daughter's room... yeah... They're $200 retail, with a $50 rebate. Or, you can go to ebay and find one for less than $120 including shipping. I'll make this short and sweet. If you've committed yourself to having an 'always-on' music server stuffed somewhere, and you're not using DRM-protected AAC files, you should buy one of these right now. Setup is simple, there is a boot loader that is smart enough to download its own software updates (you don't have to go to Roku's website, download a file and transfer that to the device), the remote includes a volume control and it seems designed for iTunes users. I want to buy three more.

The most amusing criticism of this device that I've read is 'high-end' cables do not fit. Are you serious? First of all, there is no such thing as 'high-end' RCA cables. You know those modified Honda Civics with the obnoxious mufflers? That's you Mr. 'high-end-RCA-cable' guy. Second, this thing is designed to play compressed audio. If you're really so anal as to be using audiophile cables, get back to me after your entire library is lossless encoded and then use the wisely-included digital output to feed your boutique D to A. Then you can use whatever damn cables you want and impress your friends with what a difference it makes. While you're at it, buy one of these and epoxy it somewhere on the front panel of the Roku.

If I had a beef with the M500, it would be the omission of a headphone jack. It would be nice to only have to power on a single device when I want to listen with headphones. Not a deal breaker, though.

The Home Media Option is now standard with TiVo service. You need to install some free software from tivo.com, and the UI is handled though System Preferences. I was astonished to see my iTunes playlists accessible on my TiVos. Most TiVos are already connected to home stereo systems, so this is a good option. I'm unsure how compatible the files are. MP3 files work fine, obviously. Have not tested AAC files, or DRM-enabled files. iPhoto publishes playlists, too. However, Mac OS X Server does not permit iLife installation (I have no idea why they did this). Here is how you install iLife on Mac OS X Server.

SlimServer
Imagine my sadness when my new Roku would not play all the Apple Lossless encoded files in my library. It isn't really their fault. For whatever reason, licensing the Apple Lossless decoder is not happening. After some quick Googling, I find that SlimServer will stream Apple Lossless files (or a converted version thereof...) to my Roku (and other things) read on.

You have your iTunes library all set up, with smart playlists, etc... SlimServer then looks at your organized iTunes library and makes it available to remote devices. SlimServer is an open source project from Slim Devices, makers of the Squeezebox. Yes, it works with the Soundbridge, and Roku points, indirectly, to their competitor's web page, which feels rather odd. Anyway, SlimServer can:

  • Stream Apple Lossless-encoded files.
  • Stream audio files over the internet. Yes, you're no longer stuck with iTunes connected user or subnet limitations. You can even stream to a virtual Java Squeezebox.
  • Control remote devices (Squeezebox, Soundbridge, Virtual Squeezebox) via a web page interface. You can find songs quickly, build playlists and even browse albums by Artwork - for every device in your house.
  • Synchronize playback. Do you have several devices in your house, but you want everything playing the same thing? No problem!
Apple's Stealth iTunes Kiosk
For $599, Apple makes a full-featured, quiet iTunes server or kiosk. The product is more commonly known as the G4 cube, er, Mac mini. Keep in mind, there are iPods that cost $500. You can even hook it up to a TV via an inexpensive adapter - which makes me wish for a iTunes interface mode that is legible on a standard definition TV. It even doubles as a computer. Update: Front Row. Neato.

Of course, an even better apple solution would be the AppleTV.

Serving Video
MPEG-4 is really impressive. You can squish video down to a bandwidth that can be streamed reliably over a 100Mbit network. The client computer must be a decent G4 or better to decompress the video. What does this have to do with iTunes? Well, there is an application called Handbrake that can turn DVDs into an MPEG-4 Quicktime file. Open that file in Quicktime Player and export the movie as a hinted movie. Drag the result into iTunes. Now, your iTunes server can serve streaming video as well. I have not used Front Row yet, but I suspect it should integrate cleanly with iTunes videos.

My iTunes Wish List
I wish iTunes had a more elegant way of dealing with replacing old encoded files that were encoded on another system. If you re-encode files on the system on which the files reside, there really isn't a problem, but that system, in my case, is exceptionally slow, and inconveniently placed. What I end up doing is encoding on another system, and copy the files to the server. If the file names match perfectly, I can drag replace the files and the next time iTunes plays that file, the format is updated and metadata is stays intact. However, if I'm replacing mp3 with AAC, the file extensions are different and I have to delete the old references from iTunes, then import. If I don't delete the old files from iTunes, I end up with two copies of the file - which may be good if you want to keep a lower bit rate version for iPods or have a non-lossless version for 1G or 2G iPods which don't support lossless, but that is not the situation here. The alternative is to delete the files in the finder, move the new files in, but then iTunes requires you to manually find each file which is exceedingly tedious. What I want is the dialog that you get when you put in a CD you've already encoded (Do you want me to replace?) with drag and drop import operations.

The other thing I wish is to run iTunes for sharing without being logged in - like all other OS X Server services. It would also be cool if I could have 'administrator' access from remote clients to organize playlists and metadata on the server.

When my iPod gets synced to my library, play count is incremented on songs I listened to. Well, at least, the smart playlist I have that keeps track of recently heard songs is dirtied. Why can't play count from servers be kept track of too? It is useful data. The most played songs really do seem to be favorites, and songs that have not been played in a long stretch of time are fun to dust off. The server should keep track of which clients listened to what, or at least the client should keep track of this itself, but then you'd expect to be able to manage playlists related to a remote server and we already know this is not currently possible.

I'd like to see better management of the same song encoded for different systems. I may want an AAC file for my iPod and Apple Lossless for home listening, yet I don't want the associated mess in my iTunes workspace. For example, two copies of the same song doubles the likelihood of being selected in a shuffle mode. Playlists become unmanageable. The song, as an entity should exist independent of the files that play. So, you manage one song-object in your playlists, see one song in iTunes, the play count increments on that single song regardless of where you play it, but the playback system determines which version of the file you are listening to (or gets updated to your iPod).

Gracenote Inconsistencies
Metadata editing in iTunes is the best I've ever used. You can edit multiple songs with one operation and the auto-data complete relieves repetitive typing. I find myself editing metadata because a good portion of the metadata from the Gracenote database was entered by retarded monkeys (yes, you). Here are some common mistakes:

  • Misuse of the compilation flag. A compilation is a CD by various artists. When iTunes imports a compilation CD, it doesn't create a folder of one song by each artist, it creates a folder for the CD in the compilations folder. Now, if you tag a normal CD with the compilation flag, the CD does not go into the artist folder, it goes into the compilations folder. The compilation flag is only for various artists. It isn't for a single artist, even if it is a 'best-of' compilation.
  • Graphical design translated literally into body text. All caps or all lower case on the cover of the CD does not mean the song is spelled that way. It is a graphic liberty. Standard title convention should be used on all songs. An on-line friend pointed out that this may be the way the artist wants it spelled, but I think this represents an insignificant fraction. What is the excuse for MOZART? None. Imagine if every book at Amazon translate the title graphically. HALF THE BOOK TITLES WOULD BE IN ALL CAPS.
  • The title of the song is only the title of the song. It does not include the words "featuring guitar solo by Joe Blow" The title of the song is sacrosanct because it exists independently of the artist. If you must, use the comments field.
  • Year. Should be the original release date, not the release of the CD. Year should be a track attribute for compilations, and the CD itself should have a release year.
  • Classical music tags are a mess. There are artists and composers and movements. To compensate, some serious liberties were taken with the tags designed for pop music and now it is a disaster. On my iPod or Roku, if I browse by artist, the first thing I see is a long series of "1. Allegro." ARRRRGH. (Hint: on the Roku, use the right cursor button to advance alphabetically - why doesn't the iPod do this?) iTunes has tags to deal with all this appropriately, but the full song title should be Brandenburg Concerto #3 in G Major: I. Allegro. Typically, the next song is labeled: II-Adagio which is probably how the liner notes list it, and makes sense in the greater context of the CD, but makes no sense at all in a huge iTunes library in shuffle play. Each song should restate the full name. This is a combination of literal interpretation, laziness, poor foresight and bad software.

Finally, the practice of prefacing the band name with 'The' or an artist's first name results in skewed alphebetical sorts. However, this mess is beyond reparation, and I can't expect anyone to think this way (Beatles, The or Simon, Paul) when entering new data. Yes, I am aware iTunes ignores 'The' and 'A', but the Finder does not, which is inconsistant and sometimes perplexing when comparing the two.

Bruce Howell points out the proper way to tag is to use the 'sort' artist ID3 field which iTunes supports. Now, if everyone could follow this convention.

iPhoto
I wonder how many people use the smart playlists feature of iTunes. Probably more than those that use the smart photo album feature of iPhoto. My fatherhood coincided neatly with Steve Job's vision of the digital hub, so I bought into his vision completely.

I had already been using a smart photo album to create a screen saver for my computer. Photos of my son are keyword encoded, and rated. Dates are automatically extracted from my camera. iPhoto creates a smart album consisting of photos that are related to my son, rated three stars or higher, and taken within the previous 45 days. At this point, OS X can be instructed to look use that photo album to generate a screen saver form my photos. That way, only the latest photos are used. It manages itself, provided you tag and rate photos when you import.

Now, I want to have photos of my son handy on my iPod, but I don't need to carry about thousands of photos. I just want the most recent and my favorite photos ready when my dentist asks how my son is doing. So, I added one more smart photo album that searches just for my all-time favorite photos. Now I have just the latest, and favorite photos on my iPod.

-=-=-=-

OK, now, who wants to buy a CD player?

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